The Learning Curve: Chapter 98

Charlie Swan's Police Car

"How are the Brandons doing?" Charlie asked. He had just picked me up from Edward's house, and now he was taking me to the one restaurant in town to get some dinner. For once, I was looking forward to it. Those M&Ms had been a long time ago...

"They're doing better," I told him. "They're stable. Alice's aunt made her go home and get some rest."

"Good," Charlie nodded. "Won't do her parents any good if Alice puts herself in a hospital bed worrying."

"Dad...how did it happen? The accident?" I asked. Alice had never once asked. Maybe she already knew or maybe it didn't matter to her. It seemed like important information to me, though.

Charlie let out a weary sigh. "They were hit by a drunk driver."

I frowned. "At five o'clock?"

"It was a local drunk we'd been dealing with for years. Spent most his days in a bar. Unfortunately, he decided to get behind a wheel."

After a moment, I realized why Charlie's sentence sounded so odd to me. "That was all in the past tense," I observed with an odd feeling in my stomach.

"He died on impact," Charlie said without emotion. I tried to feel sad about it, but mostly I just felt sick.

We were silent until we were seated in the restaurant, staring at menus we both knew by heart. The usual waitress took our order, and then there was nothing left to do but make conversation.

"So," Charlie began, forcing a lighter tone, "I've seen some college letters lying around the house. How's that going?"

Unwittingly, he'd hit upon the one subject I wasn't quite ready to discuss. I'd never get away with keeping it from him, though.

"Actually...I got a pretty big acceptance yesterday, but with everything that happened, I didn't get to say anything. I got accepted to Dartmouth."

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed and he scratched the back of his head. "Dartmouth," he repeated. "That's one of those big east coast schools, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's, um, it's an Ivy League school, actually."

Charlie let out a low whistle. "Ivy League? Wow, Bella. That's a big accomplishment. I'm proud of you."

I blushed. Explicit praise was rare from Charlie. "Thanks, Dad."

"I imagine a school like Dartmouth is pretty expensive," Charlie added. The set of his mustache told me we'd reached the difficult part of the conversation.

"Actually...it might be okay," I told him. "I guess Dartmouth has this really big endowment for financial aid, and I could basically get a free ride. Edward was going over it all with me. And he's already filled out like, fifteen scholarship applications for me."

"Edward, huh?" Charlie said, eyes growing shrewd. "And where does Edward plan to go to college?"

"Um, Dartmouth?" I squeaked. "He got in, too."

A bushy eyebrow went up. "Two kids from the same small town who just happen to be dating got into the same Ivy League school?"

There was an increasing sinking feeling in my stomach. "Why do you make it sound suspicious, Dad? We both got in. We have identical acceptance letters. We wanted to go to school in the same place, and Dartmouth just so happened to work out."

Our conversation paused as our food arrived. Charlie began doctoring his burger with slightly more aggression than necessary. Finally, he put down the bottle of ketchup.

"Look. I don't like the thought of you packing up and going across the country with your high school boyfriend, Bella."

I glared at him over my french fries. "You wouldn't like the idea of me going across the country, period. Why does it matter if Edward goes too?"

Charlie merely grumbled, unwilling to state the reason why it mattered, even though we both knew what that reason was. Charlie shook his head and set down the burger he'd just picked up. "I want you to think long and hard about this. Going to college is a huge decision, and once you commit to something, it's going to be more than difficult to change your mind. Have you thought about what happens if you and Edward don't work out? You're going to be thousands of miles away surrounded by strangers."

I pursed my lips. "Dad, that's all I've been thinking about since Edward and I started applying to schools. You know better than anyone that I don't make decisions lightly."

He gave me a stern look. "I'm going to let it drop because I want to eat before my food gets cold, but for the record, this conversation isn't over."