Rise Up

Talie

When Charlotte finally came home two weeks later, the cloud over our household was instantly lifted. Carol was beaming as she walked through the door with our tiny sister. We'd all gotten to hold her at this point, but you could never get enough baby-holding time.

My dad was protectively beside Carol, his hand hovering at her back, as if she might fall. Carol smiled as she walked over to the couch and sat down with the baby. Charlotte's eyes were closed but she cooed a little bit as she was settled. We all stood nearby, craning our necks to get a glimpse of our newest family member. She was perfect.

It was nice to not have everyone so stressed out. I finally felt like I could breathe a little bit and concentrate on my life, not walking on eggshells. I'd gotten a tutor for chemistry and it was helping. I still made desperate phone calls to Vanessa and she was always happy to help.

It was finally almost time to take the O levels, which made me seriously consider moving back to the US. It was kind of terrifying. Based on the scores, universities would decide whether to let you in or not. It was like the SATs on steroids. Alice was taking them too, which helped a little. I knew that I wasn't the only one in misery.

The morning of the test, Carol made us a nice breakfast of sausage and eggs. I was barely able to eat anything, but tried to take at least a few bites. I was on autopilot. We took the underground, stone faced, and made our way to the school's auditorium where everyone else was as terrified as I was.

At least you got to choose what subjects you took. I was set to take English, Algebra, Biology, and World History. The examiner went through the whole spiel and I nervously wiggled my pencil. Finally, the first test began.

The rest of the day was a blur. Hours of testing. By the time we were finally done, my brain was fried. Alice and I stepped out into the dreary London day and instantly pulled out our phones. I had some good luck wishes from Lin and Vanessa, though they were a bit late since New York was 5 hours behind us. I smiled though and texted back, letting them know the tests seemed to have gone okay.

We got home and instantly collapsed onto the couch. Carol made us sandwiches and asked us how it went. Charlotte was down for a nap, which sounded really good. We both said we felt they'd gone okay. We'd find out the results in a month or so.

After lunch, Alice and I both decided to take a well-deserved nap. We instantly conked out. I woke up a couple hours later to a FaceTime request from Lin. I smirked and sat up, running my fingers through my hair quickly.

"Hey!" His warm smile greeted me when I accepted. I heard small voices in the background.

"Hi Lin!" I smiled back.

"So you think you did okay?" he asked.

"I think so," I told him as I adjusted myself on my bed a bit. "We'll find out in a month or so."

"I bet you did great," he told me. Lin always seemed to have faith in me, even when I didn't have faith in myself. "Someone else wants to say hi."

The phone was transferred hands to Sebastian. The sight of him just made me grin. He was still dressed in some dinosaur pajamas, his hair all over the place.

"Hi, Talie!" he said. "Guess what?"

"What?" I played along.

"My teacher said she liked my drawing and she hanged it up on the bulletin board," he reported proudly.

"That's amazing," I told him. "What did you draw?"

"I drew Daddy's brain," he told me.

"Wait, I have a picture," I heard Lin say. "I'll text it to you when we're done."