Endless Summer

The Beginning

A girl woke up from her sleep with a startled expression on her face, as she was breathing heavily. "Hah... hah..." This was Marianna, just a small town girl, who lived in a house by the sea.

Marianna picked up her phone, which read '7 a.m., June 7th. "Was that... was that a nightmare? Is it because I've been arguing with mom about college? ...maybe it's just stress." Marianna picks up the application form on the bedside table. "I should talk to mom about studying in Hazlitt... again."

Marianna walked out of her bedroom, with an application form in hand. She heard a woman, her mother, arguing on the phone with someone. "I've told you and told you, don't send *** again, we don't..."

'Who is mom talking to?' Marianna thought. "Just let us live our lives. As ***, you're dead to us." The woman spoke on the phone. "We won't talk again."

'This feels so familiar. Did I dream about this last night?' Marianna thought to herself. She enters the dining room with her head down. There's a steaming plate of fried fish with rice and greens on the table. '! Same breakfast as in the dream...'

"Daydreaming this early in the morning? Hurry up and eat." The woman spoke. This was Nori, Marianna's mother. Marianna sits at the table, and starts pushing around the green peppers on her plate without really thinking. "Mom, I need to talk to you about something. My application..."

"You're not going to Hazlitt. Don't even think about it." Nori interrupts. Marianna purses her lips and grips the application form tightly. "I really want to go there. It's a better school, I'll have better opportunities. Half the kids at school have applied to go to Hazlitt already. Mom, it's my future, this is what I want, please just let me go?"

"What future? You think one school can determine the course of your whole life?" Nori reprimanded as Marianna grew quiet. "Stop being so pigheaded, you know we don't have the money for you to go anywhere out of Estero. I won't sign the form. Finish your breakfast and go to class." With that, Nori adds a few more mouthfuls of green peppers to Marianna's bowl. "Don't be picky, finish your vegetables."

Whack! Marianna smacks the table and stands up. The clock on the table, shaking a little, reads 7:36 a.m. "I can't take this! You never understood me! What I like or what I really want! Also, I hate green peppers! I've said it so many times!" Marianna storms out, slamming the door, the clock on the table ticking away.