Don't forget me

Axe Murderer

I've never faced such daunting pieces of paperwork in my life.

Several mounds of applications sit in front of me and I rub my face in frustration. I don't know what I want for dinner tonight let alone what I want to study for two years. I flip through different courses, skimming the descriptions and hoping something will jump out to me. I soon realise that I'm not going to get anywhere this way and eventually give up and accept my fate of living in a café for the rest of my life.

A release a dramatic sigh and make my way to my bed before flopping onto it and wishing it would just swallow me whole. A knock on the door pulls me from my hopelessness and my Mum's kind face peers around it.

"How's the applications coming along?" She asks gently but I let out another walrus like groan.

She chuckles at my response and instead sits beside me and places something onto my lap.

"What's this?" I ask, picking it up to find a small leaflet.

"It's a small volunteer programme that works out of Nepal." She shrugs, "Jess if you're not ready for uni yet that's fine. I don't want you to go there if you won't enjoy it. Take a gap year, travel, live your life for a bit then come back and study." She encourages, "Whatever you do I'm behind you ok?"

"Thanks Mum." I smile at her warmly, appreciative of how open she is with me.

"Anytime my love." She wanders back out of the room, leaving me alone with two options.

I glance back down at the leaflet and start to read it, it's apparently a small, self-started volunteer programme in Nepal that they are hoping to grow to other countries one day. The volunteers work with children who are often orphaned or live in the more dangerous parts of the country. I smile at some of the pictures, children gazing happily at volunteers, children playing on a makeshift dirt football pitch and images of their sleeping figures crammed into a small room fast asleep.

If I thought things were hard to choose from before, now I'm definitely going to have a field trip. Just when I'm about to drop everything entirely and move towards my unfinished sketches, my phone buzzes and I find a message from an unknown number.

Unknown-

So... what do you say about a trip out?

To Unknown-

Who is this??

Unknown-

It's Blake, Kia kind of gave me your number

I curse Kia's meddling skills but also quietly thank her for being very good at playing matchmaker.

Blake-

I was wondering if you were free to hang out?

I look to the piles of paperwork and immediately know my answer,

To Blake-

Sounds good, when, and where?

Blake-

I'll pick you up in an hour.

Oh, and Jess, wear a swimming costume

I'm sat on my front step when Blake pulls up, I make my way to the passenger door and slide in,

"Hey." He smiles

"Hey back." I laugh, "So where is it we're actually going today?" I ask.

"That, is for me to know and you to find out I'm afraid." Blake teases as he pulls away from my house and towards the undisclosed location.