Chapter 10: Acceptance Letters and Decisions

Author's Note: In this chapter, I'm writing about how Riley and her friends feel about senior year coming to an end, and how nerve wrecking it was to wait for acceptance letters to come. It's pretty much based off some of the emotions and feelings7 I had when I was a senior in high school. (Class of 2014!) and I'm going to base the rest of their senior year from some of my experience. Senior year is a very bittersweet year.

Riley's POV:

Senior year has been flying by so fast, I wish it would all just slow down. This was the last time we were ever going to be in high school. But at the same time, I couldn't wait to graduate and start my college years, one of the things I was afraid of was the acceptance letters. My future lies in the hand of a piece of paper. Almost everyone I knew had already gotten their acceptance letters, Farkle got accepted into Harvard and Maya had gotten an art scholarship in Italy. Lucas and I were the only two that didn't get our acceptance letters yet, that was another thing that worried me. I love Lucas so much but the only thing that worried me was the distance. I know I had nothing to worry about, but we would be a thousand miles away from each other. Lucas's first pick was Berkley and his second choice, was the University of South Carolina. It would be nice if he got accepted at USC, that way we would be closer to each other but I knew that as long as he was happy, I would be fine.

All of a sudden, I heard a knock on my door. "Come in, Lucas." I assumed. He popped in looking confused. "How'd you know it was me?" he asked. "Are you kidding me? Maya and my family don't knock, their pigs." I joked. He came over and sat next to me. "So. I have some news." He said. I had to prepare myself for what was coming. "I got accepted into Berkeley, USC, and the University of Phoenix." He said. "Wow, that's amazing, but which school are you going to choose?" I asked. "Well, that's why I came over here, which school should I choose Riley?" he asked me. "Lucas, I can't make that decision for you." I said as I took his hand into mine. "But I want you to be a part of this decision." he said. "What I want, is for you to be happy, and wherever you go, no matter how far you are, nothing will change between us. I'm in love with you and that will never change. It's going to be worth it in the end and whatever you decide, I'll be here for you and I'll support you through anything. If you choose Berkeley, then I will face my fears and get on a plane and fly four hours just to see you." I said as I looked into his eyes. He smiled and leaned in and gave me a deep kiss. "What was that for?" I asked. Lucas sighed. "I'm just really lucky to have you." he said as he gave me a warm smile.

We locked eyes for a moment, "So have you heard anything yet?" he asked. "If I did, you would've known by now." I teased. "I'm just worried that a small envelope is going to come in the mail, besides a big one." I said. "Don't put that in your mind, you're the smartest person I know. Columbia would be making a big mistake if they didn't accept you. But did you apply anywhere else?" he asked. I nodded. "I applied at Stanford and Oxford." I said. "And those are all great schools, any one of them would be lucky enough to have you there." he said.

After Lucas left, I sat in my room thinking about how different things were going to be after high school. I won't being seeing Maya, Farkle and Lucas every day. I won't be having my dad as a teacher anymore, I would be the only one staying in New York. Everything was going to change, whether I wanted to admit it or not. I don't know if I'm ready to say goodbye. But we still had prom, senior sunset and graduation left.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize Maya was sitting right next to me, "Hi, sweetie." She said. "Hey." I said as I kept my eyes on the floor. "What's the matter?" she asked. "Nothing, I'm just a little bummed I haven't heard from Columbia yet, or any school that I've applied to. Everyone else that I know of has gotten theirs already. Lucas got accepted into all three of the schools that he applied to, he came over and he wanted me to help him make his decision, I told him I couldn't make his decision for him. I'm a little nervous for which school he's going to choose, but I know that whichever one he chooses, we'll manage to make it work." I said. "You guys will and don't worry about the future just yet, you're still in the present. Let's live in the moment for now because spring break is coming up, as well as prom, and senior sunset. We have time to make the best of our year until graduation. So don't think about it until the time comes." She said. I felt much better after we had that talk, we decided to go down to the bakery to go get something to eat.

Once we got there, we saw Lucas and Farkle but they looked like they didn't want to be bothered so we just went and sat in a booth. "So, what should we do for spring break?" Maya asked. "We should take a road trip this year, but I don't know where." I said. "Why don't we road trip to Vermont? My dad has a cabin up there and I can ask if we could spend our spring break there. There's a lake nearby to, just in case you and Ranger Rick want to be alone." She teased. "Well, I wanted it to be just me and you. When were together, were either with Farkle or Lucas. I mean I love them but sometimes I just want a day where it can be just you and me. What do you say?" I asked. "I say let's do this!" she said as we gave ourselves a toast.

Lucas's POV:

Farkle and I were at Topanga's working on our homework, but the only thing I could think of was prom. I didn't know how I wanted to ask Riley. "I have no idea what I'm going to do." I said. "Relax, we have spring break to plan it. Are you going to be with Riley?" Farkle asked. "I hope so." I said. We kept going over different ideas, but I couldn't choose one that was perfect enough for Riley. This was going to be our last prom, I wanted to go all out. "Is that Maya and Riley sitting over there?" Farkle asked, I looked straight ahead and Maya and Riley were sitting in one of the booths, laughing at something. "Yeah, I didn't know they were here, you don't think they heard us, did you?" I asked. "Probably not, I don't even think their paying attention. Do you want to go give your girlfriend a little wittle kiss?" Farkle teased. "Not yet, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about." I said as I kept my eyes on Riley. "Okay, what is it? And stop looking at her, you look creepy," Farkle said. "I got accepted into all of the colleges that I applied to, but I don't know which one to choose," I said. "Did you tell Riley?" he asked. "She was the first person I told, and I knew what she was going to say, she told me that she wants me to be happy and that she will support my decision," I said.

