Have a Little Hope

24. Have a Little Celebration

So here’s the chapter after that cliff hanger :P will Hope get the grades and get into uni?! Also things heat up in this chapter... Oh and beauuuuutiful song that I just love for Hope and Cole at the side :) 

Anxiously, I tear the seal on the envelope and pull the pages out. After taking a few deep breaths, I turn my pages over.

Chemistry-B

Biology- B

Psychology-A*

‘That’s brilliant, Hope!’ Cole cheers, lifting me up and spinning me around in sheer delight, but I struggle to get down and shake my head. ‘I missed by a grade. I needed AAB.’

Cole pouts at my sadness and quickly loads my UCAS page on his iPhone, seeing if Southampton have accepted me by a miracle or not. I watch his eyes looking at the page nervously and then he beams at me. ‘You got in, baby.’

‘Huh?’

‘YOU GOT IN!’ He exclaims excitedly and shows me the page, pointing at the successful offer on my UCAS page. 'Babe you did it!'

‘I did? But I missed by a grade?’

Mr. Bentley steps in and with a smile on his face explains, ‘The university were made aware of what happened before you sat your exams and obviously they saw your potential with your excellent results considering everything you’ve been through recently. So congratulations, Hope, looks like you’re going to Southampton after all.’

My eyes brim with tears and I can’t help but cry. I don’t know if they’re happy tears or not, but they stream from my eyes nevertheless. I hug Cole tightly and feel overwhelmed as his arms wrap around my body and he tells me how proud he is of me.

‘Southampton, Strawbs,’ he coos. ‘You’ve got your dream.’

I nod, chewing my bottom lip as Cole wipes my tears away with his thumbs. I can’t help but think that my dad somehow helped me through those exams despite my lack of revision with the traumatic circumstances I was in. Sure I didn’t get the grades I had aimed for, but I’ve got my university place and done rather well considering everything. I quickly call up my grandparents and hear them both cry down the phone. I guess we’re all pretty emotional about today. It’s been three months since losing my dad and it’s still raw for all of us.

Belle and Peter got the grades they needed for their uni as well, with Belle getting three As and Peter excelling with 1 A* and 2 As. They will both be off to Surrey together. They’re studying different things, but are living together up there. The thought of not seeing that pair all the time makes my heart feel heavy. Though thinking about not seeing Cole everyday sends my heart thumping.

We really need to talk about this and I am not going to delay talking about it.

We head down to the seaside for a portion of chips to share between us to celebrate. A lot of the year thirteen leavers were going on a pub crawl, but Cole and I easily opted out of that, preferring to spend some time alone. It’s midday now, so the beach is slowly filling with more people. We go to the spot where we had our first date and Cole lends me his jacket to sit on. We sit face to face when I blurt out. ‘What’s going to happen, Cole?’

‘Between us?’ He asks, predicting my thoughts. I nod and watch as he finishes his mouthful, noticing the slight dimple in his right cheek. ‘It’ll be fine.’

‘Cole, I’m going to be moving to Southampton.’

He feigns shock. ‘No!’

‘I’m serious, Cole. That’s over an hour away,’ I mention warily.