Social Media «ᴄᴀᴋᴇ»

Chapter 34

Once the bus came, everyone started to climb on. Fortunately, my Student Pass has yet to expire, so I didn't need to pay the fare. Sure, a Student Pass was almost thirty dollars a month, but I wouldn't need to pay a fare every time I got onto the Orange Line—which, during school, was every day.

I stood in the aisle, hanging onto the rail as the bus took me to the place I wanted to go to. The bus stopped at every bus stop, so it took a while before it got to the bus stop I wanted to get off at. Then I saw the familiar building that is the library. The Orange Line stopped at the stop, and I walked off, making my way towards the library.

Once I walked inside, I was hit by the cold air coming from the A/C. I walked inside the building and automatically headed for the teen section. On the way towards the teen section, I was greeted by the librarian, Amanda.

"Luke!" Amanda exclaimed. She chuckled slightly at her outburst, and she pushed the glasses further up her nose. "Congratulations on your graduation!"

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. "Thank you," I gushed.

Amanda smiled at me. "So, thinking about colleges?"

"I was accepted into Berkeley," I told her.

Amanda frowned. "But that's not the college you want to go to, is it?" she said sadly.

I shook my head. "I really wanted to go to UCLA," I said, "but they don't accept anyone who doesn't have a 4.0 GPA."

"That's not true!" Amanda said defiantly. "You're an intelligent boy, Luke, and they'd have to accept you! Did you even apply?"

I shook my head shamefully. Amanda clicked her tongue sadly.

"And how are you so sure that they only accept 4.0's?" Amanda asked.

I shrugged my shoulders slightly. "I've been keeping in touch with my high school classmates," I told her. "The majority of valedictorians are staying here and going to UCLA. I know some valedictorians who are going to Harvard, some to USC, and some to MIT..."

Michael wanted to go to UCLA to major in performing arts. Ashton wanted to go to Harvard to major in law. I'm not sure how they'll handle that...

I shouldn't even be thinking about them. They're not my friends.

"How do you know that you won't get accepted if you didn't even apply?" Amanda asked with a smirk on her face.

And so I told her the story of Victoria, my math tutor. Victoria applied to UCLA four years ago, but they didn't accept her because she had a 3.8 GPA. Victoria did a year of community college so that she could raise her GPA. Once her GPA was 4.0, she applied to UCLA again and was accepted.

Amanda scoffed. "She's only one person!" she exclaimed. "Just apply to the damn university, Luke. You'll get accepted."

I didn't believe Amanda, but I promised her that I would apply tonight.

"What do you want to major in?"

"Linguistics," I told her. It's been my dream for a long time. "I also want to major in music."

"I don't take it you're here to volunteer, are you?" Amanda asked, changing the subject completely. "Now that it's summer, the kids are getting into the summer reading program—"

"No, I'm not volunteering," I told her. "I was actually wondering: Do you have any job openings? I can give you my résumé and everything—"

Amanda shook her head with a smile. "I don't need a résumé. You have all the requirements I could ask for. Yeah, I have a job opening. I've actually wanted to start a teen club for a while now, but with the kids' summer reading and story-time and—" she stopped herself "—yeah, you can take the job, Luke. Think you can handle a bunch of teens?"