I looked over at Riley again and she was stuffing her face in chocolate cake, a smile spread across my face. "I don't want to be so far away from her, but Berkeley was my first pick and it was the school I've been wanting to go to for a while now," I said as I looked back at Farkle. "The best thing you could do, when it comes to make a decision like this, just take a walk, clear your mind, and when it comes time to make a decision, follow your heart. Because your heart always leads to the right place." He said. Farkle was right, and that's exactly what I was going to do.

Riley's POV:

I had chocolate all over my face, but it was worth it because, well it's chocolate. "That was delicious." I said as I took a sip of milk. Maya was looking at me like I was the strangest girl in the world. "It was also very attractive." Lucas said as he came and sat next to me. "Hi" I said with my chocolate smile. Lucas took a napkin and started wiping my face. "Thank you," I said as he continued to wipe the chocolate off my face. "Does this seem familiar to you?" he asked. I smiled. "You know, they call me princess dancing sunshine." I said. "Of course they do," he said as he played along. "Would you call me princess dancing sunshine?" I asked. "Would you call me mad dog?" he asked. "No, I would not." I said. "Well there you go," he said. After we cleaned up, Maya and I said goodbye to the guys and went back to my house.

The days were just flying by, and we were all in the gym at the senior assembly. The senior assembly was for senior announcements and we also had to pick up our cap and gown. It felt so surreal. I was feeling so many emotions, I wanted to cry but at the same time I was excited. We were all about to see a different view of the world. But the only thing that kept bugging me was the acceptance letters. Everyone else already had their future laid out right in front of them, everyone knew where they were going, and what they were doing. But where is my future?

After the assembly, I was driving around, still feeling pretty bummed about not receiving any letters yet. I was feeling like maybe I wasn't meant to have a good future. I went home and quickly ran to my room to find an envelope on my bed. It was a big envelope on my bed, it was from Stanford and Oxford. I had got accepted into both schools. I was really excited but then I realized, I had to put myself in Lucas's shoes, because now I'm the one that has to decide where I want my future to go. Do I want to start off my future in Oxford or do I want to start a future in Stanford? But knowing the rivalry between Stanford and Berkeley it's going to be pretty interesting.

I had to tell everyone the news, so I quickly ran downstairs and yelled "I GOT ACCEPTED INTO STANFORD AND OXFORD!" My parents and Auggie ran over and congratulated me. "That's great, honey." My mom said as she gave a hug. "But there's still no response from Columbia," I said as my voice fell. "Honey, you will hear from them soon. Just celebrate the acceptances you got for right now, don't stress over what hasn't happened yet." my mom said as she kept her arm around me. I knew she was right. So I went and drove over to Maya's.

"You got in?!" she said as I told her the news. "I'm so happy for you!" she said. "Thank you, I mean I know the letters weren't from Columbia, but at least I still got accepted into two of the most amazing schools ever. I just don't know which one to choose, I don't think I want to make any decision before Columbia calls-" before I could finish my sentence, my phone buzzed. I didn't recognize the number.

Hello?

Hi, is this Riley Matthews?

Yes, this is she.

Hi, I'm Michelle and I'm calling from the Columbia Freshmen Special Honors program, we know you haven't heard from us yet, but that is because we wanted to call you personally and tell you that you got accepted into Columbia and you and 29 other students are invited for an early orientation.

Oh my, I don't know what to say, what does that mean?

It means, that you will be starting Columbia a little early, than you expected. We can give you time to think about it, but orientation starts in three weeks. We hope to see you there.

Yeah, this is something I would like to think about it but thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me.

After I got off the phone with them, Maya was sitting anxiously on the bed waiting for me to spill. After a minute of exchanging glances, she finally broke, "Well?!" she yelled. "I GOT INTO COLUMBIA!" I yelled. We both screamed and did a happy dance together. "But, I have some bad news." I said as I sat her back down on the bed. "They want me to go in for an early orientation, meaning I might not be able to go to prom, or spend the rest of my senior year with you guys, I mean I can walk in the ceremony, but it wouldn't be the same. I don't want to let you down, or Farkle and Lucas. I don't even know how Lucas is going to take it. I mean he has a decision to make as well, and I don't want to add more pressure to it, because I don't even know what I want to do. I have three weeks to decide." I said. "As much as it pains me to know that you might not be with us the rest of senior year, I really want you to follow your heart on this one. Don't put us before you, do what you need to do for you, Riley, this is your future. Don't let anything stand in your way." She said. I put my head on her shoulder and we sat there in silence.

Sorry for taking so long with the updates, I've been having major writers block. It wasn't really easy for me to write this chapter, because I wanted to express it in a different way, but I struggled with it. Hopefully you guys like it. Riley and Lucas now have big decisions to make, what do you think they'll decide? Is there going to even be a future for them? Where is their future? Who is their future with? stay tuned for chapter 11 xx