Sophomore Year

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First of all... THANKS SO MUCH FOR 1k, y'all are soooo great.
Excuse the errors.

When times get tough, preserve. Life waits for nobody, so it's either one is stuck waiting for something to happen or they're taking control. They're trying to find the sliver lining through all the madness or they're playing the self pity game.

One of life's obstacles: school.

Knowledge is literally every where, but school does teach basic skills. Reading, writing, etc... Social skills, how to deal with different people and personalities, self-discipline. All seem to be a positive, but in all honesty school can be the cause of stress and anxiety among teens and young adults...

Two AM on a Thursday, Rodney is nowhere near sleepy. His hands ruffled though his braids as he sighed. He felt a lump in his throat, not necessarily wanting to cry, but he felt a wave of negative emotion.

He glanced at the online application. Two down, one more to go. This online application, staring back at him, is the last one. And it might just kill him.

He feels discouraged.

Yeah, his grades are okay. Yeah, he could qualify. But there's major competition—he hated not feeling confident when his self-confidence is really all he has.

His mind turned against him, everything felt like a domino affect. One negative emotion triggering another. First he's thinking heavily about this application and it's complications next he's thinking about his father, and what life would've been like had he not indulged in the fast life. All of that weighing heavy on his mind—he had to do something with his life, he can't fall victim of his upbringing, he has to succeed.

He wants it all now because stressing over it is detrimental.

He pushed back in his seat and stood up.

Looking under his bed, he grabbed his shoe box and rummaged through it. He glanced at his lighter before shaking his head. He walked back over to his desk and sat down, twiddling the lighter between his fingers.

He grabbed his phone, and decided to FaceTime his grandmother.

It's three in the morning, on a Thursday... He thought to himself, as he placed the shoe box on his desk and pushed it away.

He was surprised to see that she answered.

"Hello, hello? Can you see me?!" She shouted. "Rodney! Hello?"

"Yes." He says. "I can see you, and hear you. Stop shouting." He huffed, looking behind him—seeing Kendrick turn over, fast asleep in his own bed.

"Oh, mm. Sorry." She says, she set her laptop down on her night stand and shifting her seating position. She grabbed her glasses and set them on the bridge of her nose. "What are you doing up this early? Is everything alright, you seem upset. You hungry? You must hungry!"

"No, I'm fine. It's..." He trails off, before burying his face in his hands and rubbing them down his jaw and sighing.

He didn't know why he called her, but something just told him too.

Grandma Rasheeda, grew a little worried. "What is it, now?"

"These internship applications, and just this... All this work in general." He paused. "Sometimes, I wonder if I'm even doing the right thing."

"And what is it, what are you doing right now?"

Rodney glanced around the room, sighing. He really doesn't know what he's doing, he's confused, and overall has no idea if he's on the right path.