After my mom and I finally peel ourselves off the ground, I head to the living room and lie down on the couch. Just trying to wrap my head around the past few months and the journey I have been on.
Like not that long ago, it didn't look like I was even going to graduate. And now I have three incredible options. Three amazing paths.
I keep wondering how I would have shared this news with Bruce. But the sad part is, I am not sure I even would have shared it with him. Maybe I would have told him the next time I saw him or the next time he called. But who knows when that would have been. Now I'll never tell him but the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach is me not being that upset about it. Because it isn't that different than how it would have been.
"Oh my god, I need to call Claire and Grace!" I scream at my mom and run upstairs to my room, grabbing my phone out of my bag on the way.
Five missed calls.
Eleven texts.
I look up and say a little prayer for Claire. I know she doesn't need it but we all kind of need it. She deserves more than all of us put together.
Every missed call is from Claire.
I open the texts. Also all from Claire.
Did you get your responses?
Did you open them?
Did you get in?
Answer me! I need to know.
Tell me.
Ah fuck it. I GOT IN!!! I did it! Yale bitches.
Why are you taking so long to write back?
Have you heard from Grace?
She's not answering her phone.
Why isn't she answering her phone?
Why aren't you answering your phone?
Holy cow, calm down Claire. Yeesh!
I GOT IN!
I reply. And then I dial Claire's number and she answers before I even hear it ring once.
"Finally! What took you so long? You got in? Where? To which schools?"
I try to answer but it's hard to get a word in.
"All of them," I say quietly.
"All of them! Oh my god, that's amazing! My little troublemaker turned her life around. Haha! But seriously, way to go, I am so proud of you."
I don't really know what to say to that. I've never had a friend be proud of me. But I'll take it.
"Have you heard from Grace?" she asks.
"I haven't," I reply.
"That is so weird. I mean she lives closer to school than either of us. She should definitely know by now. And you know she would get in touch right away. I don't have a good feeling."
I pause to take this all in. It couldn't be. We were all so worried about Claire because she's staked her entire life on this. And worried about me because I have been, let's be honest, a total mess this year. And we haven't worried about Grace.
"I am going to call her right now," I say.
I hang up and dial Grace. No answer. I hang up and call again. It rings a few times and then...
"Hey." It's Grace but she doesn't sound like Grace.
"Hey. You good?"
"Ya, I am fine..." the line goes quiet. "It's just, I can't..." and then I can definitely hear crying.
YOU ARE READING
Dispatches from a Teenage Girl
Teen Fiction[FEATURED x5] When Lucy's estranged father dies suddenly, she knows she is not going to have the Senior Year of her dreams - it is definitely not starting out as her best year ever, that's for sure. Instead, she begins to question the point of it al...
