When Sydney Sherwood was thirteen, she fell in love. She was utterly enamoured with Carter Pearson - the cute, enigmatic, brilliant fourteen year old who lived across the street. But, after only a few months, Carter and his family disappeared, leavi...
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My goodbyes were long and drawn out, especially with Pippa the dog. Dad's trip had been pushed back indefinitely because of something that came up at his current work, so I was flying back alone. After visiting him in the morning, then a tearful parting with my Mum at the airport, I was sat by myself in the boarding lounge, playing a mind-numbing game on my phone. Then, an email notification popped up at the top of the screen. My stomach lurched upon seeing the subject: Finals Results Now Available.
I opened the message quickly, eyes scanning over the information until I found a link to open my results. Other than a few smaller assignments earlier in the semester, these were my first significant grades from Yale. The airport wifi was frustratingly slow and I felt myself get more and more anxious while the page loaded. At last, a load of words and numbers appeared.
I sifted through the information, not caring about my personal details or identification number, until I spotted my results.
And my heart sank.
I'd done, for want of a better word, badly. Reading the series of results over, I desperately hoped that I'd been mistaken, but no. Right in front of me was very definitive proof that my first semester at Yale had been mediocre at best. It felt like a punch to the stomach.
When I looked up and around me through eyes blurred with tears, I realised the people around me had started filtering out of the room and boarding the plane. I stood up on shaky legs and joined the growing queue.
Throughout the safety procedure talks and the entire take off, I couldn't think of anything else but those results. They weren't dreadful - I wasn't about to get put on academic probation, or anything - but they didn't live up to my standards. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been so disappointed with my grades.
How was this possible? I'd felt perfectly fine during class discussions and, if anything, my professors seemed impressed by me. I knew I was naturally smart but I always worked hard too. There was a slight jump from English to American education, but I'd thought I'd navigated it well.
I must have been already half an hour into my flight when a thought struck me. There was one big thing that had come up in my life over the recent months and thrown my focus totally off. Or, rather, one person. Carter.
Had I really let myself get so distracted over a boy that my grades had suffered? I certainly wouldn't be the first girl to face that issue, but I'd never expected it to be something that would happen to me. I was sensible and focused and I didn't let anything stop me, least of all some boy.
Of course, I knew in my heart that Carter had always been more than just some boy. But that didn't change the fact that I needed to seriously get my head down now if I didn't want my whole year abroad to become an embarrassing failure. Which meant no more letting myself get distracted by Carter, no matter how tormented I felt. From now on, I had one focus, and that was myself.
