you can't help who you fall for

7

It had been 2 weeks since my well, I guess you'd say date with Logan, and since then we talked on the phone everyday. I know it will never last, Logan has a reputation for having 5 girls with him at once, whereas I am a commitment kind of girl.

It was now almost Thanksgiving, and somehow we got roped into having 4 Thanksgiving dinners! I can barely handle 1. But I told Mom that I wasn't going to go to Lane's because Lane and I aren't really friends, and 3 Thanksgivings was plenty enough for me. So, we were going to Sookie & Jackson's, Luke's and Grandma & Grandpa's. Then Rory and Mom were also going to Lane's house to have tofu and chat with Koreans. I consumed nothing but Herbal tea for 2 days to try and be able to eat enough, because sadly I was not blessed with the bottomless stomach my mom and sister have.

Apparently, Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa was gonna be a party with a few of their rich society friends, although none of them were people I had ever met. But I couldn't wait to find out what delicious meal Sookie was making for Thanksgiving.

After they were done at Lane's I joined Mom and Rory and we all headed to Sookie's, who apparently was not cooking and instead Jackson was deep frying the turkey for his neanderthal family. "Oh well, I can't eat that. Deep fried food does not agree with me, I'm headed back to Luke's."

Not long after, Mom and Rory came to Luke's and Kirk talked about how his cat was horrible and vicious. "Oh good, finally a proper, traditional, Luke's Thanksgiving Dinner." I ate and enjoyed every morsel.

Then, we got to Grandma's. "Happy Thanksgiving, Grandma." We got introduced to some people, and then a couple from France.

"Please forgive me, my Monique speaks only French."

"Ah, bonjour Monique. Je m'appelle Sierra, ça va?"

"Très bien, Merci, Sierra et tu ?"

"Je suis aussi très bien."

"I love it when the Clemenceaus visit. It gives me an opportunity to hall out my rusty French."

"Your French is wonderful Richard, as is your charming granddaughter's."

"Merci, vous êtes trop gentil monsieur Clemenceau."

We had some talk about school and then started dinner. Grandpa did a ceremonial turkey carving and then we ate salads. "Grandma, these salads taste so fresh, and crisp too."

"Well, I'm glad you think so Sierra."

"Rory, Sierra did your grandmother say you are high school seniors?"

"That we are, Mrs Swope."

"Oh, that means you're going that horrible period of applyjng to college. Oh, and do call me Natalie, Sierra."

"It's not so horrible." Rory said sheepishly. Grandpa interrupted, "Well, the girls have got it pretty well covered."

"Are all your applications in?"

"We've applied."

Then, Natalie husband chose to speak. "We have a grandson your age, he's going through hell."

"He's already been turned down for early admission to Stanford, his dream school."

"Oh, no that's horrible." I said sympathetically.

"Yes, he took it pretty hard."

"Children put so much stress on themselves these days."

"Well it can be quite stressful." Rory and I commented.

"He's waiting to hear from his back ups. Where did you girls apply?"

"Harvard."

"Yale, for me."

"No word yet?"

"Well, we're not supposed to hear back for a while."

"Where else?"

"Excuse me?"

"Where else did you apply?" I saw Rory get uncomfortable so I answered the question for myself. "Well, my dream is Yale Drama, but I've also applied to Julliard, Stanford, NYU, Columbia, UPenn, Dartmouth, Brown and even Harvard. Basically all the Ivies and few extras."

"Wait, what?" Rory looked at me. "You applied to Harvard?" I took a sip of my soda. "Yes."

"I'm sorry, are we prying?"

"No, not at all, I just haven't mentioned it to Rory yet. Anyway, Rory, where else have you applied?"

"Well, I'm pretty much counting on Harvard."

"You didn't apply to just Harvard did you?" Asked Natalie.

"Well, no."

"No?" Mom dropped her fork. "We applied elsewhere and I'm sorry, Sierra, Harvard?"

"Wow, mom you really need to catch up."

"Well you can't apply to just one school, Chilton wouldn't allow it."

"Is that true?"

"Pretty much." We answered honestly. "Why wouldn't you tell me that?"

"I was going to."

"You have to be safe!" Natalie interjected. "My Grandson, 6 schools." Claude mentioned. "Same with Dustin." Douglas replied, unhelpfully.

"Where else did you apply?" Mom asked Rory. "Just at some other schools."

"Well, if you're aiming at Harvard, that would be Princeton, Yale, maybe Vassar, Wesleyan."

"Certainly Yale because of Richard's connections and your sister, yes?"

"Those are the kinds of places." I could tell Rory felt really awkward. "The kinds of places or the places, Rory?"

"Mom! Calm down."

Rory sighed before answering Mom's pestering question. "Princeton, um Yale." Then, Mom got in a fight with Grandpa about him manipulating her to go to Yale.

"Mom, that's enough. Rory applied to Yale as a backup school, just like I applied to Harvard as a backup school. Don't blame Grandpa and Grandma for this, Yale is one of the top schools in the country and Rory is smart enough to be there, so just drop it. Do I like that she's applying to Yale? Not really. But she probably doesn't like that I'm applying to Harvard, OK? Besides, why wouldn't you want her going to a school so close to home, instead of 2 hours away? It seems like a win for you if you ask me. So let's just get over it and enjoy this lovely meal."

Then mom stormed off onto the balcony and Grandma followed her. "So, why did you apply to so many schools?" Rory asked me as we walked out.

"Rory, you're the genius of the family. I'm smart, sure, but I bet anything that you're gonna be Valedictorian when we graduate and you'll probably get into Harvard, Princeton and Yale. You're the perfect daughter. I'm not. I need as many chances as I can get. So, yeah I applied to schools without drama programs. I applied to Harvard Law, I was on the debate team, I could do that. But I still know, that there's a chance no matter how many schools I apply to, that I won't get into any of them. So, why don't the two of you head to Luke's and get some rolls, and I'll head home."

I got home and called Logan. "Hey, Sherlock."

"Queenie! How was Thanksgiving?"

"Way too dramatic."

"Ah, tell me what ails you this evening babe." I laughed and started telling him about the events of my dinners.