Elena looks at the brochures in front of her. The school counselor had these in his office and there are still a few more coming in the mail. Each one that she's seen tends to brag about their rankings, their sports team, and campus life. However, the more she looks at all of them, the less sure she is about where she wants to go.
With her sophomore year more than halfway over, she has to buckle down and make a decision to what school she wants to attend when she graduates high school. She thought that speaking to her parents would have helped, but Dad only chose his school out of desperation and Mom because of the lack of proximity to Michigan.
She sighs. She may still have two school years until college, but her parents are starting to bring up the topic more frequently, and she's getting the hint. She knows that she's going to be spending a lot of time struggling to decide where to attend and what to study, not to mention the time spent trying to earn scholarships and studying for tests while trying to finish school. However, that doesn't mean that she appreciates the added pressure from both of them.
There are so many options to choose from and it's not going to do her any good if she doesn't know what she wants to study. That should definitely be the first thing that she tries to get done, or maybe even pick a school that teaches most of the things she wants to major in; that sounds like a good idea to her.
Her phone begins to ring. It's Grandpa Jacob.
Elena answers the call, "Hi, Grandpa. How are you doing?"
"I'm doing well," he says before coughing into the receiver. "Dang chest cold…" he complains. "How are you doing?"
She quietly sighs, "I'm just trying to figure out my plans after high school."
She can hear her grandfather chuckle, "Your mom already has you starting on that?"
"Yeah, unfortunately."
"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Now, I offered this to your mom and aunt when they were about your age, and we're going to offer it to you too. A while back ago, your grandmother and I set some money aside for your studies, and we figured that we should let you know so that you won't have to worry about applying for scholarships."
Elena is nervous after hearing that. Her dad was already upset about Grandpa buying her a car, she's not sure how he'll feel about having him pay for schooling. Of course, it's definitely different to make small monthly payments in the hundreds than large payments twice a year in the thousands.
She tries her best to hide anything that would indicate that she didn't appreciate his generous offer, "Thanks Grandpa, I appreciate it."
"You're welcome. Now we aren't going to give you all the money at once, but whatever pops up or whenever you need to pay for the semester, you can give us a call and let us know. Even if you want to use it to have a little fun," he chuckles, before going into a bit of a coughing fit.
Elena doesn't figure that she'll ever take advantage of her grandparents' generosity, but she understands why they won't hand all the money over at once. Even if she thinks that she'll be responsible, it'll definitely be tempting to have thousands of dollars within grasp at such a young age. Either way, she'll definitely try to stay honest.
"Grandpa, I don't think that that'll happen much."
"You should enjoy yourself every once in a while. Time will fly by and before you know it you'll graduate and be out in the working world. Don't be afraid of having a little fun."
"Okay," she says, despite thinking that she'll still try to keep herself from blowing through the money.
"Now I'm not going to keep you any longer," he says before coughing, "If you need anything you can call us. "
"I will, and Grandpa, thank you."
"You're welcome," he says before hanging up.
Well, at least now she doesn't have to worry. Money isn't going to be an issue, so at least she knows that she could attend any school without the pressure of attaining scholarships.
Except that creates its own problem.
If she was strapped for money, then she would have to be a bit more creative with how she would pursue her studies, instead all she has to do is say the word and the check will be written.
Now her bigger issue is to choose what to study.
There's no point in picking out a school if she doesn't know what sort of career she wants, and if she studies the wrong thing then it's a waste of time.
After she hangs up, she looks down at her brochures, and mutters a quiet, "Great…"
Francisco opens his laptop and looks at Wayne State's website. In a few days, the entire junior class is going to spend the day touring three local universities. Most of his classmates are looking forward to getting out of class, but Francisco figures that this is his best shot to get an idea of what to look for in a college.
Unlike him, his brothers didn't appear to have any interest in continuing their education, so it isn't like there were conversations about the subject around the house. Not that their parents could have helped. Most of their 'sagely' advice for the brothers when it came to school was to study hard, after that, nothing. Heck, Francisco is pretty sure that there isn't a cent saved either, but it doesn't matter, he'll have to find his own way.
For the upcoming field trip, the class is going to an art school and a business school. He doesn't have any interest in either specialty, so the only one worth checking out is Wayne State. He scrolls through the programs and sees all the options.
Now this is where it gets hard.
He knows that he wants to study engineering, since it seems like a nice stable career path, but he doesn't know which one will fit him best - mechanical, civil, industrial, electrical, computer, chemical, general, and biomedical.
Okay, he can probably knock out those last four, maybe five, since they aren't catching his eye, but that still leaves him with a choice to make at some point. Of course, that might not be a problem depending on when they want a definitive answer from him, and also which programs are offered at whatever school he ends up attending.
If it was up to him, he'd pick the best school available, but his grades and college fund say, go to whatever school offers him a full ride.
Francisco tries to remember what grades he got on his last report card. They aren't bad, mostly B's, a C here and there, and an A in P.E. - not exactly the makings of an excellent student. He takes a deep breath, he can still turn it around. All he has to do is study hard for the SATs, raise his grades up a little bit and maybe settle for some Division II school.
"If not then, I guess there's always community college."
Lynn looks at herself in the mirror. She tries to straighten up her fake mustache. This would be a lot easier if she didn't have to put on the silly prop, but she's gotta cover her bases if she wants to win that gift card. The Tigers are holding a photo contest online with the top ten photos receiving a gift card to use in their shops and she intends to win that contest, even if she looks a bit silly with a mustache and a Hawaiian shirt.
"Okay, this isn't happening," says Francisco from the other room.
"What isn't?"
"These shorts. It's winter."
"We're not taking the photo outside. Besides, I'm putting on this stupid mustache, the least you can do is put on a pair of shorts."
Francisco walks over to the bathroom, "No one's telling you to put on a fake mustache."
Lynn talks into the mirror, "No, but if you wanna win one of those gift cards, it's gonna happen, now put on the shorts."
