School Bus [m. clifford]

55

The group all sat quietly in the garage at Calum's, it was really tense. They were all just staring at each other, nobody speaking up. They all knew after they said where they were going, it would really set in. They won't be together next year.

They've been with each other almost their entire lives. It was going to be a hard transition for them.

Ashton takes a deep breath, "So, who's going to go first?"

Michael clears his throat, "I'll start. Since mine's the easiest. I only applied to one school-"

All of his friends then yell at him, and he lightly chuckles, "I got in though! I decided since I'm not sure I even want to go to university, I will stay living at home and go to classes nearby, at Syracuse University."

Laura smiles and rests her head on his shoulder. They all say their congrats to him, before it falls silent again.

"Alright. Who's next?" Michael asks.

"I guess I'll go." Ashton says, taking a deep breath, "I, uh, I'll be going to University of Oregon, i-in Eugene."

That's when it really hit them. He'll be across the country at the end of the summer.

They all congratulate him, and Ashton weakly smiles.

"Wow. Oregon. That's far from New York." Luke mumbles.

"Yeah. Forty-three hour drive. Normally like, a seven hour flight." Ashton replies, nervously biting his lip as he looks down, "Somebody else go."

"Well, I'm going to University of Southern California, so at least we'll be in the same time zone. Oh, LA, of course." Calum says.

Michael was really happy when he heard that. All Calum has wanted to do his whole life is move to Los Angeles. Calum has saved money all his life for this. He'd save all money he got for Christmas and his birthday. He'd work summer jobs every year since middle school and never spend any of it. Then he'd focus on school during the school year to keep his grades up. The whole group was really proud of him.

"Who's going to go next?" Calum asks.

"I- uh, it's been months and I'm still having a hard time believing I'll be going to Columbia University next year." Luke nervously says, and everybody was so excited for him.

Luke has also worked his whole life basically, to get into an Ivy League school. His parents put more pressure on him when he was younger, they didn't as much when he got older, he just actually had motivation.

"Holy shit, Luke, that's fucking crazy." Ashton says.

"It's amazing." Chloe adds. "You really did it. Wow."

Luke couldn't stop smiling. He was so happy that everybody was proud of him.

After it falls silent again, Jada speaks up, "I'll be heading to NYC with him, as I'll be attending New York University in the fall."

Everybody congratulates her, the group was so excited she got into the school she's always wanted to go to.

"Well, Jada, let me know what residence you're applying to. I'll join you." Chloe replies, smiling at her.

"You're going to NYU too?" She exclaims, a smile on her face.

Chloe laughs and nods, as Jada shrieks and wraps her arms around her.

"I'm glad you're happy, I wasn't sure if I made the right decision. I feel like now I did." Chloe tells her.

"What do you mean?" Jada questions.

"I got into Berkeley. I know it's crazy I turned it down, I've heard it a million times from family members. It just didn't feel right... I know NYU will be better for me." Chloe quietly says, not wanting to acknowledge her friends looking at her.

"Chloe, hey, we'd never say shit like that to you. We're all so happy you're going somewhere you'll be happy." Michael tells her, making her smile.

Chloe takes a moment before looking up, "Well, there's one person left."

"So, Laura? Where will you be next fall?" Ashton asks, making everybody look over at Laura.

She sits up straight and clears her throat, avoiding everybody's gaze, "I'll be going to Duke University."

"Laura, that's so great!" Chloe exclaims.

Laura just shyly smiles up at her, as Laura was still nervous talking about leaving.

"Wow. I guess that's it. We'll be in completely different parts of the country at the end of summer." Jada quietly says, trying to not sound as upset as she is.

"Guys! I'm sad!" Chloe exclaims as tears well up in her eyes.

"We'll all still be friends, right?" Ashton asks, a worried look across his face.

That was all of their main concern as they sat around the room together. They could never be certain of the future. Every single one of them was terrified, yet they were so excited for college.

Even though Michael was feeling the same as everybody else in the room, his future with Laura was all he could think about.

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hey guys don't forget to check out the Spotify account with the playlists from this book the link is on my profile also I met 5sos four years ago on this day ripriprip