By: CNJ
PG-13
9: College Callings
Mona:
"God, I can't get over how
warm
it is for early March," I commented as my friends and I sat on a long table
on the edge of the huge field just across the street from Stamford High.
"Yeah..." Mary Anne nodded
as we dug into our food, food from so many different countries that we'd
lost count after the fifth sampling. We were at a huge international exhibit
in Stamford that first Saturday in March and the day had turned out to
be around...get this...seventy-five! And it was clear and sunny, perfect
springlike weather. Well, spring would officially be here in three weeks.
We'd spent a swell afternoon seeing all kinds of displays and demonstrations
from all over the world, including Asia and Africa. We'd even seen a glass-blower
from Eastern Europe. Then we'd gotten to the food and had loaded up. We'd
also run into several other kids we knew including Caitlin Giotti and some
of her friends and Emily Bernstein as well as several others. There were
also a lot of Stamford and Earhart High students there and a bunch of us
sat together to eat. We drifted from the wonderful weather, to different
cultures and how their kids grow up to colleges and to graduation.
"Next month is the measuring
for our caps," Caitlin told us. Several whoops and cheers went up.
"Ours too," a Stamford student
added. We then exchanged our graduation dates. SHS's is on May 26. Earhart's
is on May 28. Stamford High's...lucky them...is on May 20.
"Come on, May 26!" Claudia
whooped as we got ready to leave a while later. We all laughed then. We
walked the long way to Kristy's mom's car and headed first home, then to
Kristy's, where we were having our monthly sleepover. The spring weather
held out all day and into the evening, so we sat out on the porch and talked
a long time until long after it was dark. College came up and we knew any
day now we'd start hearing from various schools we'd applied to.
"...It's worth the try,"
Claudia was telling us in her reasons for applying to Carnegie U. in Pennsylvania.
"I'm not really anticipating getting in, but they have an art program there.
I also should hear from Granite U. any day."
"It is..." Mary Anne nodded.
"You all...I think I'm headed to New York next year. I've applied at New
York U. and Staten U. I know Arizona U. was also on the list, but I don't
think I'll go there after all. I also applied at Stamford U. to be on the
safe side."
"What sane college wouldn't
take you or Stace?" I added with a laugh. "The academic powerhouses of
our bunch?"
"They might be booked,"
Mary Anne blushed a little and shrugged. I then noticed Stacey was sort
of looking away and I thought I saw tears in her eyes. I then remembered
her mentioning that she was having a tough time thinking about us leaving
here and zooming off in different directions for college. I touched her
arm softly and she turned a bit and tried to smile, I guess hoping none
of us would notice her gloominess.
"...to Connecticut U. as
my 'safe' school," Kristy told us. "Fellowdean and Steinway should be getting
in touch with me any day now." I remembered Ms Kast, our guidance counselor
telling us last fall and even last spring that we should apply at one 'safe'
college, a college that takes almost any student just to be on the safe
side. There are lots of reasons some colleges reject you and it isn't always
grades or extracurriculars.
"I'm up for a scholarship
at Aberdine," Stacey put in softly. "I'm...still torn between Vermont and
New York...or going here maybe Stamford U."
"I'd say go for it," Dawn
put in. "You have a real shot at the scholarship." I was relieved and I
could see Mary Anne was at hearing Stacey join in the conversation. At
least she had applied for a scholarship, so we knew that she really did
want to go out into the great big beyond out there. She maybe just needed
our reassurances that we'd stay friends forever, I think.
"I'd like to make a toast..."
I said suddenly. "That no matter where we go in the world, we always stay
friends and close forever..." we clicked cups, glasses, and cans in a toast.
"The BSC forever."
"The BSC forever..." We
all murmured and I saw tears in Mary Anne's eyes and we sipped. By then
it was late, so we headed inside reluctantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stacey:
The next week seemed to fly
by. Several students then began hearing from colleges. Caitlin Giotti was
accepted into Boulder U. in Colorado. Kristy didn't get into Steinway,
but made it into Fellowdean. I was accepted into Aberdine, Stamford and
New York U's. Claudia didn't get into Carnegie, but got into Granite U.
She came into Wednesday's BSC meeting, whooping and happy and we all congratulated
her.
"The next order of business
is getting the dorm settled and securing the financial aid," she told us.
Mary Anne was accepted into New York U, Stamford U and Arizona U.
"I'm squirming just waiting
for Staten U," she told us at Friday's meeting.
"Me too.." Mona added. She'd
also applied at Staten U. She'd gotten her acceptance letter into Connecticut
U. and Stamford U. There was just the nerve-wracking waiting, waiting...but
then time seemed to be flying at the same time and it was mid-March.
The whole year's flying
by too fast, I thought sadly as I gathered with Kristy, Abby, Mona, and
Mary Anne in the student lounge during free period, which was right before
an assembly. There we spotted Lyric Woodward, who was closing a book. She
is almost three years older than the rest of us because she lost a lot
of school time taking care of her alcoholic mom. She came to SHS along
with a throng of new students last year. She'd become an emancipated minor
at sixteen and this year she'd turned twenty. We noticed that she had tears
in her eyes.
"What wrong?" Mary Anne
asked softly.
"Just..." she sniffled.