He heads back to grab the shorts off the bed, "I'd rather do it in my underwear, at least they're longer," he mutters to himself."
"No you wouldn't," he hears her say. "By the way, where's Vic?"
Francisco looks around on the floor where he last saw his son, then he notices the open door, "I think he rolled out of the room."
In the kitchen, Elena calls out to her baby brother as he lays on his back staring up at the microwave. She has her arms open, hoping that he'll crawl towards her, but it doesn't seem like he's gotten the hang of crawling yet.
"C'mon, Victor, you can do it," she encourages him, but he doesn't look in her direction, fixing his eyes up at the humming sound coming from the counter.
The microwave beeps and Elena grabs her popcorn. As she pours the snack into a bowl, she looks down at her baby brother, who is about to roll over, but she stops him to pick him up. She walks him towards the table to offer him a sip from his bottle.
Elena takes a seat. She takes out the brochures from her backpack and places them on the table for Victor to see.
"You're so lucky. You don't have any big decisions to make, just wake up and do what you want, someone else will take care of it."
Victor blinks at her.
"Don't grow up," she tells him, before kissing his head. "Trust me, it's a lot more fun being a kid than a teenager."
Elena notices her brother reaching out for the brochures, "What do you think? You wanna help your sister pick out a school?" She asks as she leans him down so that he can reach for a brochure.
Victor takes a random brochure and he puts it into his mouth to chew on. Elena takes the brochure away from him and tries to wipe away the drool with a napkin. She looks over at the name, "Michigan State University. Your mom might throw a fit if I even consider it, or did you do that on purpose?"
He looks up at her and then tries to take the brochure back, but Elena refuses to hand it back to him.
She takes a seat and looks at the brochures. They're all random schools but none of them feel right. She doesn't want to go too far, but it won't be as fun if she doesn't at least try to get the full college experience. She would love to live in a dorm, not worry about commuting day in and day out, be able to stay out late without worrying about the time, be more involved in school, have an easier time accessing the amenities, make a lifelong friend, even if it does cost more than staying home.
"Then again," she whispers to her brother, "at least I don't have to worry about the cost."
Francisco walks into the kitchen with a towel wrapped around his waist. He notices the brochures on the table and is glad to see Elena using her time to consider some schools instead of putting it off. He knows that Elena isn't going to quickly make a decision, so the sooner she starts, the better.
Elena looks over at her dad, "Why are you wearing a towel?"
He shakes his head, "Don't ask."
"Does it have to do with you and Vic wearing matching Hawaiian print shirts?"
"It's for a photo contest," he sighs. "Lynn wants us to enter and apparently that means looking like I stepped off a plane from Hawaii and forgot what winters in the midwest are like."
Elena is confused, and she's even more confused when she sees her stepmother walking into the kitchen with a matching shirt and fake mustache.
Lynn notices Elena's staring at her, "We got a spare shirt if you want to join in."
The girl shakes her head, "No thanks, I'm good."
Lynn doesn't say anything, which has Francisco wondering, "Really? She says no once, and that's fine?"
She shrugs her shoulders. Lynn would have loved to have had Elena join in, but since she can't enjoy the prize, she isn't going to make her enter for no reason either.
He mutters under his breath, "Meanwhile I wanted to be Jack Elliot and you said no."
Lynn pulls out a pop from the fridge, "Leni couldn't get the cursive down and unless you wanted a 'Dargons' or a 'Drangos' jersey, you're outta luck."
Francisco lets the issue go. He looks over at the brochures on the table. Most of them from local schools with a few from northern Ohio and Indiana, though he assumes that there are more coming in the mail.
He's sure that Elena could get into any one of them with her grades and extracurriculars, and he's sure that she knows that as well. Of course, she probably isn't going to limit herself to nearby schools when there's plenty around the country.
And that's exactly why he and Caroline have been wanting her to start making a decision early. She's going to have her first choice, and she's likely going to have some safety schools lined up, but he doesn't want her to have such a long list or it'll make her decision tougher than it already is.
Francisco picks up a brochure, "What about Michigan? It has plenty of options and Lynn's a legacy that might help you get in."
Lynn coughs up the pop that she was drinking, "Not always," she clarifies. "And what about Andrew and Caroline's schools? They're probably nice too."
"Yeah, but people know Michigan."
"For its sports program. What else does it have going for it?"
Francisco and Elena stare at Lynn, unsure of why she would knock on her own school. They're sure that Lynn probably didn't pay too much attention to the academic side of college, but they can't imagine that she wouldn't know how well the school ranks academically.
"Maybe. It wouldn't be a bad idea, but I still have to figure out what I want to study."
That isn't what Francisco wants to hear. For years, he and Caroline have asked her what she is interested in doing as an adult. As a child, they wouldn't take the answers too seriously - kids change their minds all the time, but she's almost an adult and she can't be wasting too much time wondering.
"Elena, are you serious? Your mom and I have been telling you for years-"
"I know-"
"No, I don't think you know. If you knew you would have an idea. You aren't a little kid anymore, you're almost halfway through high school, and you're gonna graduate in two years. You have to take this more seriously."
He doesn't want to be a bad guy, but if he doesn't light some sort of fire under her, she'll keep thinking without making a decision until it's too late.
"Calm down, Francisco," says Lynn. "Just because you knew what you wanted to do at her age, doesn't mean everyone else does. I didn't know what I wanted to do at her age."
"Yes, you did. You wanted to be an Olympian, then a bunch of other sports jobs."
"But I didn't nail it down. I mean, I didn't pick out my winter sport or my summer sport, or my post-retirement career. So no, I didn't know what I wanted to do or study."
Elena asks, "So how did you decide what to study?"
"I picked something I already knew a decent amount about so that I wouldn't have to study as hard."
Francisco and Elena stare at her. That may have worked for Lynn, but it is definitely not going to work for Elena.
