Teacher's Girl (Aflyingwhale)

EMMA’s POV : 

"Can you believe it? We're officially high school seniors,"

Carrie exclaimed as we walked down the long hallway and rows of lockers.

"l suddenly feel so old,"

Mark said as he put his arm around Carrie.

"I think I'm having senioritis already,"Tiff added, rolling her eyes.

 "Look alive, Tiff.College applications are coming up,"Carrie said.

"I’m not gonna go to college.I'm taking a gap year to backpack across Europe,"Tiff announced proudly.

"Are you really?" I narrowed my eyes at her.

"My parents think it's a good idea.This way I can figure out what I really want in life.I also have an aunt that lives in Barcelona.She’s gonna let me stay with her,"

"Wow, your parents are the best,"I admitted.

Tiff really had the coolest parents out of all of us.

They were these vegan, hippie, and earth loving type of folks.

They were always happy, positive, and Zen.

They encouraged their kids to explore and live life boundlessly.

I would say they did a great job because Tiff turned out to be an amazing girl.

"God, I wish I could do that.My parents would never let me,"Carrie sighed.

"Me too.They‘re dead set on sending me to college ever since I was two.When I told them UC Berkeley is my first choice, they actually laughed at me.They said UC Berkeley's a safety school.They don’t want anything less than Ivy Leagues or MIT and Stanford,"

Mark rambled about his home life.As student body president, his whole life was dedicated to college.This was his moment.

"My parents met in Berkeley,"Tiff cut in, 

"What, your parents don't think UC Berkeley is good enough for you?"

"Clearly, you've never met my parents,"he replied.

"Yeah, and trust me, it’s better that way,"Carrie scoffed ,

 "They actually think that I was the one that poisoned Mark into wanting to go to UC Berkeley,"

"But it’s kinda true though? Mark’s only applying to Berkeley because you wanna go to Berkeley," I pointed out the obvious and Carrie glared at me.

"Yeah, but that’s not the point now is it?"

Carrie slapped my arm playfully and I laughed.

"How about you, little miss perfect attendance? You thought about where you're applying to?"

"A bunch of schools in the east coast.And like, one school in the state,"

I sighed when I remembered I had to apply to one, "Safety net,"

"The east coast? Like what?"Mark asked.

"Some schools in New York like the CUNYs, Fordham, Barnard, and Columbia.Also Princeton and University of Pennsylvania, but I wouldn't count on those,"

"Why not? You're definitely Ivy League material,"Carrie stated.

"Yeah.You scored a 1500 on your SATs, your grades are amazing, and you did a bunch of extracurricular activities,"Tiff added.

"And teachers love you.I bet they'll write you a kickass recommendation letter,"

Mark chimed in.

I bet,"Carrie

nudged me to the direction

it,"I shushed them quickly as Mr.Hayes walked over and nodded to us. Mark still

Carrie said

greeted everyone, pausing for a second before giving me a look and

his lip as he noticed how short my skirt was.He narrowed his eyes at me, but I

"Hi,"I said.

say it to everyone, but his

a hard time suppressing

I

shoving Tiff and Carrie

making this situation awkward as hell, but lan was unfazed

out a small

job on your art portfolio,

soon as I caught his delicious

out of five,"

his smell

into a naughty smirk as he knew the effect he

to my friends one last time before

stop watching him as he

was gonna be a

AP Art class so I

to think that things wouldn't be awkward

he wasn't gonna

boy, do I like

today after lunch, so I decided to meet Mrs.Ash, our guidance counselor for some wisdom in

was a small red- haired woman

said she was retiring, but she never did.Her office was this

cliché quotes such as, ‘The Only Way to Guarantee

for a while, so I had ample time to read through

those letters, these students really loved and thanked her for

was known to be a

you straight up if you weren't

sure you know about it and not let it go to

finished her call , Sorry about the interruption.My husband

hope

jeans’ pocket.Always is,"she rolled her eyes and grabbed a brown file from

it and she started flipping

of state.And one school in the state.The University of Georgia,"she

back-up plan.My parents think we might not have enough money for

summer.I'm working on the weekends

and scholarships available.I can help you look into

be great,"I

a look at your grades,"Her

few times, so I took

grades.And your teachers all have nothing but nice things to say about you.And your extracurricular activities are superb,"she said as she put the papers

a good chance at Princeton, Columbia, or U Penn?" I asked with hopeful

didn't answer right

me intently."That's possible,"she said finally, "With the right college essay, Ms.Sinclair, I think you can go far," I let

me, why these schools in particular?"she paused for a moment

also a good school.But you don’t seem to care as

but..." But that’s

the east coast

not an Ivy League school,"I said

set on the Ivy League, then I must tell you, they're not easy,"

then you need to prepare yourself for an interview, either with a staff from the school or a_ selected

suddenly everything looked so daunting.That tone of voice

handle all

her question

the future—about how