After a winter break filled with writing my college essay and supplemental prompts, I got into two universities. Stressing over the Common App was worth these acceptances at the University of Pennsylvania and New York University. My parents are ecstatic that I've made it into one Ivy League school. It wasn't Harvard or Yale, two institutions that waitlist me, but it was still very prestigious.
I earned a good scholarship in both universities. There is no question of which one I will go to even though I've never left New York. The University of Pennsylvania gave me more money, so it's evidently the smarter choice. We celebrated over a dinner at which my parents bragged over the phone to relatives in China.
Yuey and Mikael have more options when their acceptances come back. I helped them make T-charts for every university so that they could make the right decision. Money is not an issue for either of them, so ultimately, it depends on which university they like the most. In the end, it went as I predicted. Yuey chose Yale and Mikael accepted the offer from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
None of us go to the same college, but we aren't oceans away either. We plan future Amtrak train and Greyhound bus trips. I try not to hope that they'll keep their promise to visit me. If I end up alone, I don't want the disappointment to sting as much.
Mikael and I spend as much time together as we can. We talk and hold hands, avoiding the inevitable separation we would face at the end of the year. Before I know it, it's summer again.
I go to prom with him as my date. I can't afford to join the rest of the class in London, but I didn't want to miss out on one last dance with him.
He holds me closer than he has ever before as we sway to the music. I memorize his features, the soft brown eyes and blond hair that I've come to adore. I know deep down that after I graduate, I won't see him again.
We lean into each other, nose to nose. I press my forehead against him as I rise up on my tiptoes. My lips grazed his mouth in an almost kiss. I pretend for a few seconds that the good things in life will last forever. Like we won't grow up and grow apart.
Mikael tries to press his mouth against mine in a real kiss, but I pull away from his hold. Without explanation, I walk away from the dance floor and into the cold embrace of reality.
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