"Guys, today is the day!" Garrett sat at the table with Carter following right behind him.
We all looked at each other, confusion written on all our faces.
"Admissions?" he questioned, eyes switching to each of us, trying to see if we remembered.
"What admissions?" I asked, wondering what he talked about.
"College admissions!"
"What?" the rest of us asked in unison.
We all took out our phones.
I checked the date. Today was indeed the day most of us found out if we were accepted into certain schools.
"They start sending out emails today and so on," he further explained.
"It completely slipped my mind. I mean, I knew it was in this month. I just forgot what day it was," Finn spoke.
"Any emails?" Roxy asked.
I went to the mail app of my phone and refreshed. No emails from any schools yet. "Nope."
"No."
"Nada."
"Nothing yet," I heard Carter.
"Nothing. It's still early," Roxy spoke, getting up after the bell rang.
"Come on, Ryan." Carter stood, along with everyone else.
I grabbed my backpack, and we headed to our first period.
"Excited for college admissions?" he asked.
"Hopefully I get in."
"Our grades are similar, and my grades are fine. Don't worry. You'll be fine."
I nodded, as we walked into our classroom and sat in our seats.
Taking out a notebook and pencil, I waited for class to start.
"We're probably taking notes today."
I nodded, turning to look at Carter. The bruise on his face was now fading and was harder to see.
"Hey, the bruise is going away."
He rubbed his face. "I hope so. It's been a few days."
"What about the other ones?"
"The ones over my torso seem to be taking a bit longer."
I nodded.
Mr. Galos stood in front of his desk as soon as the final bell rang. "Admissions, huh?"
Some people groaned.
He chuckled. "I get it. It's a bit stressful. Don't worry, though. I'm sure you guys will do fine."
"Fine, my aşs," someone mumbled.
The class erupted in laughter. Carter and I laughed as well.
"Settle down. Time to take notes." Mr. Galos stood away from his desk and walked over to the white board.
More people groaned but did as they were told and took out their notebooks and pencils.
Nothing too different. Class time was spent taking notes and discussing them with the people around us. We made sure we understood the material and asked questions if we didn't.
"See you later," Carter said as soon as the bell rang.
I packed up my things and headed to my physics class. I sat in my seat when I walked in.
"Hey, Finn," I said as he walked over.
"Hey." He sat down in his seat, beside me.
"Get any emails?"
He shook his head. "You?"
"Nothing so far."
"I'm hoping I find out today and not in March like some other people."
I nodded, agreeing with him.
"Pop quiz today," our teacher spoke when the bell rang.
"What?" Finn turned to me.
"I'm not ready!" someone cried out.
I chuckled.
"Everything off your desks. Only pencils and erasers. I'll pass out the quizzes and scratch paper."
We did as we were told, putting our things away and leaving our pencils.
He went on to pass out the quizzes and scratch paper. When he gave us the quiz, we were free to start.
"What the hell?" I mumbled to myself.
This quiz didn't seem like it was anything we had learned.
"You too?" Finn whispered.
I slowly nodded, trying to understand the quiz. I looked up and looked around, only to see the confusion on other people's faces. So it wasn't just Finn and me. Everyone else was confused as well.
Whatever. I tried my best and started doing some of the problems. On the ones I wasn't sure about, I guessed. Most of the quiz consisted of my guesses. It was multiple choice so that helped somewhat.
When we all finished, our teacher walked around the room, collecting them.
"So how was that?" he asked.
The class remained quiet.
He chuckled. "Don't worry. This test won't count on your grades. It was just to see what you know. We'll be learning about this subject next week."
I swear I heard a sigh of relief from come from everyone. As soon as the bell rang, everyone got their things and exited the classroom.
"Good thing it's not going to count," Finn said as we walked out with everyone else.
"I know. I was confused about it all."
He nodded. "Alright. I'll see you at lunch."
We did our usual handshake and he went on his way.
I walked into my economics class and sat down in my seat. I extended my legs and leaned back in my chair.
"Any emails?" Garrett asked as he and Carter sat down.
