Early Imprint [Book 3] ✔️

20 • Senior Year

CLAIRE'S POV

I looked down at the name on the application in my hand. Cornish College of the Arts.

The school was located in Seattle. Seattle wasn't too far when I thought about it. Only five hours away. And I couldn't live in La Push forever. I was pretty positive that Aunt Emily and Uncle Sam would some day want their guest bedroom back. I mean, I never even went to Makah for summer breaks or anything anymore, so they never got their guest room back. I loved my parents and I missed my siblings, but this was home to me and the idea of leaving it broke my heart.

I glanced down at the paper in my hand. I should have filled the form out and sent it in already. Today was the deadline. If I didn't have this application sent in the mail with a postmark of today, then they wouldn't consider me.

I still couldn't believe that high school was almost done. I had prom tomorrow, graduation the following month, and in three months I'd be 18. Three months! I'd be considered legally an adult then. I could vote when I turned 18. Eighteen was such a big deal. And it would mark the end of one era in my life and the beginning of another.

But college? That was the typical next step in most people's lives. Most of my friends had already been accepted to some school. My sister Cora wasn't even in the state anymore. She had gotten accepted to Northwestern in Illinois last year. She wanted to be a lawyer. Remembering how easily she had been able to push me into manipulating Quil when we were kids, I had no doubt that she would be successful.

I had decided that I wanted to attend Cornish because they were known for their art program. I loved to draw. If I had to choose one career in life, I would love to be an animator for a company like Pixar, or I'd like to do 2-D drawings for Disney.

But did I want college or a career that much? I knew a part of me would be perfectly content to work the phones in Quil's garage, if it meant that I could stay in La Push. Just the idea of leaving tore at my heart. Sighing, I picked up my cell phone to call my boyfriend Sully.

Sully and I had been dating for the past year and a half. I loved him with all my heart. I couldn't ask for a better boyfriend. That was another thing that worried me. When we graduated, Sully planned to move to Michigan to attend the University of Michigan. He wanted to be a doctor, and they had one of the best medical programs in the country. What would I do when Sully moved?

Thinking back on my relationship with Sully, it was amazing that we had been able to get together. I had had that stupid crush on Quil for so long; I didn't think I'd ever get over him. I was lucky that my crush hadn't ruined our friendship.

I had kissed Quil, twice, and that had never gotten his attention. I had tried running away and that hadn't worked either. I had done everything to seduce him one day when we went to the beach a couple of summers ago, and he had acted like the perfect gentleman.

I remember when I had asked him to put lotion on me. His hands had felt like they were caressing me. I had been so turned on I had wanted to jump him right then and there. I thought he had been flirting with me too, but instead he had suddenly stopped touching me and had acted disgusted. He certainly had tried to get away from me fast enough. I had realized in that moment how futile my crush was.

And then, while I was sitting there feeling sorry for myself as I watched Quil swim laps in the ocean, I heard someone call my name. I looked up and there was Sully and his friend Keith. Seeing Sully had made my stomach feel like it suddenly had butterflies in it. I had always thought he was cute, but seeing him in his bathing suit, I had wanted to make out with him right then and there.

When we had the bonfire that night, all I could think of was Sully. Even when Quil showed up with Collin, I couldn't see anyone but Sully. I thought he had wanted me too, but after the bonfire he had blown me off and it had broken my heart.