Surviving The Parkston Boys [Re-write]

Chapter 20

I walked outside and hopped in Nathan's Range Rover and gave him a quick peck before Trey and Derek made any faces.

"I don't get why mom can't just let us all go in separate cars..." Trey said with an eye roll.

"Good morning to you too, Trey," I said and he glared at me.

"Shelby, here you go," Derek said and handed me a smoothie.

"What's this?" I asked with a smile.

"I know you love Mom's smoothies and kind of figured you needed a boost," Derek said and I smiled. 

"You're so sweet, thank you," I said and took a sip. The fresh and cold drink soothed my throat and sent a chill went down my spine. 

We arrived at school and I searched the halls for my best friend. But I felt a force grab my wrist and I turned to see Gabe. He smiled and I gave him a quick side hug. "Have you seen Madie anywhere?" I asked. 

"No, why?" 

"She had that date with Jeremy and I need to know how it went. Do I need to beat someone up or just slightly scare them?" 

"You girls are weird..." 

"Shelbs! Gabe!" Madie said waving her arms frantically in the quad. 

I run up to her with Gabe trailing behind and slide into the seat next to her. She smiles and says, "smooth." 

"How'd things go last night?" I asked. 

"Good, I am actually really happy that I went. We went to the movies and then got ice cream afterward." 

"So, do I beat him up or just scare him?" I asked and she giggled. 

"Just a little nice warning will do the trick," Madie said and I nodded. 

"Does anyone want to hear about my night with Jasmine?" Gabe asked. 

"No!" Madie and I both yelled covering our ears. 

"Why not?" Gabe whined. 

"We already know you're going to talk about the gross stuff you guys did," Madie said and I nodded in agreement. 

"But..." 

"Shush, we don't want to know!" I cried as I saw Nathan walking towards us. 

"Shelbs, you want me to walk you to class?" Nathan asked holding out his hand. 

"Yeah," I said grabbing his hand. 

"See you at lunch, lovebirds," Madie shouted and I flipped her off. 

-=+=- 

G- Is it okay if Jas sits with us? 

M- No. 

G- But why can Nathan and Jeremy sit with us? 

S- Because they didn't steal my Lunchable pizza when I was 8. 

G- You're such a child

M- Hey! That is a serious situation, Gabriel! 

I roll my eyes as I set my phone down and try to pay attention to the lecture. Stupid Jasmine and her thievery... I am still mad about her stealing my lunch that day. 

The bell rang and I headed to the lunch room and prayed that Jasmine wasn't sitting at our table... Luckily there was no Jasmine but there was also no Gabe. 

I sat down and asked, "where's Gabe?" 

Madie gestured towards the popular table and I saw Gabe freaking Holler. 

"This is a sign of betrayal, right?" I asked. 

"Yes! She stole your freaking Lunchable!" Jeremy said and I nodded giving him a high five. 

"I'm supposed to threaten you about not hurting her but I think you already know," I said and he nodded. 

"Hey, where's Gabe?" Nathan asked as he sat down next to me. 

I gestured towards the table with my plastic knife and glared at the table. 

"Okay, put the plastic knife down, Shelby," Nathan said grabbing it from me. 

"I'm not going to kill anyone..." I said looking at my sandwich. 

"Mmk, I think we've learned that you're not allowed to have utensils," Madie said and everyone began chuckling while I was still glaring. 

"Have you decided where you're going to school, Nathan?" Jeremy asked. 

"I've got a lot of offers but I'm still looking over it with my family," Nathan said stealing a pretzel. 

"Don't you have to make a decision soon?" Madie asked. 

"Yeah, next week," he said and I started chocking on my carrot. 

"Nate, you have to decide really soon..." I said and he nodded. 

"Where have you gotten offers?" Madie asked 

"University of Denver, Syracuse, Duke, Notre Dame, and Stanford." 

"Holy crap, have you narrowed it down at all?" 

"I've gotten thirteen offers and I narrowed it down to those five..." 

"Those are all amazing schools! I bet whichever school you choose, you're going to love it," Jeremy said and Nathan grabbed my hand. 

He knew I was sad because none of those are in Illinois and the closest one is Notre Dame which is still pretty far... 

"Yeah, all of them are the best soccer schools so I'm still having a really difficult time choosing where I want to go." 

-=+=- 

"Okay, we have to decide where you are going to school," Marcy said as all of were gathered around the dining room table. 

There was each school's shirt with a list of pros and cons scattered around the table. I smiled at how many options he has, but it's a really difficult decision to make. 

"Okay well, Stanford has the lowest acceptance rate and Denver has the highest," Trey said. 

"But Denver is the second best soccer school," Eric said and I sighed. 

"I'm going to get rid of Syracuse because the campus wasn't my favorite and I don't want to go to New York," Nathan said and grabbed the shirt then put it in a box with all the other rejects. 

"I'm going to get rid of Duke because-" Matt started saying and Marcy hit his chest. 

"Okay, I think I made my decision..." Nathan said and everyone had the face of nervousness. 

Before this whole meeting we all placed bets on where he was going to go. 

Marcy and Matt- Stanford 

Luke- Denver 

Eric and Trey- Duke 

Shelby and Derek- Notre Dame

"I'm choosing to attend... Stanford University to pursue soccer and engineering," Nathan said and the family cheered. 

He slipped on his Stanford shirt and hugged his family. I think I was hoping for Notre Dame because it was the closest to home and I wanted to visit him. 

"Congratulations Nathan!" I said and gave him a quick peck. 

It's hard to know that someone you love is going to be so far from home...