Mask
"So Uncle Carmine is going to stay in Jason's room next month when he comes down for the girls' graduation," Sam told Freddie as she hung up her phone.
"Where's Jason going to sleep?" Freddie frowned. "He'll be home from school."
"Down here on the pull-out bed," Sam replied.
"Why doesn't Uncle Carmine sleep down here?" Freddie asked.
"Because he has a bad back, you nub!" Sam snapped. "You want to put my sixty-three-year old uncle on this flimsy mattress? No wonder he always threatens you with flying fizzbands!"
"Alright, alright, sorry," Freddie said. "I'm surprised you already arranged this, though. Graduation isn't for a few more weeks; normally you'd be making these plans the night before."
"Well I remembered how chaotic it was with everybody coming down when Jason graduated high school," Sam said. "Thought I'd try to avoid that this time."
"Wow, look at you learning from past experiences," Freddie chuckled, putting an arm around his wife. "Aren't you all grown up?"
"Shut up," Sam said, playfully swatting his shoulder.
"Come on, baby," Freddie said. "I think it's cute that you're all mature."
"Do you want me to hit you?" Sam snapped. "Is that your goal here? Because I swear, doof, you're really asking for-"
"Can you two keep it down in there?" Ashton said from the living room, where her and Emma were sitting on the couch with their laptops. "We're trying to work in here."
"Work?" Sam repeated as her and Freddie stepped into the room. "What kind of work are you doing? You're almost done with your senior year; everybody knows you don't have to actually do anything now."
"Sam…" Freddie sighed, rolling his eyes.
"We're trying to figure out stuff for college," Emma said.
"Oh!" Freddie said. "Wow, that's really responsible of you girls."
"Well University of Oregon keeps sending me annoying emails about picking my major, so I figured I should start looking," Emma sighed.
"Is that what you're doing too, Ash?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, but it's hard," Ashton said. "How am I supposed to know what I want to major in? Berkley says I need to have something picked by orientation in July."
"Well you guys know anything you pick for your major right now isn't binding," Freddie said. "You can always change it once you start your classes and get more of an idea of what you want to do with your future. But you know, if you need help coming up with ideas now, your mom and I can help."
"Yeah, you should try and pick a major that fits well with who you are," Sam nodded. "And we know you guys pretty well."
"Okay," Emma agreed. "So what do you think I should major in?
"Well," Freddie said thoughtfully. "You like sports…"
"No duh, dad," Emma smirked. "I'm going to school on a track scholarship. But I can't major in sports…wait can I? Because I'd be so down for that!"
"Er, no, you can't," Sam said quickly. "But you can major in things related to sports."
"Like what?" Emma asked.
"There's lots of options," Freddie said. "Physical therapy, so you can learn to help athletes recover after injuries, marketing, so you can learn how to help teams promote themselves, sports management, so you can learn how to, well, manage sports teams…"
"Managing sports teams?" Emma repeated. "I can do that?"
"Well you'd have to look into it a little more, but sure," Sam said. "You'd probably really enjoy it. Maybe one day you could wind up managing a professional team."
"That'd be so cool!" Emma said.
"Why don't you go look on Oregon's website and see if you can find out a little more about their program," Freddie said.
"Okay," Emma said, getting to her feet. "Thanks mom and dad; that was easier than I thought."
"Whoa, you got Emma a major in like, two minutes!" Ashton said as her sister ran off upstairs. "Do me next!"
"Okay, well, think of something you're super passionate about," Sam said. "Emma loves sports, so that's why it makes sense for her to go into something related to sports."
"Um…I don't know what I'm passionate about," Ashton said.
"Come on, you're passionate about plenty of things," Freddie said. "I mean you're a straight 'A' student for crying out loud. You can major in something science-related, or history, maybe English-"
"Hey, I majored in English!" Sam smiled.
"Yeah, but you liked writing," Ashton sighed. "I mean I'll write when I have to for school, but I can't see myself actually doing it for a living."
"Well okay, what about maybe majoring in biology?" Freddie suggested. "You did get first place in the science fair last year with your project on Cell Theories."
"I don't know, I kind of feel the same way as I do with English," Ashton said. "I did it in school because, well, I had to, but I don't know if I'd want to make it my whole life."
She slumped down in her seat. "See, I told you, I don't know if I'm passionate about anything. Emma's always loved sports. She's going to college on a sports scholarship! Mom, you wrote all sorts of funny stuff for a huge web show when you were my age and dad, you were doing all this insane computer stuff. But me…I don't have anything like that."
"Sweetheart, everybody has their thing," Freddie said, putting an arm around his daughter.
"Not me," Ashton mumbled. "Face it, I'm just gonna have to wind up picking a major at random and dealing with that."
"That's ridiculous," Sam said. "Your dad's right; everybody has something that they're passionate about. It just might not be as clear for you right now, but it's there, I promise. You're still young; you're just getting started. You don't need to know exactly what you want to do with your whole life right now. You have time to explore your options and figure out what you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life."
"But I still need to pick a major," Ashton said. "For orientation. How am I supposed to pick a major without knowing what I want to do?"
"Well…Berkley has an exploratory option," Freddie said.
"What's that?" Ashton frowned, confused.
"Most schools have it," Sam explained. "It's basically a major for people who are like you and don't know what they want their majors to be yet. It gives you the chance to take a bunch of classes in different areas so you can get a feel for what you like and what you don't like."
"I can do that?" Ashton said slowly.
"Sure you can!" Freddie said. "It'd be a great way for you to discover your passion!"
"But wouldn't this kind of make me seem like a loser?" Ashton sighed. "What if people ask me about my major at orientation and I have to tell them I'm exploratory?"
"I think you'd be surprised about just how many kids are in the same boat as you," Sam smiled. "Seriously, don't think you have to have everything all planned out right now."
"You'll be fine," Freddie told her.
"You really think so?" Ashton said softly.
"Of course we do," Sam said.
