The Garden of Vacant Dreams

The Real World

A/N: Saban and Disney own the characters you know, I own the ones you don't.

CHAPTER 23 

THE REAL WORLD 

"Do I look okay?" She was observing herself in the body length mirror in her bedroom. She wore a cocoa colored knee-length dress with cream trim and brown suede flats. Her long, wavy ponytail fell in between her shoulder blades. She tightened her hair tie as she looked at him in the reflection of her mirror.

"Of course you do." He replied. "Jamie, you look perfect."

She turned around and faced him. "I'm nervous. You can tell, can't you?"

He grinned before sitting down on the edge of her bed. He clasped his hands together as his elbows met his thighs."It's normal. Graduating the eighth grade and moving into high school is a big deal." His eyes followed her as she sat down and crossed her arms.

"I'm almost fourteen. I'm four years away from being out in the real world and I still don't even know what I want to be."

"Hey... stay calm, kid. You've got plenty of time to figure your life out."

"Did you know what you wanted to do when you were my age?"

He looked away from her as he took a moment to think about it. "Well... I always knew I wanted to be a martial artist. I wanted to run my own dojo but it was never really in the cards for me." He paused before looking back at her. "It's okay to not know. You're going to grow a lot and discover things about the world and about yourself in the next few years. You'll figure it out along the way."

"Did you go to college right after high school?"

He looked away again as he thought carefully about his response. "I didn't, no."

"How come?"

As much as he wanted to tell her the truth, he knew he had to refrain. "I didn't feel ready for it. I wanted to be certain that I knew what I wanted to do with my life before jumping into it."

"When did you know?"

"When I was twenty-five." He replied. "I decided on Paleontology thinking I'd go off and travel, that I'd research and discover things. When I graduated college, there weren't a lot of jobs available. I went back and got my Masters and thought I'd teach in a college somewhere. I never thought I'd end up here in Reefside but I missed southern California."

"Professor Oliver." She said as she looked up at him with a smile. "Has a nice ring to it."

He grinned as he looked down at her.

"You know..." He began again after a moment. "High school was an interesting time in my life. I experienced a lot, both good and bad and you will too. It's an exciting time really. I think you're going to do really well, Jamie."

She nodded as her eyes landed on her shoes and her demeanor became more solemn.

"Hey..." He said as he placed his hand on her back and looked down at her with fatherly concern. "What's on your mind?"

"I miss her so much." She softly replied. "I wish she could watch me graduate too."

He could see the whirlwind of emotion building up within her. It had been almost eight years since she watched her mother die at the hands of her biological father. He pulled her into him and she embraced him right back.

"She's always with you, Jamie." He told her softly as she held him tight. He rested his chin against the top of her head. "And I will be too."