Kiké opens the front door with a suitcase in hand. He tosses his luggage aside and heads to the dining room, where the rest of the family looks over at him, wondering what he's doing.
"What?"
"What are you doing here?"
"And who said you can just waltz into our house."
"The mailbox says De Los Reyes, I say that that's enough of an invitation."
"Only when you aren't posing as someone else," mutters Francisco.
The older brother doesn't take too kindly to that, and decides to retaliate by snatching the towel from around his waist. Kiké, with a hint of teasing in his voice, says, "Wow, now I got the image of you in short shorts burned into my memory,"
Francisco can feel his cheeks burning. He hastily picks up the towel and wraps it around his waist. He turns to Lynn, "See, I told you!"
"It's only going to be one picture."
"And if we win it'll be on their social media pages."
"You want that prize? Well there's a price to pay."
"Why does it have to be me?" he asks, despite knowing that Lynn is wearing a similar pair of shorts and has one for Victor as well.
"So what'd I miss?"
"Nothing," says Elena.
Kiké looks down at the brochures then he looks his niece in the eye. She quickly turns away from him, but he is able to figure her out immediately, "So you're already worrying about college, huh? I'm surprised they didn't get you started in middle school."
"Wouldn't have done me much good."
"Yeah, you're too indecisive.' He picks up a brochure and quickly skims through it, "A brochure won't do you much good. How about a campus tour and pretend you're a student?" says Kiké as he heads to the fridge to pull out a pop.
Francisco looks at his brother, then Elena, "It's not a bad idea."
"It's a lot better than how you chose a school."
"I thought he went out to California because it was the only school that gave him a scholarship?"
With a snarky smile, Kiké says, "Well, you have choices, he was desperate."
Francisco doesn't appreciate his brother's words, but regardless, he agrees with his idea. With how indecisive Elena can be, it is better that she step onto a college campus and have an idea of how it'll be once she's there.
"We can go next week and make a road trip of it. Hit up Michigan, maybe Western Michigan, Hillsdale, or whatever other schools on your list."
Lynn asks, "She has a list?"
"You do have one, right, Elena?" Francisco asks, hoping that she at least has some idea of where she wants to go.
"Yeah, I've got a few schools in mind, but can Tío Kiké take me instead?" she asks.
The three adults are surprised to hear that.
"Me? Why me?"
"Yeah, why him?" asks Lynn.
"Look, Sunshine, make a list of schools you want to visit and we can go whenever you want."
Elena boldly answers, "I want it to be Tío Kiké."
"Who says I want to?"
"Apparently her."
"Yeah, well, I'm busy."
Francisco takes the pop away from him, "I doubt that, considering that you're here." He looks over at Elena, "Are you sure about this? We can all go next week if you want."
"I'm sure."
Kiké looks over at the two. He doesn't appreciate being roped into driving his niece around for the weekend, nor his brother for not fighting more to change her mind, but he figures that he can change her mind before they actually depart, so he isn't going to worry.
Lynn's head bumps against the glass with each bounce that the school bus makes. Her friends are wondering why she's doing that, but the bored look on her face pretty much answers their question. While they're all excited to get out of class for the day and tour some schools, if someone took a look at Lynn's face they'd assume that she's actually upset about missing class.
"Are we almost there yet?"
"We barely pulled out of the school," says Margo.
Lynn squirms around in her seat, "Why do school buses have to be soooo slow? It'll probably be lunch time by the time we get there."
Francisco rolls his eyes at Lynn's exaggerations. He's not exactly too interested in touring CCS either, but he figured that she could have sucked it up for the whole twenty minute drive.
Apparently, he was wrong.
Now, Francisco knows that he's not going to be too invested in this tour. It's an art school. The college doesn't have a single sports team, so it isn't like they can offer him or his friends an athletic scholarship. Thus it's nothing more than a waste of two or so hours.
Still, he isn't going to complain if it means getting out of school for a bit. If only Lynn saw it that way.
"What are we even gonna see at an art school?" asks Lynn.
"Art?" says Margo.
"And who wants to study that?"
Margo points to some of the artsy kids near the front of the bus. They were clearly more invested in the visit. To Margo, it wouldn't have been her first choice either, but since she hasn't figured out what to study, this trip might give her an idea of what to pursue.
"It might be interesting."
"You might even become interested in art, Lynn," Paula teases.
"Yeah, that's not happening. I'm just saying that we could have gone to a school that had more stuff that we all want to see. Instead, art school and business school. Yeah, 'cause we all wanna do that."
All three of them can see her point. Art school and business school would be way too limiting, and only a handful of their classmates will actually take those portions of the trip seriously. In fact, the only school that they're visiting today that might be worth it to everyone will be Wayne State.
The school probably could have asked where the students were interested in attending, instead of picking three random schools based on their proximity to the high school. Instead, they're going to have to deal with a class full of bored students with no interest in what they're being presented.
Which probably isn't too different from any other given day.
The school bus stops in front of the building. As the students get off, their chaperones remind them to be on their best behavior, stay in line, and to not wander off, though Lynn is sure that that last piece of advice was aimed at her.
The students look at the school. To the four athletes, there's nothing too impressive about the building. As their chaperone talks to their guide, Paula begins to count the floors. She doesn't know if the entire tour is going to be held within this building, but thirteen stories is going to be a lot for her.
"As long as there are elevators I should be fine."
"You should hope that they don't try to make us walk to our next stop," says Francisco.
Paula hasn't thought about that. Wayne State isn't too far from where they are, at least if the banners on the light posts are anything to go off of.
"No way," she tells him. "They're not gonna have us walk down a street where we could ditch… hopefully…"
The tour guide begins and the students follow after him. Margo can't help but notice how few students there are. She figured that maybe because it's a Friday or because they're in class that she and her classmates can't see them. Then they pass a small group of students coming towards them. All of them talking amongst themselves.
