My body relaxed at her words. I didn’t realize how stiff I had been during our conversation. She continued. “But I mean it when I say you cannot do that again. It’s not fair to your friends who want to be there for you. It’s not fair to not give people a chance to explain themselves when they disappoint you. That’s not howrelationshipswork.”
I was learning a lot about relationshipslately.
“Thankyou,Gwen.”
“Forwhat?”
“For being you. For being a hell of a lot more forgiving thanIam.”
“Well, I assume you haven't talked toJulianyet.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked,confused.
“That’s going to be a much harder conversation than this one. The romantic ones always are. Maybe I’m giving you a free pass so you’ll make it through that one.” She said it in a tone that made it hard to tell if she was being serious orjoking.
“Great,” I said under mybreath.
“Did you at least find what you were looking for whenyouleft?”
“Ithinkso.”
“Are you heretostay?”
That question was much easier to answer. “I’m heretostay.”
ChapterTwenty-Four
Julian
“Well,Julian. With these scores and your FAFSA approved, you can start classes in the spring,” the woman sitting across from me said without looking up from the pile of papers on her desk. She was shuffling through them looking for something. She stopped every few seconds to push back up the glasses that kept falling downhernose.
I had been in and out of the advisor’s office several times in the last few weeks. Mrs. Michaels had been a life saver in helping me get the necessary paperwork together. She finally looked up, having found what she was searching for, and handed me a catalog. “This can all be done online, but I’m old-fashioned and like having the classes in front of me when I’m trying to work out a schedule. Why don’t you take this and figure out what will workforyou?”
I grabbed it from her and started flipping through the pages, too fast to actually read any of the words on any of them. But just knowing this was in my immediate future brought a sense ofhappiness.
I could thank Katie for leaving and giving me the kick Ineeded.
“Thanks so much, Mrs. M, for everything,” I said, unsure if I could convey the depth of mygratitude.
She took off her glasses and folded them on the table. She was pretty for an older lady. She didn’t try to make herself look younger with flashy jewelry or makeup. She always wore a simple button down shirt. But she had kind eyes, and acted like everyone’s mother. At least as far as I could tell, and I had practically lived here these last fewweeks.
“Julian, you’re not a bad kid.” She smiled. “I think you’re going to do really well here. You’re the kind a kid that reminds me why I wanted to get into this profession in the first place. You have the drive, you just needed a little help. All I ask is that you keep in touch and let me know how you’redoing,okay?”
“I will,” Iassuredher.
“Also, when you become that fancy doctor, you remember me. I’ll be an old lady in need of some greatcare.Deal?”
“Deal,” I said before getting up and heading home to look through the catalog. I would need to start with theprerequisites.
I had always seen being a doctor as my ticket out of this town. Lately, I wondered if leaving was all it was cracked up to be. I had been trying to run from my problems and not actually toward anything. Maybe I would set up a practice here, assuming I made it through school without any more incidents. Mrs. Michaels definitely would be getting free medical care for life if thathappened.
I owed her so much. She had attacked the paperwork with a ferocity that gave the impression she was the one desperately trying to get into school. Thanks to her being on top of everything, I was only one semester behind and was debt freefornow.
She and Gwen had refused to give up on me. Gwen always there, always seeing me for who I really was. She had refused to let me fall into the role the town had so badly wanted to give me. Another thing I noticed was even with the fight that had gotten me and Marco arrested, gossip was drying up. Most of my classmates were away at school, and the ones that stayed got caught up in their new college drama. Most people had forgotten about me, in favor of the next bigtroublemaker.
I felt sorry for the poor bastardalready.
Even my mom had been supportive when I told her I needed to do this. She said she had been moping around for long enough and was currently looking for a job of her own in order to take the pressure offofme.
