Early Bird | ✓

23 | goose

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           "HAVE you narrowed your list down to five or six or seven options of schools that you want to visit?" Mr. Morris asked, his glasses perched on the edge of his nose as though they wanted to take flight. Lizzy finger combed through her tangled hair; she had forgotten to brush that morning as she hit snooze on her alarm multiple times and slept in later than she had intended. Her mother had not been extremely pleased with Lizzy and her untimeliness. It was a whirlwind of a morning with arguments and dashes to every inch of the house in search of her stray homework and a missing sock.

           "Yes. I think the farthest one is in Illinois. Or South Carolina. I don't remember. Mom and I are going to the New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania colleges all in a row in a few weeks. I'm not sure if we're going to the one in Illinois yet. And I'm taking the ACT next weekend," Lizzy unraveled her plan for her guidance counselor who was nodding his head, clearly impressed with Lizzy's hard work.

           "Wonderful. Wonderful indeed, Lizzy. But, pardon me, I'm bewildered. What's with the sudden change in attitude? If only you'd tell me your secret, then maybe I could get some of the other students in your grade to get their act together," Mr. Morris boomed as he lined up Lizzy's paperwork and notes, preparing to hoard them away in his filing cabinet.

           Lizzy shrugged. She wasn't exactly sure how to put her change of heart into words. "I'm not really sure exactly. I think it's finally starting to sink in how real this whole college thing is and how much it's going to affect my future and my life. Honestly, I'd rather just ignore the whole thing because it's so stressful and I like to take life one day at a time and live in the moment, but I can't do that if I want to go to college, travel, see the world, and take care of my family. Especially now that Dad's without a job...I'm just hoping that we can still afford college, you know? With Dad losing his job, it kind of showed me that what lies ahead is never certain, but I can at least do my part in making it worthwhile. Does that make any sense?"

           "It does. But what about before your father lost his job?" Mr. Morris asked, referring to the planning he and Lizzy accomplished before.

          Lizzy's cheeks flushed until she resembled a crimson tomato, her voice lodged in the back of her throat. She didn't want to admit it, but now that she was shining under the spotlight from his question, she had to. "I was honestly only doing all that stuff to make you happy so that you could get off my case about college and blah blah blah. It was only after my Dad lost his job that I realized the importance of everything we'd already achieved. That's when I finally invested my heart and soul into this whole future, college, career thing."

           "I would pretend like I'm hurt by what you said but, truth be told, I hear that almost every day with almost every student I counsel. Sometimes, all you high school students think alike that it's a little scary." Mr. Morris cleared his throat, his eyebrows raising as he held his hand out for Lizzy to shake. Lizzy complied, his calloused fingers wrapping around her slender hand with its freshly painted teal nails.

           "Thank you, Mr. Morris," Lizzy verbalized with a demure smile before galloping out of the room like a zebra entering the wild called high school.

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           Lizzy balanced her lunch tray in one hand while holding her milk carton in the other. She weaved through the untamed students, waving all their body parts like they were some kind of crazy octopus. Teagan and Lizzy met each other's gazes and simultaneously rolled their eyes. Lizzy burst out into a laugh before sliding in her usual spot opposite of Teagan. Mateo wasn't found nearby but Lizzy just figured he went to the bathroom or was chatting it up with his girlfriend across the cafeteria.