Margo notices the look on their faces. They're stressed, though she's sure that that has more to do with whatever project is hidden under that tarp or something else. She's sort of jealous that these students got to know what they were interested in at such a young age, meanwhile, she wonders if this could be a possible career path, not that she knows what she can do with an art degree.
"...we also offer classes and workshops for students at the high school level, if they are interested in getting your college art credits early, or if you want to try it out before committing once you graduate."
Margo nervously says to herself, "That sounds like a good idea."
Kiké turns on his GPS. He tried. He so desperately tried, but his dang niece wouldn't take no for an answer. She was like a stubborn toddler when it came to this issue, and as much as he wanted to leave, his brother wouldn't let him.
'She may not want me or Caroline around for this, but I'm not gonna let her throw this weekend away just because you wanna leave. You're taking her.'
If only he didn't have a damn heart of gold, he would have said no and skipped town, but nope, he loves his family… and he was desperate for some money.
Hauling his niece around from school to school isn't how Kiké wanted to spend his weekend, but it isn't like he wants to spend it hanging around Royal Woods with his brother and family either. So he'll have to settle on making the best of it.
He looks over at his niece, who is having one final chat with Francisco, likely some reminders to 'take this weekend seriously' or 'don't let your uncle talk you into trouble' or whatever crap he thinks she needs to hear. She planned out everything, the route, booked the tours, and the hotel rooms for the night. All he has to do is drive her, which he doesn't understand why it has to be him.
Kiké gets impatient waiting around for Elena, so he honks his horn in the hopes that they can get this weekend started already.
Elena, Francisco and Lynn look over at him and he signals that he wants to leave. The girl takes the hint and says her goodbyes before getting into the car.
The two are quiet, but after pulling into the freeway, Kiké decides to ask, "You can drive yourself, why did you want someone to come along?"
"You're just now asking me this?"
"Why not? Gotta kill time somehow."
"This trip would be a lot more boring if it was just me, plus, if anything goes wrong with my car, I wouldn't know how to fix it. I assume you can, right?"
He can, but that's hardly a good enough reason. Kiké looks over at Elena, he can tell that there's another reason, but can't quite figure it out.
"Why not your dad? He's a better grease monkey than I am. Or maybe your mom? She may not be able to fix a car, but I can't imagine that she doesn't have some sort of way to help."
Elena doesn't say anything.
"I can wait."
She shrugs her shoulders, "Fine."
Elena folds her arms and looks out the window to take in the view. For the past week, she has heard her parents pestering her about today. They would remind her that she should ask questions, talk to current students, look at the resources and amenities, meet with department personnel - it's stressful to keep hearing them talk like that. And she knows that if she doesn't have an idea of what to do after this weekend, it's going to continue.
Kiké pulls out a packet of cigarettes and lights one. Elena looks over at him, "I love how you have time to smoke while speeding down the highway."
He shrugs his shoulders, "It's the only way I can deal with your nervous energy. I swear, do you know the definition of the word relax? You learned all those stupid SAT words, one of them had to be synonymous with it."
"Like decompress? It isn't an SAT word, but that is what you want me to do, right?"
"Yeah," he complains. "What's wrong with you? You're acting like today is the day you have to make a decision. You're sixteen, you have some time."
Elena stays quiet. She knows that she has 'some time', but the way her parents are breathing down her neck, she'd rather be closer to making a decision than not. Spending a short weekend going from one school to another isn't her ideal way of spending her time either, but like everyone said, it might help her make her decision.
"I just wanna get this over with…"
"Alright, everybody, you can head to the dining hall for lunch, and you're free to explore, but meet back here in an hour so that we can head to our last school for the day."
The students quickly ran off, with Lynn leaving them in her dust. This is what she has been waiting for, a chance to eat and a chance to stop pretending that she cares. Lynn is aware that college isn't for her. She's not the academic type and she's already made up her mind that she's going to be an Olympian, so this whole trip is a bust for her.
Though she isn't going to deny that the sport science and sport management did sort of get her attention. A while back ago, she started thinking about her post-Olympic career, but nothing really came of it. She figured that by the time she would be fifty, she would probably build up an impressive resume that she could land a gig at a major network reporting games, or being a coach for the next generation.
After all, none of this college stuff is interesting to her; she gets good enough grades to get by and be allowed to play her sports, so she's happy with that. To her, it makes more sense to jump into what she wants to do and see where it takes her, and right now, it's taking her to the dining hall with all the food she can eat.
When Lynn finishes going through the entirety of the dining hall and filling up her tray, she takes a seat and begins to wolf down her food. They've already gone through two schools, so after this hour, they take the bus up to Walsh and then they get to go home.
Lynn hears Margo's voice and she looks up, "I think that's only a certificate program."
Paula felt her hopes dashed, but then she asks, "Wait, what does that mean?"
Margo shrugs her shoulders.
"Paula! Margo!" the two girls hear and walk towards their friend.
"I don't know," sighs Margo. "There were some programs that sounded interesting, but I don't know if I can see myself committing them. I might have to think about community college or a gap year."
Lynn takes a large bite of her sandwich. She wants to commit to the Olympian idea, but the more she hears her friends talking, the more she fears that she's falling behind for picking such a career path. Lynn shakes her head. She has got to commit to this, and having doubts is only going to make her stumble on the path to a gold medal.
Though at least knowing that Margo isn't too sure about what to study takes the pressure off of her.
"What about you, Lynn?"
She looks up, "What?"
"Did any of the programs sound interesting to you?"
"Nope!" scoffs Lynn, "Nothing caught my eye."
"Really?" asks Paula. "I swear I saw you perk up when our tour guide mentioned the word sport."
"Yeah, well you saw wrong."
Margo also doesn't believe her. As much as Lynn wants to continue putting up a front, she knows that it got her attention. Now, she feels a bit of pressure. All of their friends have an idea of what to study, or at least they can narrow it down to a few options, and here she is struggling to pick something.
