No Turning Back

The First Day

"Not yet. They just got my transcripts in the other day so they're probably just now starting to look over everything," I told him. My dad nodded in satisfaction. I had applied to seven schools. All Ivy League, of course. My parents refused to have me go anywhere else. So, I complied to their wishes and applied to Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. All of them had football teams so my parents were praying that I would get a football scholarship to go along with a tuition scholarship. I'm not sure what exactly they were hoping to get but I just did my best to make them happy. I was just wishing that I got in since they were the only schools I applied to. Both of my parents were rooting for me to go to Yale or Harvard because you know...they're academically famous. I, on the other hand, wasn't really sure where I wanted to go. Yes, I visited and loved all of them but I just wasn't quite sure where I was going quite then.

"I hope you hear from them early. Then, you can just go back and visit again and really narrow it down." I nodded, trying not to think about it. All of the colleges were pretty far away and I wasn't ready to think about being too far from home yet. I was close to my younger siblings and leaving them behind didn't exactly sit right with me. "You ready to rule the school," my dad asked me with a smile as he referred to my new position as student body president. I guess I forgot to mention that I had been on student council ever since middle school and now I reached my goal of being president. It was already a lot of work though. I met with the rest of the council a lot during the summer in order to come up with new ideas to improve the school and new plans for fun that pertained to the students. I had a good group of other students with me on the council who were with me on being hell bent on making a change in the school. They all never knew it would so stressful either though.

"I guess," I said with a shrug. "I have to make some cheesy school spirit announcement on the morning television show today. I'm not looking forward to that."

"Why not, honey," my mom asked as she turned to set down a huge plates of cinnamon waffles on the table.

"Because it's going to be cheesy," I said. "What 17 year old wants to be cheesy in front of the whole school?"

"Hey, if I don't recall, you were pretty cheesy when you asked Melanie to junior prom last year," Ashley said before taking a sip of her orange juice. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm supposed to be cheesy for her. She's my friend."

"Girlfriend," Ashley coughed under her breath. I glared at her. Melanie and I had been friends since we were born. She only lived a couple doors down and we were practically inseparable at times. We talked to each other about anything and everything. She was my best friend. Yes, she did confess to me over the summer that she was in love with me but our friendship stayed stable throughout the awkward tension that lingered at first since I didn't exactly feel the same way. Melanie was absolutely beautiful, sexy, smart, funny, and everything else a guy could want in a girl but I just didn't see her that way. If anything, she was more like a twin sister to me. We were on the same level but I would still protect her no matter what the circumstances. My family didn't know about her feelings for me but they did think we liked each other. I never confirmed anything but Ashley does like to say what she wants.

"Ashley, leave your brother alone," my mom said before shooting me a smile. I returned it. My mother was a beautiful woman and looked a lot like Ashley with her chestnut hair, warm facial features, and slim body. She and my father were high school sweethearts and went to Columbia together. They got married a few years after they got out of college and had me a few months after that. You could say that they had the perfect relationship since they were still disgustingly in love. Or at least I thought it was disgusting since that technically still is my parents. But, a part of me felt relieved to know that there really is someone out there for everyone and that love really could last if it was genuine. My mother wasn't as hard on us as our father was but I could tell she still expected the same great things out of us. She owned a cosmetics line and traveled a lot though. None of us minded that part though because she always made time for all of us. Both of our parents did actually. I'm actually one of the kids who can say that my parents were rich and successful but made time in their busy lives to really spend time with their children. That's why our family was so close knit despite my sister's rebellious acts and my father's demanding attitude. No matter what, we were always there for each other.