safe - h.s (EDITING)

three

It was finally Saturday and I woke up nervous to tell my father my decision about which college I would be going to. Surely he won't be mad if he applied me to it, right? It was now dinner time and he hadn't talked to me about it yet. We were halfway through dinner when he asked me the question.

"So Mija, what college have you decided to go to?" my father asks me. I place my knife and fork down before answering, giving him my full attention

"Well papa, I have given a lot of thought to this. I have decided to go to New York," I tell him straight up, clasping my hands together in a silent prayer that he would be okay with my choice.

"Why New York?" he asks me, not sounding even the slightest bit happy.

"Because ever since I was little I have wanted to live in New York and although Stanford could be a better opportunity, New York has more job offers for when I finish college." I explain, having my reasoned down packed because I rehearsed it a million times before dinner.

"Very well, if that's what you want to do so be it." he says, not an inch of his face looking happy or proud. My mother and abuela on the other hand were supportive as they both beamed at me.

"Oh Mija I knew you would love to go to New York, I remember you telling me about it when you were little." my mother says proudly, smiling at me widely as she continued to eat.

"I'm so proud of you," my Abuela says as she gets up. She walks over to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek then a hug around my shoulders. I smiled at her gesture and turned to my sister as my Abuela sat down.

"Estrella, what's wrong?" I asked, noticing her mood change.

"It's just- you know what it's fine." She says smiling. It wasn't real. It didn't reach her eye.

"No, it's not fine. Tell me why you're upset" I say sternly, wanting to know how I could help her.

"I just... don't know what it's like to live without you. Like we have been living together for 15 years straight. I see you every day. It will go from that to not seeing you for like a year," she says sadly. It makes my heart hurt but at the same time I smile. I give her a side hug since she was sitting next to me.

"You know I'm always one call away. You can always message me, call me, face time me. Anything you want okay?" I say trying to reassure her. She gives a small nod and I hug her again.

"It's gonna be okay I promise. I'm gonna miss you too because it's just as scary for me to move out of this house. I've been here a bit longer than you have so can you imagine how I'm feeling," I say with a light-hearted smile and she smiled back at me weakly.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm just really gonna miss seeing you every day." She answers, hurt written in her words. My face softened as I grabbed her hand, giving it a small squeeze.

"I know. Me too," I sighed, continuing to pick at my food.

~~~

The week went by so fast that I barely had time to breathe. Today was the day. I was moving out. 

This past week has consisted of packing everything up into boxes, suitcases and any other form of container to transport my things in. Nervous was the understatement on the year. I was moving so far away from home with a complete stranger. I can do that. So chill. I'm fine. 

That reminds me, where is he?

"Hi papa," I say as he walks into my bedroom. I was making sure everything I owned was packed and ready to be moved.