It's hard. There are some really interesting programs out there, and she doesn't know which one would be the right fit for her. She figured that having more options would make the decision tougher, but she didn't think it would be that bad.
Francisco walks over to the group and takes a seat next to Lynn. He tries to snatch a fry from her plate, but Lynn immediately smacks him, "Drop the fry or prepare to lose your hand."
He chuckles and lets go.
Margo looks over at Francisco, "Where have you been?"
"One of the chaperones got me some brochures for the engineering program. I figured I could read them and see if I apply."
"Really? You're gonna limit yourself to a D-II school? He was such a talented young athlete," she playfully chastises.
"What do you care? You know that I'm only playing sports to get a scholarship. I don't care where it leads me, so long it ends with me getting a full ride."
Lynn rolls her eyes. Yeah, she remembers that was his plan. He's practical. He isn't going to go for something amazing like her.
"But you know, aim for targets we can hit, right?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He shrugs his shoulders and gives her a knowing smile.
Lynn doesn't like the accusation that she won't be able to get into college. Sure, she knows that she hasn't really planned to attend a college, but that doesn't mean that she's gonna sit back and watch Francisco give her crap. She gets up from her seat and walks over to Oliver to ask if he can get her info on the sport science and sport management programs.
Margo looks over at Francisco, "You might have actually convinced her to take this whole thing seriously."
"And all I did was just tease her back."
"And not even much," says Paula.
Lynn crawls around on the floor. Forward, backwards, and in a little circle around her son, but all he does is lay on the floor and look at her. He's already nine, almost ten-months-old, but he still can't sit up and he isn't making an attempt at crawling either. She figured that since he isn't figuring it out on his own, then showing him would work, but it appears like it isn't clicking in his head.
She calls out to him, "C'mon Vic, it's fun to crawl," she tells him as she tries to show him a new way to get around. "Look how much better crawling is."
Almost as soon as Lynn stops, Victor rolls away, "Oh no you don't," says Lynn.
She quickly crawls after him and picks him up. Victor whines in her arms and Lynn sighs. He hasn't made much progress since learning to roll over and it sort of has her wondering about his development. She looks over at Francisco, who is busy bouncing his leg in desperation as he looks at his phone, obviously waiting for a call from Elena or even his brother.
This is normally the time when he will say that Vic will be fine and remind her that babies develop at different times, or something like that, but instead he's worrying about Elena.
"If only you cared as much about your son crawling as you do your daughter going to college."
Francisco looks over at her, "I care, but it's a big weekend, and I wanna be ready in case Elena calls."
Lynn doesn't think that she will. At least not until tonight. All week, she's seen Francisco call or message Elena and she's sure that her stepdaughter is sick of it, she knows that she would be. She understands why he's doing it, but if he keeps adding pressure all he's going to do is cause her to resent him.
She takes a seat on the big couch and places Victor on her lap. She tries to gently exercise his legs to build up his strength, and without looking at Francisco, she casually tells him, "You put too much pressure on her."
For a minute Francisco doesn't react, until he realizes that Lynn is talking to him, not Victor, "What are you talking about? I'm not putting pressure on her."
"Yeah, you are. You're making a big deal out of this weekend as though she's gonna magically pick a school. I mean, she's only going to Michigan, Albion, Hope, and Aquinas. Not exactly a large pool to choose from."
"She doesn't have to pick from them, but I want her to have an idea of what to expect, what to look for. I mean, by the time you had to pick college, you already toured some with your family and the school. You had an idea of where you wanted to go. I don't want her to wait until the last minute. She's a smart girl who can go anywhere she wants, she shouldn't be settling and she shouldn't put this off."
Lynn silently massages her son's leg, "Yeah, I'm surprised about that 'go anywhere she wants' comment."
Francisco looks over at Lynn, "Do you honestly think I'd hold my daughter back from attending a good school just 'cause I want her nearby?"
She shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. I figured that you would have wanted her to stay nearby, live at home, or something."
"Lynn, she's a smart girl. She'll probably get scholarships to attend good schools. It's gonna stink not to see her for four years, but I'd rather she go after these opportunities than not. She isn't like us when we were her age. She studies, gets excellent grades, and does extracurriculars, she should be rewarded for it."
Lynn lies down and places Victor on her torso, "Toss me his rattle."
Francisco sighs, "Did you even listen to me?"
"Yeah, you're fine with her going to school far away."
He rolls his eyes and tosses the rattle at her. Lynn catches the toy and shakes it in front of Victor, who looks up at her. He drags his little body towards the toy. Lynn moves it further away, hoping that he'll realize that crawling is a better alternative, but he almost ends up falling after crawling too far towards her right arm.
Francisco quickly dives to catch their son before he lands on the ground, "Got him." He hands Victor back to Lynn, "I said, that I think she should be rewarded for her hard work. Caroline and I both agree on that."
"I still think that you're being tough on her. You raised your voice and made her feel bad because she hasn't decided yet."
"Well, it's gotta be done. I'm not going to let her procrastinate on this when I know she struggles to make a decision. I'm right and you know it."
"Fine, keep doing what you're doing," she sighs, "So why didn't you try to help her make a list of possible majors?"
He stays quiet for a minute. Unlike his daughter, he knew what he wanted to study, and so did Caroline, so it came natural for them to not think of that possibility, "Because she would have made a giant list and that wouldn't have done any good."
"Sure, it could've, you could have started last year and have started trimming the list down by now. Instead, you have your daughter running around southern Michigan with your brother. I'm sure she'll figure it out with his 'help'."
Francisco knows what Lynn is implying, and rather than continue the conversation, he gets up and heads to the kitchen to get something sweet into his stomach in hopes of calming his nerves.
"Alright Rookie, let's get back to your crawling lesson. If you learn to crawl, Mommy's gonna take you to a Tigers game."
From the other room, Francisco says, "We were already gonna do that."
"Well, way to spoil that surprise!"