I shook my head.
"You guys?"
Carter shook his head.
"I got accepted to most of the UCs I applied to," Garrett said.
"San Diego?"
"Still haven't received an email from them."
"What about the Ivy leagues?" I asked.
He nodded. "I only heard from Stanford. And I got in."
"Harvard?" I asked.
"No email yet."
####
"Where's Carter?" I asked, as Roxy and I sat down, setting our lunch trays on the table.
The guys shrugged their shoulders.
"You guys, I got in!" Carter set his tray down in front of him and sat down in his seat beside Roxy and me.
"No way! The one in New York?" I asked.
"Hell yeah!"
I leaned over and gave him a high-five.
"Anyone else?" Finn asked.
I checked my phone again. Nothing yet.
We all shook our heads.
"Wait. Berkeley. I got in!" Finn showed us the screen of his phone.
"Congrats, man."
"And Davis, too!" he said.
"No way! That's awesome," Carter spoke.
"It's official. I'm moving to NorCal for school." He smiled.
Roxy's attention went from Finn to the food on her tray. She pretty much ignored the conversation and just ate her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
The rest of us ate our food as well.
When we were finished, Carter and I threw away all of our trays. We sat back down and got started on some homework.
"Hey, what's twenty-six times forty-nine?" Finn asked.
"Twelve seventy-four," Garrett answered.
He nodded, writing it down.
I worked on some math homework as well. My gaze switched over to Roxy. She kept her head down most of the time, engulfed in her homework. She was quiet the entire time. It wasn't that strange but something about the way she was acting told me there was something bothering her. That much, I could tell.
When the bell rang, we all packed up our things and went on our way to class. I made my way towards my English class and sat in my seat.
Once class started, we were instructed to read from our textbooks and take notes on the passage. That took most of the period, considering it was about thirty pages we had to read and a few pages of notes we had to take. I was glad when that class was over and I went to my last class.
Ceramics was my sixth and final class for the day. I put my backpack in a cubby, like always, and grabbed an apron to put on. For this class, all we had to do was work on our previous assignment. We were to continue working on our vases.
I grabbed my vase from the storage area and walked over to my work area. My vase was almost complete. I just needed to paint it. When finished, it would be black with three gray lines going horizontally around the center.
I grabbed the black paint and a brush and started painting it. Three coats went on the vase. That's all I would do today, leaving time for the vase to dry. Tomorrow, I would finish painting it and set it off to the side so our teacher could put them in the oven.
When the bell rang, I put my vase back in storage, hung my apron up, washed my hands, and grabbed my backpack to leave.
I walked down the hallway to meet up with the guys. I was usually the last one to join them, considering my class was in the farthest part of the school and I had to clean up my work area in ceramics.
"Hey, Ryan." Carter did the usual handshake with me when I joined them, walking down the hall.
"Hey," the rest of the guys said to me.
The five of us made our way down the hallway and outside to the parking lot.
I walked over to my truck, Roxy walked over to Finn's car, and the rest of the guys stood by Garrett's car. They were talking about something.
"Ryan, check your email," Garrett called, turning his attention to me.
I did just that and went to the app to refresh it. There was an email from a school I applied to. I quickly opened it.
No way!
"I got in to UC San Diego!"
"So did I." He smiled. "UC San Diego, here I come."
"You're accepting to that school?" I asked.
"Yeah. Are you?"
"Not sure yet."
"It's up to you." He shrugged.
I unlocked my truck and stood by the open door. "Hey, Roxy, did you get in?" I turned to see her. She was still standing by Finn's car.
"Yeah, I did."
"How many schools?"
"So far, three out of the six I've applied to."
I smiled. "That's awesome. What about San Diego?" I asked, hopeful.
She had a small smile, nodding her head.
"Everything okay?" I asked, noting that she didn't seem as excited as I thought she would be.
Her lips parted just a bit for me to know that she was about to say something.
"Rox, ready to go?" Finn walked over to his car.
She nodded her head and gave me a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"See you later, Ryan." She waved.
"Bye, Roxy."