Rosie gets home from school and ignores the hum of her younger siblings and stepmom in the kitchen, climbing the stairs to her bedroom. She shuts the door with her foot, and tosses her backpack onto her bed, crawling onto it and sitting cross-legged. She sighs and takes out the multiple packets that she had gotten from the University Fair at her high school. Lots of University heads and current students set up stations in the cafeteria and hand out packets to outgoing seniors for recruitment to their university.
She knows that her dad is completely adamant that she go to University, but she is not feeling the excitement that all of her friends are feeling. It's true that she is an above-average student and gets great grades, but school is not her favorite thing in the world. The thought of going to four or more years of schooling after high school sends a feeling of annoyance and dread through her. Flipping through the dozens of packets she had picked up, she comes to the one that actually did really interest her. The problem is, it wasn't a school. It was a packet about the Army.
Rose spoke with the three people, including a woman that was running the information booth for quite a while, and it piqued her interest more and more as they spoke. She had always been a more sporty, adventurous person, even though she was still a good student and very smart. In fact, she really enjoyed going with her uncle Sherlock on cases when it included adrenaline and excitement.
Knowing how against this John will be if she brought it up to him, she's not looking forward to talking with him about it. She already knows his answer, but damn it she will be eighteen by the time she graduates, and it's her life. Obviously, his concern for her safety will be an issue, as she knows that he was injured in the line of duty, and losing her mom was a huge loss for him as well. But this was the only thing she was interested in; she didn't want to go to a regular university. In fact, the Army has its own University when you aren't in the field.
Laying back on her bed, she watches her ceiling fan swirl around. Even if her stepmom were more apt to agree with what she wants for her own life, even she wouldn't be able to hold back her Dad's frustration. It's an unavoidable conversation, but she knows how it's going to go. They hardly ever see eye to eye anymore. He calls her stubborn and impulsive, she calls him boring and lame, and they just end up yelling at each other until Caroline steps in to stop them.
Even though she never knew her mom, she wishes that she were here. According to all the awesome stories of her that Sherlock tells her because her Dad won't talk about it, her mom was pretty awesome. In fact, she used to be an assassin! Her mom was a total badass and she'd probably let her do whatever she wanted with her life. Honestly, she doesn't know how she ever fell in love with her Dad, because he is so uptight.
She outs the packets aside and starts her homework, hoping to be done early so she can prepare herself for the yelling match later that night.
"Dinner's ready!" Caroline yells up the stairs. Rosie hears her dad come in the front door since her bedroom is near the stairs. Caroline greets him and he washes up for dinner. She sighs and runs a hand through her curls. A second later her door opens, and her youngest, five-year-old sister Jessie runs in, her brown hair bouncing with her energy.
"Rosie! Dinner!", she giggles and climbs up on her bed, her little legs having a bit of trouble. Rose smiles slightly and helps her up, hugging her.
"Thanks, Jessie. Can you tell them I'll be down in a minute?"
Jessie nods and grins, hopping off her bed and rushing down the stairs. Rose clears off her bed and puts her finished homework away, folding and tucking the Army packet into her back pocket. She slips off her bed and goes downstairs, sitting at the table next to Jessie and quietly across from Colin, her eleven-year-old brother, and Aiden and Joy, her nine-year-old twin brother and sister. Caroline and John bring out the chicken and sides, then sit on opposite ends of the table. Her siblings talk about what they did at school while she listens, staying mostly quiet about her own day.
John looks at her. "What about you, Rose?"
"Uh, it was fine."
"Mhm…I wish you would take that hideous thing out of your nose."
"Yeah, I know. You say that all the time."
"Anyway, today was the University Fair, right? Have you chosen a few you're interested in?"
"They're all the same basically. None of them are great."
"Well, you only have months to choose Rosie. Enrollment starts close to graduation, not to mention you have to actually apply and schedule tours and such. You've got to get going."
She shrugs and pushes her dinner around on her plate.
"I'm serious. You can't procrastinate anymore. You really have to start researching, figuring out what you want to do, and applying to places. Applications are not going to write themselves!"
"Okay! I got it! Can we not talk about this again?"
"No, we have to talk about it because every time we do you still don't do anything about it!"
"Maybe I won't", she mumbles.
"I'm sorry?"
"Nothing, forget it."
"No no, tell me. Because I honestly don't understand why you're being so difficult about your own future."
"I don't want to go to Uni! Okay? I don't. Another four or more years of school sounds absolutely awful to me and I don't want to do it!"
"Rosamund Mary Watson, you're going to university and that's the end of it! We've discussed this!"
"No! YOU'VE demanded this, there was no discussion at all because you never listen to what I want!"
"END OF, young lady! If you're finished with dinner, go finish your homework now!"
"I hate you and I wish Mum were here instead, ugh!" Rosie stomps up to her room, pissed at John and the rest of the world.