The students wait around by the parking lot to head back to school. If you ask them, it seems smarter to let them go straight home than to wait around for the bus, but they know that that's not going to happen. There's still some time left before the rest of the other students get released, so the school is going to take them back and have them wait out the last period of the day."
"It's a ten-minute drive to school. We could easily walk that!"
Paula stares at Lynn.
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, well the school's not gonna let us," says Francisco, as he stuffs the brochures that he got into his backpack. As Lynn and Paula chat, he notices Margo looking off into the distance.
Francisco has noticed that she's been acting a little weird, but he hasn't been able to really pinpoint what's bothering her.
"Did business seem like your thing, Margo?"
She shrugs her shoulders. All day she's been like this. Before today, Francisco already knew what he wanted to study. While Paula is looking around, she is able to make a small list of possible majors. Then there's Lynn. Before today, she didn't even look like she cared about attending college, now she's doing it because of something Francisco said. A bit petty, if you ask Margo, but even her friend has an idea of what she could study.
All that's left is her.
"I'm not sure."
"Yeah, the whole setup here is a little weird here. Though I guess going to community college wouldn't be the worst thing."
"Are you thinking about business too?"
Francisco shakes his head, "Nah, I can't see myself running a business."
"Yeah, well I guess when you see yourself doing one thing for so long, it's hard to imagine doing anything else."
He quietly nods his head, "Yeah…"
Francisco can tell that she's freaking out about this upcoming decision. It's a big one after all. Sure, between the four of them they can find scholarships so that paying for school won't be an issue, but it won't mean anything if they don't know what to study.
That's where he feels lucky.
He knows what he wants, and he's known it for years. Paula looked interested in some of the programs here at Walsh and Wayne State, and even Lynn found something. Unfortunately, Margo isn't in the same boat.
Francisco notices the sad look on her face, and he wishes he could think of something to say, but all he can think of are the same old cliches that anyone else will probably tell her.
"You know," he starts, "the tour guide at CCS did mention that they have an undecided program, and I think Wayne State did too. So I'm sure everywhere else does too," says Francisco.
"Yeah, I know…"
She's still not happy.
He isn't sure what to say, so he settles, "At least we still have plenty of time to decide. It doesn't all have to happen in one day."
Margo nods her head, "Yeah, good thing, right?"
Kiké looks around at the empty campus. It's been years since he's stepped foot in one, but they are all the same on Saturdays - mostly devoid of human life. It's cold outside, there aren't many classes going on in the late morning, and most of the students would rather stay holed up in their rooms and do nothing for the rest of the weekend. The only people around are staff members and families who booked a tour.
He impatiently taps his foot, "How much longer are we going to keep waiting?"
Elena pulls out her phone, "About ten minutes."
"Great," Kiké says sarcastically. He pulls out a cigarette and lights it up, angrily waiting for the tour guide to arrive so that they can finish and head to the damn hotel for the night.
He looks around at the people in the tour group, most are quietly talking amongst themselves and then there's his niece who is standing there silently waiting for this tour to start.
'Why can't she just calm the fuck down?'
"There's no smoking on campus," she reminds him.
Kiké scoffs, "No one cares. There's always someone who's gonna smoke and they don't even do anything to them anyway."
Elena steps away from him in case anything happens. He might not care if he gets kicked off campus, but she does.
The tour guide approaches the group, but before she introduces herself, she notices one of the tour members smoking, "Excuse me, sir. This campus doesn't allow smoking."
Kiké rolls his eyes and flicks the cigarette into a pile of snow.
"Okay…" is all the tour guide can say. She turns back to the rest of the group, "Hi everyone, welcome to Michigan. I can't wait to tell you all about our beautiful campus."
The tour guide starts walking and the group follows her. However, after a few buildings, Kiké begins to get bored. He's sure that this tour won't be too long, and hell it isn't even for his own benefit. Rather than continue pretending, Kiké slows his steps. He doesn't give a crap about what's being said and what's worse, it's that every single one is going to be the same, all weekend long.
"I'm getting sick of this tour. I'm gonna go find somewhere to eat, call me whenever you get sick of following people around like a dog," he says, not bothering to look back at his niece.
She stops for a second, hoping that he will return, but he doesn't. So, she walks to catch up with the tour group.
An hour later, Elena texts Kiké, who tells her where he eventually wandered off to. After looking through the school's website, she found a map to help her find her uncooperative uncle.
She takes a seat in front of him, "Why'd you leave?"
"Why'd I have to be there? I'm not the one going to college - you are." He takes a hit from his cigarette and looks her straight in the eye, "By the way, I've been meaning to ask, why do you want to go to school?"
Elena stays silent. She hadn't thought about that. All her life, her parents have been pushing her towards having a good education, but she's never bothered to ask herself if she even wanted to pursue it after high school.
"It's the order of things…" is all she could think.
"Is it?"
"Yes," she says with a bit more confidence. "There's Pre-K, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, then college, and possibly graduate school. It's what any smart person does, especially if they want to do well in life.
Kiké laughs, "There's no such thing. You could walk out of the best school with the best grades and still end up a moron. An educated moron, but a moron. There's no guarantee of anything just because you decide to attend school longer than you need to." From the look on her face, he can tell that she doesn't believe him, "I've sat down on a bunch of classes, students think that college is supposed to blow their minds, but it isn't hard to blow the minds of a buncha kids who haven't lived life yet."
"Do you really think that?"
He nods his head, "I sat down once in an art class. The teacher showed everyone this 'painting' and asked the students what they thought it meant. All of them gave pretentious answers like 'injustice', 'classism' or whatever other crap that they thought made 'em sound smart. I swear, I don't think I've ever rolled my eyes that much in my life. Anyway, the professor gets to me, and I tell him, 'it looks like a buncha paint splattered on a board'. Those snot-nosed brats snickered thinking that that couldn't be it, but the professor said I was right. It was a stained part of his art smock that he blew up for everyone to see."
