1D One Shots/Sickfics

Zayn's Dilemma

"We would like to invite you to participate in our journalism program."

He blinked, shook his head, then read it again.

"We would like to invite you to participate in our journalism program."

He couldn't believe it. But there it was, right in front of his eyes. He had just received an offer to a college that he hadn't even applied to. After the initial sentence, it went on to explain that they'd seen some of his work in the local newspaper that he worked for, which was why they were sending the letter. It also outlined how to apply for scholarships, as they thought he would be eligible for several, which would greatly reduce the cost of tuition.

Zayn read the letter over again before collapsing onto his bed to think over what he had just read. College had never been an option for him. When he had graduated high school two years ago, he had pushed away all thoughts of college because he knew he couldn't go. He hadn't even bothered applying. First of all, his family needed him to be working right away to help out with money, and secondly, his grades weren't really good enough to get in or get scholarships because he'd been spending all the spare time he had working already. But now there was an opportunity sitting right in front of him, and maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to do it.

That night, after he got home from his evening shift working tables at the little diner down the street, Zayn called his best friend Louis. The two boys got along well and usually talked about everything together. This was no different. Zayn was excited to share the news and hoped Louis would have some helpful advice.

"Whoa, wait, what?!" Louis exclaimed after Zayn had told him the news. "You got into college without applying? Mate, that's amazing!"

He would have continued if he hadn't heard the stressed sigh from the other end of the phone.

"What's wrong, Zee? Aren't you happy?"

Zayn sighed again. "I am happy, Lou, but...well, what about paying for it? What about my family?"

"But what about your dreams, Zayn? You've always wanted to be a journalist, that's why you work for the newspaper in the first place, right? You have to do this, it's exactly what you've always wanted." Louis spoke enthousiastically, tugging Zayn's heart toward one side of his internal debate. He held on to the other side though, as his loyalty to his family was very strong.

"I know, it's been my dream for years, but I don't know if I can take this opportunity. My family needs me." Zayn laid back on his bed, thinking about the way his life had been for the past few years. After his father had left when Zayn was in Grade 11, his mom had struggled to keep up with finances to provide for Zayn and his two younger sisters, and the family ended up going into debt. Through the last year and a half of high school, Zayn waited tables 4 to five nights a week at a local diner, with shifts from 7 to midnight or later, which at times caused him to sacrifice some of his schoolwork in favour of earning money. Now that high school was over, Zayn was working three jobs to help her pay off that debt. He had a full time job at a warehouse, doing manual labour during the day Monday through Friday, and he also still had his job at the diner. That would be more than enough to keep him busy, but because of his love for journalism, Zayn also was employed by the local newspaper, for which he wrote articles in any spare time he had and also did some proofreading work as he was skilled in grammar. This was by far his favourite job. However, he knew he had to do the others to keep the money coming in.

"Zee, are you there?" Louis's voice echoed from the phone that Zayn had managed to drop while lost in thought.

"What? Yeah, yeah, I'm here, sorry, I was just thinking."

"I know it's a hard decision, mate. I maybe wasn't being fair on you either. Your family is important to you, and you've been through a lot. I'd understand if you chose to stay here. But I do really think that this opportunity to study journalism would be great for you."

"It would be good..." Zayn trailed off, caught in his indecision.

"You know, it might be a good idea to talk to your mum about this," Louis suggested. "She probably has some good advice."

"I will do that. I just thought I'd talk to you first."

Louis laughed brightly, putting a smile on Zayn's face. "Glad to know I'm your first thought. We make good friends, don't we?"

"Of course we do! Seriously though, thanks for the advice. I'll text you later, yeah?"

Louis agreed and the two hung up. Zayn sat on his bed thinking for a few minutes before going to seek his mother's advice.

---

"Well, what do you think, mon cher?" she questioned after having been told the whole story, including the phone call with Louis.

"I don't know, mum. I really want to do it, but I know you need me here." Zayn frowned, leaning into his mum's side where the two were cuddled up on the couch.

"But you're still young, Zee, love. If you want this, we'll figure out how to manage without you. You've helped so much in the past few years. I don't want a sense of duty to hold you back from your dreams, you hear me?" She reached over and ruffled his hair gently. "You mentioned that you might be able to get some scholarships. Why don't we look at that together and see how manageable this would be, and then you can make a decision?"

Zayn nodded and got up to retrieve the family's shared laptop from the desk in the corner. He and his mum spent the next hour looking through the available scholarships. They discovered that he was eligible not only for scholarships, but also financial aid, and that the amount he could get was enough to cover not only all of his tuition, but also some of his tuition and meal plan.

Zayn looked over at his mom, his eyes filled with tears. "Mum," he said, voice trembling. "I wanna do it. This is my dream. I'm going to do it."

So this is the story I chose to write from the previous chapter where I was asking for ideas for my one class. Thanks to HSFanFicTion1994 for the wonderful idea. It's a little different from what I normally write, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Unfortunately this is the only update I can promise anytime soon. The only reason I found time to write this is because it's for school. I'm still completely swamped and overwhelmed with homework.

Thanks for all your support. I really appreciate every single one of you guys.