Yuna Inspired: Our Virtual Family

060

As promised, just a month and a half before senior year was over, the gang had received their mail regarding whether they were going to get into the college they all requested to. They promised each other that they would open their letter together so they could celebrate together, regardless of getting in or not. Hana and Logan received theirs two days ago, Jake and Hailey received theirs yesterday, and today, Seth received his. After he had called to inform his friends, they voluntarily rushed to the virtual couple's house as it had the most privacy and freedom to party.

"Logan," said Hailey, "it's your turn. You're the last one." She and the gang looked at him.

The friends sat in a circle on the living room floor with their acceptance letters in front of them. They had read their acceptance letter one by one, and everyone but Logan, who had yet to read his, had been accepted, but it wasn't a celebration yet until they knew of each other's statuses.

Worried, Hana softly nudged him. "Logan?"

He looked at her, and his sullen expression gave the answer away.

His friends gasped, and Jake's hushed, "No way!" could be heard. Within seconds, everyone but Hana, frozen with shock, surrounded him, trying to comfort him.

Hana brokenly uttered, "Logan... How—how..." Her water-filled eyes blurred her vision, and once the friends removed themselves from him, she hugged him. Sniffling, she said, "I wish we could attend college together."

He patted her back. "You don't have to," he said to her, "because we are."

The friends were put into confusion. Didn't his sad expression earlier mean that he was turned down?

Hana slowly pulled herself away from him and saw a nonchalant Logan looking back at her. She had a bad feeling about the situation, so she clenched tightly onto his t-shirt in case she might need to get him back. "What. Do. You. Mean?"

"I mean what I mean, duh." He didn't share an ounce of worry as the rest of them.

Jake swiped the paper in Logan's hands and skimmed through it, eyes gradually becoming big. "Logan! You!"

Hailey and Seth took a peep at the paper, and they too had the same expression as Jake. "You lied to us?"

"I did not lie," said Logan. "You guys assumed it yourself."

That was Hana's confirmation. She got on her knees, held tight on his shirt, and tug it with all her might, and shouted, "How. Dare. You. Lie. To. Me. Like. That? Don't you know how devastating that was? Don't joke like that—ever again— Logan!"

Seth was about to stop her, but Hailey halted her boyfriend, saying, "Let her show him that it wasn't nice to scare us like that. Even I was hurt and worried." She looked down and quietly said, "I don't want us to be apart even when we become adults."

He hugged his girlfriend, understanding her feelings. "I don't think we'll ever be apart." He and his girlfriend smiled and enjoyed the scene in front of them: Hana wiping her tears, Logan begging for forgiveness, and Jake and Sylvia talking to each other.

They hoped to themselves that none of them would ever change.

*

"Man-girl ..." Logan whined at the sofa. He had been trying to get her to talk to him for two hours ever since she had gotten mad at him for lying to her about his acceptance letter. "Talk to me."

Hana ignored him and acted like he wasn't there. She even looked past him and said to Hailey, who was behind him, "Hailey, can I sleep at your place tonight with Lucas?"