"What's your point?"
"Is school the only place you can learn? No. You can learn anywhere. Go to a library, read books, get a job, get experience, figure out if this is all even necessary. You could study something, and it means nothing if you didn't actually want or need to do so. What do you wanna do with your life?"
She looks down, "I don't know."
"Then you don't know what you need. You could probably get by with a certificate, an associate's or maybe you'll need to go to grad school 'cause a bachelor's isn't enough."
Victor quickly throws his baseball between his hands, not paying attention to the group of people around him. When Parker asked him to hang out, he figured that they would do something more fun, instead, he got roped into joining a college tour, not exactly his idea of a fun Saturday. Still, he decided to keep Parker company, that and he was promised a trip to Burpin' Burger after this ordeal.
"Are we all together?" asks the guide as she walks the group towards the building where they started the tour, "Okay, great. Now this brings us back to the dining hall. Before you all go in and have lunch, does anybody have any questions?"
A few people ask some questions, but Victor doesn't listen. He's not interested in what they have to say and more concerned with getting something to bite down on. The crowd begins to disperse, and Victor follows after Parker.
The boys get a tray full of food and take a seat. As Victor wolfs down his food, Parker pulls out his laptop from his backpack to make some notes about Detroit Mercy as he has done with the other schools that he's toured. Then he looks over at Victor, who doesn't seem to have a care in the world aside from sports and where his next meal is going to come from.
"You know it wouldn't kill you to think about college," says Parker. "You may be a freshman, but those next three years are gonna fly by."
"I don't wanna go to college," says the younger boy without looking up from his plate.
Parker looks over at Victor, "What do you mean you don't?"
Victor looks up and stares him straight in the eye, "I don't," he says. "I'm not all scholarly like you and Elena. What's the point? I might as well get a job or something."
He's almost surprised to hear that coming out of him, but he gets it. Victor does decently enough in school, but that's only because his dad gets on him to maintain his grades. If he doesn't want it, it'll be hell once he's in college.
"Have you told your parents?"
"Yup," says Victor, as he throws the ball again, "Mom was fine, Dad wasn't, but he came around. Except, I might have to go to trade school."
"I'm surprised the idea of playing sports in college isn't enough of a motivator," says Parker, hoping to rile his interest.
"Thought about it," he says, "but Mom and Dad said it was a lot of work to train and maintain a good GPA. Besides, if I really want to pursue it, there's the Northwoods League, Federal Prospects, the PBL, and if I'm a little curious, the MiLC. Besides, I was getting bored with middle school textbooks, and I've seen Elena's old college textbooks."
With heavy sarcasm, Parker comments, "Yeah, because you're so interested in Greco-Roman history."
"Point is, I'm not interested in college."
"So that's it? After high school, you're going straight to a trade school?"
"Or the restaurant," Victor answers in a nonchalant way. "Why are you surprised?"
Parker isn't sure. He always pictured that Victor was going to go, because that's what everyone does. That and considering what Elena would say about her parents breathing down her neck to go to college. However, he should have expected it since Victor isn't too interested in school, and his parents seem more chill about it than his own about the subject.
"I don't know. I thought that your dad would have said something."
"He did. He wasn't thrilled. Then we had to have a boring conversation where we figured that there was no point in college if I didn't want it. So that's how I ended up with the trade school option."
"So what are you gonna study?"
Victor shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know, I got three more years to figure it out."
"And if you don't?"
"I gotta work at the restaurant."
"Lucky," mutters Parker.
Unlike Victor, he isn't being given much of an option when it comes to his life after high school. From what Elena says, his parents are much easier on him than they were with her, but it doesn't feel like it. He has to worry about scholarships, where to study, and what to study; he sort of wishes that he could stop time for a bit or at least not worry about it.
"You'll be fine," says Victor. "And if you still don't know what to do, I'm officially hiring you to work at Lynn's Table after you graduate high school."
"You can't make that decision."
"Sure I can. I'm the owner's son."
Parker chuckles, "Thanks. Just know that it won't be a permanent thing. I only want to work there for a little bit. Maybe until I figure out what I want."
"Deal!" says Victor, offering his brother a hand in agreement. "By the way, I'm still gonna wanna go to Burpin' Burger after this."
"Still?!"
On the way back home, Elena looks out at the dark road and thinks about what her uncle said and what transpired over the weekend. The tours were more or less the same, but with each one she felt more sick at what's to come. It all felt real, walking through each campus, seeing students go about their day and having fun. Meanwhile, she knows that the minute she gets home, she's going to get swamped with questions.
Her parents have been tame this weekend and have mostly kept their conversations brief, asking what the school was like and if Tío Kiké was on his best behavior. Luckily, she could end the conversation with a lie about wanting to get some rest for the next day, but there aren't going to be excuses like that when she gets home.
"What's wrong with you? You've been quiet all day."
"Nothing," she says while staring out the window.
Each tour was a constant reminder of how she doesn't know what she wants to do with her life or where she wants to attend. She knows that if she goes back home with some idea, she's gonna hear it from her parents. She was used to her dad coming down on her, but she doesn't want to risk her mom being the same way.
"I should have come alone…"
"I told you that. I kept begging you to do this with anyone else, but nope you wanted me to come."
"Because I thought that you wouldn't care or-"
"I didn't care," he interrupts. "Do whatever the hell you want, you don't need my permission."
"I wasn't done." Elena takes a deep breath, "Do you wanna know the reason I asked you to come?"
Kiké doesn't care, but she's going to tell him anyway, "What?"
"Because you weren't supposed to add any more pressure on top of what I already had. You would have been completely indifferent. Mom and Dad are worrying too much. If I asked Lynn or Andrew to come along, they probably would have been swayed by the two of them, and even though Jackson means well, he wouldn't have helped me narrow down anything. He probably would have made it worse. I had an idea of what my plans would have been after high school, but now you got in my head and I know less than when we left."
