A month before graduation, Julian, Victoria and I sat at the cafeteria during lunch talking about prom and what could be in store for us during the summer. Marcus was sick so Tori decided to go visit him right after school. Julian and I arrived at my house to find it empty. Tom was picking Alejandra from school now that mom agreed to marry him. Yes, mom agreed to marry Tom. He was practically jumping around the house when he told us she said yes.
“Are your mom or Tom home?” I turned around to look at Julian. He shut the door before looking at me. I shook my head. “Do you think we can? You know…”
“Uh, I don’t know. Isn’t it supposed to happen?” He raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I was talking about taking a nap in your room. What were you thinking?” My jaw dropped. Why did I think that? Julian wasn’t like that. “Oh Cal!”
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean that.” He began laughing as I placed my hands on top of my head. “Don’t laugh.”
“Calm down babe.” I took a deep breath before looking down at my feet. I felt a pair of fingers on my chin as they made me look up. “Babe, I don’t think your house would be a good place to do that.”
“Okay. I shouldn’t be asking but why not?” His fingers left my chin as he leant closer. His lips brushed against my ear.
“If we get to do it sometime I want it to be someplace special.” I rolled my eyes and pushed him away from me as I laughed.
“You’re crazy.” He wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me closer. His lips collided with mine making me smile. I kissed back quickly before pulling away. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because I love you.” The smile on face faded as did Julian’s. I gently pushed him away from me making him stare at me weirdly. “Did I say something wrong?”
“You said you love me.” He didn’t seem to get the message until his lips formed an o.
“I didn’t know it would bother you but I do love you Calli. It’s been like, what, six months since we started dating. You are amazing and I love you.” I couldn’t help but give him a shy smile as I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I don’t expect a quick answer. I just thought I’d let you know.”
“Thank you, for everything.” I stepped closer and kissed him. As I pulled away, the front door opened revealing Tom and Ale. “Hey! What you got there?”
“Oh! This?” He held up an envelope in his hand. I thought I was going crazy when I saw the name on it. University of Miami. “This is some weird letter I found in the mailbox. Let’s throw it away!”
“No!” I quickly approached him and snatched the envelope from him to open it. I opened it and began to read. I stopped right at the beginning before looking up. My sister, boyfriend and future stepdad gave me weird looks. “This is the letter from the university! Duh!”
“Read it!” Alejandra wrapped her arms around my waist making me smile. I began to read the date and such, constantly nodding as I read.
…we’re glad to inform you about your acceptance at the University of Miami in Florida. The scholarship program had been delighted with your high grades and had decided to provide full scholarship, including studies, materials and home due to your amazing abilities in writing plus public speaking abilities. We’ll be more than happy to receive you by the end of August to fill out some papers and get settled.
Until then,
Admission Committee of the University of Miami
“I got in.” I held the letter in the air as I looked down at my sister. “I got in Ale! I got in!”
“Yes!” She hugged my waist tighter making me smile. I looked up at Tom. He had a big smile on his face as he approached me and my sister.
“You got in! You did it!” I wrapped one of my arms around my sister while the other wrapped around Tom’s waist.
“I made it!” I chuckled to myself before letting go off them. I turned to look at Julian. He had the biggest smile I’d ever seen on him. I quickly walked up to him and practically jumped on him. “I made it!”
“You made it!” He wrapped his arms around my waist lifting me up. “I can’t believe you made it.”
“I know!” I laughed as I leant back to look at him. “I can’t believe I made it, Julian. I just can’t!”
“Believe it! You made it babe!” I smiled at him before pecking his lips. He put me down and I sighed. I achieved such an important goal in my life and I couldn’t help but be happier than ever.
As the night rolled in, mom arrived home and Julian left considering his older sister invited him for dinner. Apparently she had some big news for him. I helped mom make dinner while Tom helped Ale with her homework. Mom and I talked about the letter. She was still hesitant about me going to study miles and miles away from home.
“Are you even sure about going?” I stirred the meat as I looked up.
“I’m not changing my mind mom. I want my life to change for once. I want to be that girl that everyone didn’t expect to get far.” My mom still looked hesitant. “How many people from El Paso make it out of this hole?”
“Calli, I,” She was about to answer but the doorbell cut her off. I gave her a confused look. We usually didn’t receive anyone during dinner time. “I’ll be right back.”
I finished making dinner while mom got the door. I could hear a conversation between her, Tom and a third person. Alejandra came into the kitchen to ask what was for dinner. I smiled at the tone she used I knew she wanted something so I gave it to her. She wanted a taste of the meat.
“Calli?” We both turned around to see Tom standing by the hall. “There’s someone who wants to talk to you.”
“Who is it?” He didn’t answer. He motioned for me to follow him. I turned off the stove and followed my future stepdad down the hall. Alejandra followed behind being her curious self. As we reached the door, I noticed who the visit was. “What are you doing here?”
“I just want to talk.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest as I stared at the man at our door. I looked at my mom for a moment.
“He just wants to talk.” I rolled my eyes.
“Fine. Let’s talk.” I turned my gaze towards the man who helped during the process of making me. “What do you want?”
“I want another chance. I want to see both of my girls.” I scoffed. “I want that chance more than anything.”
“Don’t you have a family that would bother with you?” He looked down at his feet. That’s when it hit me. “You do have another family.”
“I do, actually. A pair of twins.” I nodded once he stared at me again.
“What about your wife?” I noticed him swallow. Swallow hard.
“She passed.” I was taken aback by his words. Before I could say anything, I felt a hand wrap around mine. I looked down at to see Alejandra giving me a sad look. My sister wasn’t an idiot. She knew what was going on.
“Calli, dad needs us.” I would’ve protest but the thought if my sister being right at that moment made me think about it.
My dad had just mentioned his wife passed away. I had two half-brothers. Well, two half twin brothers to be exact. I wondered how old they were, how they were doing, what they liked to do. I looked at my dad to see something rolling down his cheek. Was that a tear? I shook my head and stepped forward wrapping my arms around my dad’s torso. He hesitated at first but wrapped his arms around me anyways.
“Calli?” I sniffed against his chest pouring my heart out. During that time that my dad spent trying to look for me and Alejandra, all he wanted was our company. He wanted us to be with him again.
“I’m very sorry dad. I’m sorry.” I hugged him tighter as he rubbed my back. I was on the verge of tears. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him now that I knew what he was going through. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s okay baby.” He kissed my head hugging me tighter. “It’s okay.”
“Can you stay over?” I leant back to look at him. He gave me a concerned look meaning I had to talk to mom. I sighed turning to look at her. “Mom?”
“Yes. He can stay in the guest room.” I automatically smiled before grabbing Alejandra’s hand. I pulled her closer to me before kneeling down.
“Thank you. For a ten year old you have a gift of making people realize what’s wrong or right.” She smiled at me before looking at our dad.
“Hi dad!” He smiled down at both of us before looking at mom. They both exchanged nods making me smile.
I guess my dad did deserve that chance. He deserved it more than anyone.
Here you have chapter nineteen! I'm really excited about posting this chapter because it's one of my favorites so far :) I hope you all enjoyed it! Don't forget to vote or comment! AAND, there's a Q&A in the previous chapter so if there's something you want to know leave a comment over there and I'll answer it very soon!