Won't Settle For Less

Preface

It was a day of blistering heat when Ezra got the email. The sun had been shining non-stop for the past five days, something that was rather unusual for Belgium, despite it being the end of May. There were no clouds to be seen, not even at the edge of the horizon. Still, his mum had been watching the sky warily all day long, even going as far as moving all the garden equipment back in the shed.

He would have scoffed if it wasn't for the fact that it wasn't just his mum who was on edge like that. Belgians knew better than to expect the weather to stay like this. He knew that there was a very big chance that somehow, the weather would make a 180 so quickly that it would leave him with a whiplash, and so he had decided to forgo efficiency and study outside.

And that's how Ezra Leroy found himself baking in the sun in his backyard, his notes from Spanish Linguistics strewn all around him. Vegas by All Time Low was playing in the background, for the simple reason that he had less trouble focusing if there was music playing that he knew, but if he looked back on it he could admit that the song was rather fitting.

A ding from his laptop let him know that he had a new mail, and in the blink of an eye, Ezra had pushed his notes aside and was clutching his laptop on his lap. The little red dot next to the outlook icon was taunting him. It wasn't the first mail that he had gotten today, and every time the little notification had come through he had had the same reaction. His mum had told him to leave it alone for now and focus on passing all his courses, but he was a stubborn fuck and had neglected to listen to her. That didn't make it any easier to open his mailbox though. The anticipation was weighing so heavily on him that he didn't know how he would react if it was just another stupid mail again.

But for once, luck seemed to be on Ezra's side. And then a totally new kind of nerves started to overtake him, because now that he had the mail, he had to open it. And that, that was even worse than spending a full day hoping the mail would come.

With his lip clutched tight between his teeth, he clicked to open the mail. The first lines were all bullshit, after long consideration we're delighted to yadadada, and Ezra quickly scrolled down to the end of the mail, where the practical information was displayed. His eyes snatched on one word, and then he was shouting and laughing and perhaps also a bit crying but he would never admit it. Both his mum and younger siblings ran to the garden at his outburst of energy and he sent them a blinding grin.

"I got it, mum!" he said with a loud laugh. "I got into the programme. Full grant and all. I'm going to America."

He didn't study for the rest of the day, there was simply too much energy in him. Instead, he put on his trainers and plugged in his earbuds and went on a long run, not even the long-awaited summer storm that he got caught in being able to wipe the smile off his face.

He had full grant and housing for a whole year in America, and he would finally be able to leave this shithole of angry and uncompassionate humans behind. For 21 long years, Ezra Leroy had been waiting for his very own adventure to come across, and now it was finally here.