He doesn't believe her, "That's a load of crap! There wasn't anything that I said that you didn't already know. This whole trip was to shut your parents up by getting you to pick a stupid school, and if you had an idea, you wouldn't have bothered with this trip. You don't know what you want and that's your problem, you care too much about everyone else's feelings than your own. That's why you can't make a decision. It's your damn life. If you don't wanna go to college, then don't. If you wanna go to community college, do it! Wanna go to a public school, who cares? Wanna live it up? Go to a party school. You are so fixated on not disappointing them that you're stuck trying to decide what would make everyone else happy."
"That's not true!"
"Pick a Thanksgiving pie for us to eat right now."
"What?"
"Just do it."
Elena sighs, "Well, there's cherry pie, except fresh ones can be a hassle to pit. Dad doesn't care for sweet potato pie. Lynn doesn't care about it so long as it tastes good. Victor can't chew anything, so soft pies are the way to go. Mom prefers something fresh without a lot of sugar, Andrew-"
"See! There you go! Couldn't even make a simple decision. Your first instinct was to worry about everyone else and you didn't even mention yourself."
"You interrupted me."
"Yeah, after you worried about four other people first."
Elena turns away and looks out the window.
She knows that she can be indecisive, but it sure as heck doesn't help knowing that if she can't decide on a pie flavor, then something more consequential will be impossible for her. She'll keep thinking about what she's missing out on, how that one decision will impact the rest of her life, or that she'll mess up by making the wrong choice.
Kiké glances over at his niece. It's obvious how anxious she is and he can feel it in his chest. Her parents aren't going to make this feeling go away, especially when she can't make a decision. So rather than let this go on, he offers her the best advice he can.
"You might have to consider lying when you get home."
Elena looks over at him, "Excuse me?"
"What? Everybody who looks at you can see that you're a nervous wreck and your parents aren't making it any better. Tell a little white lie and pretend that one of the schools had an interesting International Studies program, that sounds like a stupid major that you would be interested in. They'll get off your back. You get some breathing room, and then down the line you can say that you changed your mind to whatever you really want to study."
"You really think that that's going to work?"
"They're freaking you out. You can't make a decision. Buy yourself some time. Then maybe get away from them once you graduate high school."
"What are you talking about?"
"Apply to a school out of town, maybe out of state, get away from your parents for a few years, be your own person without them breathing down your neck, screw around a little, if you do end up going to school, skip class once in a while - something! Because you know if you stay nearby, you'll never get a chance to do something for yourself without feeling like you're letting them down. Look at it as your chance to grow up a bit."
"Grow up? I get that I'm only sixteen, but I'm not that young."
"Yeah, you are," he tells her, "I mean, you should live your life making your own choices. Hell, if I stuck around, I would have been doing what my parents would have wanted and felt like my life would have been a waste."
"That's not true. Dad told me that you've been a handful for years. You never cared what Abuelita or anyone else thought, and you did whatever you wanted."
"Fine, but either way, I'm not wrong. If you go to school anywhere near Detroit, your parents are going to constantly be on your ass. You'll never get a chance to become your own person, or be someone who can light her own fire, or figure out what you want out of life. And if you don't, you're gonna end up bitter and wondering what could have been."
"What, you just want me to leave Michigan like it's nothing?"
"You're not a baby. In two years, you're going to be an adult, you'll be able to handle yourself, and it's not like your parents won't help you. You aren't gonna go, 'I'm going out of state, never talk to me again'. You're gonna call them and you're gonna tell them about how it's going and whatever other crap you think is important. You're going to visit, and you're all gonna love it. But if they're around all the time, you're going to keep making decisions based on what you think they want for you. And you know that's not gonna do you any good."
Elena looks out the window. She stares into the darkness trying to make sense of what he said to her. She doesn't want to admit that his idea to tell a little white lie is a good one, but it's so tempting. It's only to get her parents off her back for the time being, but she does worry about what will happen afterwards.
Which is exactly what he's talking about.
Kiké notices her look away from him, "Go ahead, stare out silently all you want, but you know that that's what you wanted to hear."
After a quiet ride, Elena walks into the house, hoping to avoid her mom, unfortunately her cover is blown after her tío caused a ruckus as he sped out of the driveway.
Caroline walks over to the front door and sees her daughter with a solemn look on her face. She's almost afraid to ask how the trip went, thinking that it caused more harm than good, but she is still curious to ask.
Instead, Andrew walks in and asks, "How'd it go?"
"Fine," without looking at either adult, "I'm going to head upstairs and relax before school tomorrow."
Caroline quietly nods her head. That sort of tells her that the trip might have been a bust, but then her daughter says, "I was sort of interested in Michigan's International Studies program."
Both adults are surprised to have heard that coming from Elena, but regardless, they're happy that the weekend was able to bring a little clarity for her.
"Th-That's great," is all Caroline is able to say before Elena walks away. She turns to Andrew and whispers, "I didn't think that she was going to make a decision so quickly."
"Yeah, I guess," he says, not entirely convinced that Elena is telling the truth. He doesn't blame her with how stressed and how she insisted on Kiké taking her on this trip over anyone else.
"What do you mean, 'I guess'?"
Andrew doesn't want to cause problems for his stepdaughter, especially since Caroline seems to believe what Elena said, so he backtracks and says, "I guess I'm just in shock that she decided so quickly. But good for her. Michigan's a good school."
Caroline corrects him, "It's a great school. It's not too far. It's perfect." She lets out a sigh of relief, "I feel a weight lifting off my shoulders, I was afraid that she was going to come back more indecisive than ever."
Andrew chuckles, "Yeah, I get it. But it's great that she has an idea of what she wants to do after high school."
"I know." Caroline feels her phone buzz, "It's Francisco. I'm gonna tell him how it went," she says before heading to the living room.
Andrew looks up at the top of the stairs and walks away, deciding to leave Elena alone after the long weekend.
