As I expected, at school, Lip was furious. Ian and Diana walked behind us as Lip lectured me.
"You really don't get why I have a problem with this?"
"No."
"Really?"
"No!"
He turned back, "Ian, Diana, do you two get why I have a problem with this?"
"Not getting in the middle," Ian said.
"Not my problem," Diana said.
"Why are you being such a dick about this? I saved you a lot of time and money by filling those out, you know."
We walked past Karen, and I stared down, "Keep walking, bitch."
"Wow, you're-
"What? Go ahead, say it."
"You're not my mother, you're not in charge of who I talk to or who has a picture of me on Facebook, and you're sure as shit, not in charge of if I go to college!"
I turned to Ian and Diana, who gave me "don't look at me" looks.
"He's so ungrateful," I said.
"Mayo, it is his future. You can't force him to go down a path he doesn't want to."
I groaned angrily.
"That's the point!" I said, "I'm not forcing him to do shit, I'm just trying to give him the opportunities! But he can't see that because he's too fucking dumb!"
"Babe, you need to talk to him about this, and soon."
"How soon?"
"Like after school soon."
I sighed.
____________________________________________________
We'd found out from Mandy that Mickey was marrying some whore he knocked up. I could see by the look on Ian's face and based on the questions he was asking Mandy that the news rocked his world.
I needed to talk to Lip about this. If I cared at all about our relationship, I had to. I couldn't just let this fester.
So, after school, I went back to the Gallagher's with Ian.
Lip got home before us, and Ian went upstairs, giving us privacy to talk.
"Ok," I said, "I think we both need to try to understand where we're coming from. Why are you mad that I filled out those applications for you?"
"Because you did it without asking me."
"I DID ask you!" I said, "Multiple times, and you just never did it. Is this really what you want for the rest of your life? To be stuck in the southside with a shitty job just barely getting by? Come on, Lip. You and I both know you're better than that. And the fact that you don't want that for yourself is a problem."
He didn't say anything back.
"Paying those application fees wasn't cheap, and was not easy. This was not something I did for me. I did this all for you, so you could at least say thank you."
He looked at me and grabbed me. I looked into his blue eyes, scared of what he was going to do next.
15 Minutes Later
We just finished having the most rough sex of my life, and we were on Lip's bed, naked and out of breath.
"I'm surprised you applied to MIT for me," Lip said, holding my hand, "Boston's a little far, don't you think?"
"Yeah, well," I said, "It may be far, but you deserve to get out of this place."
Lip played with my hair and kissed the top of my head.
________________________________________________________
An hour later, Mandy, Diana, and I were all in my room, doing homework, when my phone rang. It was an unknown number.
"Who is it?"
"I don't know," I said, pressing accept and putting it on speaker, "Hello?"
"Hey, Mayo. It's Karen."
Mandy and Diana looked at me, "Fuck."
"I just wanted to call and thank you for applying to colleges for Lip."
"Excuse me?"
"My mom kinda sucks these days, and it'll be awesome to have somewhere new to go," she said. I know she wasn't talking shit about Sheila. Fucking bitch.
"And all I have to do is poke one hole in a condom, and he'll do whatever I say, forever," Karen said, "I mean we learned that from last time."
"Fuck you, you whore."
The blood in my veins was coursing through my body with rage.
"Oh, you mean all three of us?" Karen said, "Yeah, I could be down for that. Do you want me to ask Lip next time we do it?"
I hung up and looked at Diana and Mandy.
"She can't," I said, "She can't keep getting away with this! We gotta- we gotta do something, we can't just-
"Mayo, what are we gonna do?" Diana said, "Because I have nothing."
"Leave it to me. I'll handle it," Mandy said.
"Mandy, what-
"Don't worry. I've got you," She said, getting up and leaving.
Diana and I looked at each other.
"Do you think it's gonna be something bad?" Diana said.
"Diana, she's a Milkovich. What do you think?"