Future Awaits

There I was. Standing in front of my future, in front of the only thing that could made my life go up or down hill with sweaty hands, trying to rub the sweat away on my skirt. I was very nervous, I always was though, this was no exception but the fact that I was fighting for this made my anxiety worse.

I couldn’t

even believe that I was fighting against him for this, no one even cared for

the title of the best grades on high school. It was given to the student that

had never got anything less than an A+. Each year very few people got it, and

being honest not many people cared about it or couldn’t get it because of a B

in their grades.

I had

always wanted this, I still do. And in a few minutes, I will know if my life is

ruined. You’re probably thinking “Oh my god, stop talking about it if it was so

important”. But it is, I want to go to Harvard and since I can’t afford it, I

need perfect grades to get a scholarship. And if it wasn’t for Jake it would’ve

been mine already.

Oh, yeah,

Jake Harris, the only student who had an interest in this only because he knew

I wanted nothing more than this. We’re not friends, not anymore; after he spread

a rumor about how I was getting good grades that involved nudity and me with a

few teachers. Everyone believed him, and anytime I got good grades, everyone

just whispered how I must have gotten them with a blowjob.

After I

knew it had been him, who had spread those rumors I couldn’t even look at his

face. We were good friends, the kind of friends who: spent lunch together, help

each other with homework, stays at the house of the other to study for finals.

My mother loved him, and when she kept asking about how he hasn’t been to just

hang out I couldn’t tell her the reason. I don’t know what I was trying to

protect; myself or him.

I’m looking

at the little birds doing their nest in the tree when I hear someone call me,

when I look in front of me, I see the principal with her eyebrows raised at me.

I force a little smile at her, and in the corner of my eye I can see Jake with

a smug smile.

This is it.

The moment I had been waiting for so long, the lady in front of us start

talking saying how difficult it was to choose just one of us and I can only

hear my heart beating so loud that my ears are ringing and at first, I think I

heard her wrong. That can’t be. All the sleepless nights, the missed parties,

all the extra credits, the lost friendships. I don’t know if I should laugh or

cry, but I’m lost with my mouth almost forming an O, and either way I can’t

believe the words that let out her mouth.

I let a

deep breath out, a bit shaky. And I turn to look at the person seating beside

me and he just have his eyebrows raised with a sense of surprise, and the smug

smile has been erased from his face. His face was now serious, and it’s the

first time I have seen him like this and I don’t know what to say to him.

He just

gets up and makes his way to the door and I look at the principal and after

excusing myself I almost run behind him, I look at both sides and after I

started walking, I hear a scream and I turn around and start making my way

towards the sound. When I see him my heart breaks; he's with his face buried in

between his hands, crying. And I do what any good person would have done; I

hugged him.

After what

it felt an hour with my shoulder cold because of his tears, I feel him getting

up and I do the same. He stares at me with his bloodshot eyes, and I know that

he’s apologizing and I can’t find words so I just nod with the nod growing on

my throat. He hugs me again and I can feel his warmth through his shirt and now

we’re looking at each other without him letting me go and my hands are still

behind his neck.

I can’t even feel my legs, not because the proximity and because I really missed him and he was finally there with me again, but because I had already allowed myself to think about the news the principal had given me moments before, apparently I was in shock since now I was the one crying, I couldn’t even breath because of the knot in my throat and  tears just kept coming out of my eyes.

I could feel his chin resting in my head while I was gripping his shirt with my hands as hard as I could, his hand was rubbing my back and the other one was caressing my hair. When I stopped crying, I got myself out of his hold and I took a few steps trying to collect myself. I could bet anything that I looked like a crazy person with my makeup ruined and my eyes red as blood.

Jake called my name; I turned to face him but I couldn’t look at his face so he took it as an invitation to come closer. When he was closer enough, he took my chin and made me look at his face, and when he saw that I was looking everywhere else except his eyes, he cleared his throat and I looked in his deep blue eyes and with a little smile he assured me that everything was fine, that it was right and he wouldn’t change a thing.

He then starts apologizing about the rumors and says that he expects that somewhere in the future I can forgive him, and I stopped him with a kiss on the cheek and I tell him to stop talking, I wasn’t even understanding what he was saying because of the speed he was speaking. I told him that I don’t need time, I missed him a lot and that everything is forgiven.

And after just standing there hugging each other I invite him to my house, and we start walking and talking about all the things that we missed in the life of the other. He’s planning to go to MIT, and that he has been talking to a girl and is supposed to go on a date with her in the weekend, her name’s Vanessa.

And when we get home, mom has dinner already and we just start eating and laughing. It’s a good ending.

My life couldn’t be better, I got to be that one student with the perfect grades, I fulfilled my dreams in high school and now Jake was again my best friend.

A few weeks have passed already and I’m supposed to receive an email saying if I got in Harvard or not and I’m seating in front of the laptop trying to be calm about the whole situation. And I have Jake and Vanessa, his girlfriend and now a good friend of mine, on both sides of me.

When I calm myself the most I can, I hear a noise coming from the computer meaning that an email has been sent to me. And my heart starts beating as if wants to get out of my chest again. I let out a deep breath and I force myself to click on the little envelope and I start reading it. At first I don’t understand a single word but I scroll down and a big image of the name of the school and a congratulations are in the middle.

I can’t even react, but I hear how both of my sides are hugged and Vanessa and Jake get up and start screaming and dancing taking my hands making me do the same, while we laugh.