Safe With You || Seth Cohen

||57||

"Okay picture me in college. Big fish in a small pond or small fish in a big pond?" Seth asked Ryan as he looked down at the college brochures we had strewn across the table at the diner. 

"I don't know. I've never really pictured you living in a pond." Ryan said, making me grin. 

"Me either. You know finding the right college should be more soulful than this."

"Well you gotta fill it out. It's due today." Ryan reminded him, and I grimaced. I wasn't too excited about picking a college. I'd never imagined being able to attend college and now I had to decide which one I would attend.

"What's due today?" Marissa asked as she walked in and sat beside Ryan in the booth. 

"Hey good timing." Ryan told her with a smile. 

"Hey. Picking the perfect college?" Marissa asked, reading the paper Seth was looking at. 

"Yeah, the meeting is with the college counsellor today." Ryan reminded and I groaned. 

"This is too stressful. I feel like it's way too soon to decide where I'm going to spend the next years of my life."

"It's okay, it's only four years and according to this brochure it's supposed to be the high point of an otherwise miserable existence." Seth told me and I smiled at him. 

"Well these kids look pretty happy. Look Mariss, two girls holding a microscope and smiling. That could be us." I joked, but stopped smiling as I saw the dejected look on Marissa's face. 

"I don't think so."

"Mariss, are you okay?" I asked, but Seth answered before she could. "Of course she's okay. She gets to leave Newport. We all do. Think about this-pretty soon we're gonna be living in real cities with real non-botoxed, non plastic people."

"Seth." I stated, watching Marissa's face fall once again. 

"You know guys, it's getting late, I should go." Marissa stated, about to stand up.

"Marissa, what's wrong?" Ryan asked her and she sighed. 

"Nothing, I mean this college thing, it's great.. for you guys. I'm just not gonna be apart of it."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her and she glanced at me. 

"Look, I've done the research. With my background and my history, I don't have a chance of getting in."

I glanced at her, then at Ryan and Seth. 

"I'm just not going to college, that's all." Marissa said, standing up and walking off. 

"And there's a different approach."

~~~~

I walked into the counsellor's office and sat down, smoothing down my skirt as I did. 

"Miss Atwood, have you decided where you might like to attend?"

"I'm still not sure."

"But surely you know what career choice you want to take?"

"I do, I just am not sure how to achieve it. I'm honestly just surprised that my brother and I have made it this far. I mean, we're the first ones in our family to even graduate high school and now we have to pick a college. It's just a lot to process."

"I understand that. I also want to let you know that you have a great chance at getting into whatever college you'd like. You've been an amazing student, and even with your background, no college can overlook that."

~~~~

I smiled as I walked towards the student lounge with a Brown University brochure in my hand. 

I saw Ryan and Seth on the couch, both holding brochures of their own.