"Reading the book." Oh, I mouthed, seeing the cover. The Diary
of Anne Frank. I'd read it back in middle school and it was one of
the saddest books I'd ever read.
"God..." Mary Anne sat across
from her. "I cried ten oceans of tears over that book. I think of how fleeting
life is."
"It brings back stuff my
grandmother told me about the Holocaust," Lyric told us. "She...she had
to hide from the Nazis in the war." Lyric swallowed and wiped her eyes.
"Sh-she made it, thank goodness...b-but she had some friends...who didn't...after
the war ended and she was freed, she came here...she's from Germany." We
were quiet a minute, thinking how fragile life really is. Anne Frank was
sixteen when she died. Just a year younger than us.
"And she died just four
short weeks before her camp was freed," Kristy put in softly. Mary Anne
then started to cry softly and I put an arm around her, feeling tears in
my own eyes. Several other kids came over and we talked back and forth
quietly, thinking about our own lives now and the oppression that still
existed in some other parts of the world. There were even two juniors with
us that had read to book and they ended up in tears, which got Lyric crying
again. That got me started crying for real. Then Kristy groped around and
Mary Anne handed her a tissue and I was surprised to see her in
tears.
"Hey..." Mona's eyes welled
up and she needed tissues too. Most of us, about twenty of us in the lounge
wound up in tears. Maybe it was the book combined with the awareness of
the impending changes in our own lives. Just then the bell rang and we
had to wipe away our tears and head to the assembly in the auditorium downstairs.
Lyric and Mary Anne hastily handed out tissues and we blew our noses in
a slapdash attempt to pull ourselves together.
"Hey, sorry this made you
all cry," Lyric whispered as we joined the crush of other students to the
auditorium.
"No problem," Mary Anne
whispered. "I think it was kind of our catharsis for what's coming up soon."
Some kids peered over at us as we sat.
"Heyyy, what's wrong?" Claudia
asked as she and the rest of our BSC friends sat around us.
"A book we were looking
at," I told her, attempting to blow my nose one last time, which felt heavy,
clogged, and red.
"Dairy of Anne Frank"
Abby put in, wiping traces of tears from her own red eyes.
"Oh..." Dawn nodded in understanding.
Just then, Ms. Silverbein came up and blew in the mike and all of us slowly
quieted down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Anne:
It was quite a day, I reflected
as I made my way to the newspaper staff meeting that afternoon, being that
it was Thursday. We proofread our articles that day and they were ready
for the printers for April's issue. Just one more issue after this one,
I thought. Our graduation issue of the Stoneybrook High Beacon.
I knew I'd really miss working on the SHS newspaper. I was going to miss
Ms. Fedders and a lot of the kids I'd worked with here.
"We're almost done with
our yearbook," Claudia told me as we walked home together after our meetings.
"Just checking some last proofs, then it'll be our graduation pictures
and that's it for us seniors at Visions."
"Yeah..." I had a small
lump in my throat. Two more months. When I got home late that afternoon,
I spotted the envelope along with the pile of mail inside the door. My
heart skipped a beat when I saw the address from Staten U. I picked up
the mail and put the rest of it on the hall table, then opened the envelope
with shaky fingers.
"YAAAA-hooooo!" I bellowed
when I read that I'd made it into Staten U. "Yeee-haaa!" I kissed the envelope,
knowing deep down that now this was the college I really wanted to go to.
Sharon and Dad came home just as I was skipping a little in the living
room.
"Hi, sweetheart..." "Hi,
honey..." they greeted, looking a little surprised to see me going nutty
right there in the living room.
"Oh..." I blushed. "Hi..."
"Good news?" Dad smiled,
seeing the letter I was holding.
"Yes..." I held it out to
them and they read it.
"Oh, congratulations, dear,"
Sharon smiled at me. Just then Dawn came home and we told her the news.
She'd gotten accepted into Tucson and had decided to go there next year.
"I'm going to Staten U,"
I told everyone as we got ready to sit and eat. "I have to call..." Just
then the phone rang and I reached out for it. "Hello..."
"I MADE IT!" Mona yowled
and I knew she'd gotten into Staten U. too.
"Me too!" I told her and
we congratulated each other. "So are we on for applying to be roommates?"
"Definitely," Mona told
me. We'd talk more at school tomorrow, so we hung up and I joined my family
to eat.
"Amalia called and told
me she got into Tucson U," Dawn told us. "We're also thinking of rooming
there together."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn:
"Maggie made it into Arcata
U," Amalia told me later on Friday night over the phone. "She also applied
at Stanford U. She's applying to different scholarships, but isn't going
to let on to her dad that until she's secured the scholarship."
"I'm keeping my fingers
crossed that she gets a full scholarship for all four years, so she won't
have to worry about paying for the college she wants," I put in.
"Sunny got into Sageworth
U in San Francisco," Amalia added. "And Jill is headed to Edinburg in Michigan."
"Good to hear that," I nodded,
even though Amalia couldn't see me. "So we're on for roommates next year?"
"Sure are." We talked a
while more, then said good night and hung up. So, next year I was headed
back to the good old Southwest to the sand and desert life. It was almost
like going back to California, but without the long beaches. Adulthood's
almost here, I realized as I headed upstairs.