Growing Pains

Chapter 74 - Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

E T H A N

Usually, I was never in class before I had to, but today was different. Today was the last time I would ever have English with Mr. Wyatt and so today I wanted as much time inside those walls as possible.

He was behind his desk, trying to get rid of a stain on his usual button-down shirt, but he looked up at me when I stopped in front of him, and smiled, a confused look on his face.

"Good morning, Ethan," he said first. "The bell didn't ring yet, did it?"

"No, don't worry. I just– I wanted to come in early to show you this," I said, reaching inside my backpack for the letter I had received in the mail this morning to put down in front of him.

Mrs. Wyatt looked at it, but didn't make any effort to open it. Instead, he looked back up at me and smiled even more than before, this time without the confusion.

"You got in!" he said.

I smiled too. I had been smiling since I got it.

"I got in!" I said, and he walked around his desk to come hug me, the way fathers did on tv. I had never had a father in real life, so I didn't know what to do, and for a while I just stood there, not moving, until it hit me that maybe I could just hug him back.

"This is great," he told me. "This is really great. I'm really proud of you."

I hadn't had the chance to go to the rehab center to tell my mom yet, and when I called last night, she was already asleep, so I hadn't heard her say it yet, that she was proud. I Would she be proud? It was just community college, but it was something.

It was great, really great. Mr. Wyatt said so.

I said thank you when he pulled away, "For all your help and for –"

"No, no, no, none of that," he stopped, pointing at me, "This is about you. You did this yourself. You should be proud, really proud, Ethan."

I opened my mouth again, but then Zoey and Daisy walked in with Luke following close behind them, all of them smiling the same way I had been.

"Drumrolls please," Daisy said, wearing bright yellow jeans. "Guess who's going to college!!"

Next to me, Mr. Wyatt's smiled, "All of you?"

Daisy hit both hands on his desk so it would sound like the drumrolls she had asked for, and said, "All of us!!"

Mr. Wyatt laughed, "Congratulations!"

There was no hugging.

"Unfortunately, I didn't make the cut for my top choice," Daisy went on. "But it's fine. Rejection builds character."

Mr. Wyatt agreed, but before he could say more, Zoey cut in, "She's not telling you the best part! We're gonna be roommates!"

Mr. Wyatt opened his mouth again, but Daisy went on, "We both got partial scholarships for this really good liberal arts college upstate. Are you proud, captain, oh captain?"

"I'm really proud!" Mr. Wyatt said, turning to Luke afterwards, standing behind them with bags under his eyes. "What about you?"

"Film school," he said. "I'm officially off the family will."

Mr. Wyatt laughed. The bell rang. Suddenly everyone was coming in, and everyone had good news. I walked up to my seat in the back but kept listening in on other people's plans for the future.

Jason had gotten a sports scholarship, and so had most other seniors on the team, except for the ones who were getting held back a year on the account of having failed most of their classes. Kylie and Skylar were going to be roommates too, except Skylar had gotten a full scholarship, and Kylie had gotten none, not that she needed it. Allora was on the waitlist for one of the best-ranked colleges in the country but seemed confident that she wouldn't have to wait for much longer.