No Time Like Now (Lesbian)

Chapter Fourteen

Thanksgiving comes and goes with every day ending with me more determined than before to work on my college applications, get accepted to one of them, and move the fuck out without even a 'bye' to the parents. 

Thursday, the day of thanks, was met with major disappointment. The three of us had those turkey dinner trays you could buy any fucking time in the freezer section at a grocery store. It wouldn't have been so bad if we were on our own. But no. Mom insisted we eat those dinners around the table while either her or Dad tried to strike up conversation with me. 

"How's school?" Dad asked.

"Kicking my ass" was my response.

"Do you have any college you'd like to visit?" Mom tried.

"Depends, can I go alone?"

She was offended by my suggestion. "Absolutely not!"

"...then no."

A couple more similar attempts led to us silently eating and wishing to disappear.

Friday I got a text from Aspen asking how my Thanksgiving was. I gave her a vaguely specific answer that was basically the ending scene of Johnny Depp's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Fortunately, she didn't catch me lying. Unfortunately, I felt bad for lying in the first place.

I did manage to have a great conversation with her for about twenty minutes (her holiday was better, and she managed to rake in enough money from the IDs to buy a proper turkey) before Mom had me go through a long list of chores while she left the house to do some errands. I had to complete every one of them before the end of the day or else Mom would reissue the Watch Mom program in the mornings. 

I finished the last chore minutes before midnight. Mom demanded I show her proof, which I did with many, many, many pictures of every inch of every clean surface and room. I got told off for spamming her phone, but at least she won't need to accuse me of being lazy this time.

Saturday and Sunday I rarely left my room. The times I did was when both Mom and Dad left the house for some event-planning meeting they had with some head of some department. The museum exhibit opening was apparently a success for Dad; he was given a couple offers to appear at some other events. All I remembered hearing was I'm gonna be dragged to those, too.

Suffice to say, I was looking forward to getting away from my parents on Monday. 

I focus back to the present as Mr. Shadler greets the class with a smile.

"Now that we have finished The Catcher in the Rye, let's hope none of you follow his footsteps and get yourselves expelled days before Christmas break," he comments, straightening his tie as he speaks. "We won't start the next book right now; instead, I'd like us to focus on the college projects."

Confused, I go through my backpack looking for any signs of what we did with the project so far. Some crumpled yellow papers look about right. Pulling them up, I shuffle through them to catch up with my unreliable memory.

Meanwhile, Mr. Shadler's drawing little pictures on the board. As he explains each one he draws, everyone around me are writing down notes. I get the past three weeks caught up and open the notebook on my desk. The pen struggles to catch up with my writing, meaning by the time I'm done the notes are gonna be illegible. 

I should have asked to use my laptop instead.

The teacher takes a moment to take in a deep breath. "So to summarize, I want you guys to spend this week writing a cover letter for the college you chose in the previous section. It's due next Monday, and if you can't turn it in then, get it done and turn it in earlier. If you can't do that, I don't know what to tell you except you got a zero on the assignment. Any questions?"