“Yes, please.” When I went to assist him, he waved me off with the insistence that he’d get it.
“Here you are, one bowl of chocolate pudding. Since your mom will probably be on the phone for a while, we might as well keep getting to know each other a bit more. Have you done anything fun since coming to Nebraska? Or have any plans coming up?” he continued with small talk, seeming to grow more comfortable as we chatted.
“Yeah, I have. Here, I have a few photos.” Digging my phone out of my pocket, I scrolled back to Halloween, sharing photos from my trip to the pumpkin patch, the trunk or treat with King’s family, and my birthday party. Sam listened without interrupting, the small smile lighting up his face giving away his enjoyment of our time together. As soon as I had finished talking about my birthday, I went to the pictures from my trip to Lincoln and Omaha for college tours.
“Looks like you spend a lot of time with these three,” he noted.
“That’s Reid, Kingston, and Jesse,” I explained, trying to keep the worry from growing. My non-biological dad approved, but my mom clearly didn’t, and I wasn’t sure if she’d told Sam about them. He didn’t have any weird tones in his words, nor did he make any telling facial expressions, so I continued. “They’re my boyfriends.”
“Oh, really?” He seemed surprised, which I guess wasn’t actually so much of a surprise to me. Yeah, I should’ve guessed she would avoid the whole ‘your daughter has a harem’ conversation as long as she could.
“Yeah, we all liked each other, and they’d been friends since they were little, so we decided to try out them and me dating,” I stumbled over my explanation. Despite my best attempts, the nerves were starting to get to me, acid rising slowly in my throat the more I talked. Please, please, please, let me have not screwed this up, I pleaded. I didn’t think I could handle another parent rejecting me because of something that made me happy.
“And how’s it going? I’d assume pretty well,” he joked. His laughter was a bit tense, and I waited for it to go south at any moment.
“Amazing. They treat me really well, and they make me happy. We don’t have any jealousy or anything like that. Mom… uh… doesn’t really approve, so they’re not allowed in the house,” I murmured, feeling the babbling coming on as it always did when my nerves ran high. “She thinks they’re troublemakers. They’re not. Jesse actually stopped something really bad from happening to me, and he technically got charged with assault because he beat the jerk up. But it wasn’t just out of the blue though,” I rushed to explain. “They’d never do that.” With each hurried word, my panic grew exponentially, concerned that he would agree with her. Sam seemed to pick up on my distress and flashed me an understanding smile.
“It’s okay, Emma. You don’t have to explain or justify anything to me. I just want to get to know you, not tell you what you can or can’t do.”
“I know, but I don’t want you to think badly of me,” I mumbled.
“I don’t. Thank you for telling me about them,” he encouraged. “I do have a question, though feel free to not answer if it’s too personal. Your mom mentioned that you had to testify in a court case. Was your testimony because of what happened with Jesse and the other kid? About why Jesse did what he did?”
I nodded silently. My tongue was fused to the top of my mouth, so thankfully I couldn’t dig my socially awkward grave any deeper than it already was.
“Your mom didn’t give much of any details about it, just that you had to. That’s a tough thing to go through, and I think it’s a brave thing that you did. I’ve had to do the same before,” he divulged.
“Really?” My curiosity was piqued, and I definitely felt a little less out of place knowing I wasn’t the only one who’d had to testify.
“Yup, back when I was younger and my mom was in a bad relationship. I had to testify about what her boyfriend had been doing, and to this day it’s probably one of the most nerve-racking things I’ve ever had to do. It probably doesn’t mean much of anything, but I’m proud that you went up there and recounted everything.”
“Thanks, Sam,” I whispered. My smile was genuine, but my eyes burned with the building urge to cry. How does this man... practically a stranger... understand me better than my own mom?
“Okay, finally got that all figured out,” my mom called out from down the hall. “Finish dessert already?” she asked when she saw our empty bowls.
“I’m always up for a little more dessert,” Sam joked. “Would you like some more, Emma?”
“No thanks, I should probably head downstairs and get some more studying done since I have school tomorrow.” I paused on my way taking my dishes to the sink. “It was good to see you again, Sam,” I told him honestly.
He gave me a genuine smile and a similar sentiment. My mom and Sam continued to talk, moving from the table to the kitchen to grab more pudding, and as I turned to head down to the basement, my eye fell on the stack of mail. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but since we’d had issues with bills not getting paid, I quickly shuffled through them. No past due or last notices, thank goodness, I noted with relief, but at the bottom of the pile I found an envelope addressed to me.
I grabbed the piece of mail and made my way to my room, nerves slowly slithering through my veins when I saw that it was from the College Board, meaning one thing.
My ACT score.
Cue the panic.
I couldn’t get down the steps as quickly as I wanted since I was trying to avoid drawing attention to myself. Clomping down the stairs like a racehorse, yeah... not subtle, Emma. Though Sam and I were getting along so far, I wasn’t quite ready to add to my list of awkward moments with him by opening my test scores in front of him and my mom. By the time I got to my room and opened the envelope, my hands were shaking enough that it took me a moment to read the results.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, the words barely audible in my small room as if I truly couldn’t believe what I was reading. “I got a 30… I made it into the top 93rd percentile of all high school students… yes!”
This whole college thing might work out after all.
February 25th
I guess money really can buy everything.
#Ugh #IHateThoseBoatShoes #TickedOffTuesday
“Miss Clark,” Mr. Fergusen called out after a student hall runner came in with a pass. Getting up with my bag, I walked over to where he held up the paper slip and motioned for me to leave homeroom early. “College planning meeting, I’ll see you in Civics.”
I nodded and exited the room, glancing one final time at Jesse with a tiny wave. He gave me a grin before looking back to the textbook that he had been reading. The walk to the counselor’s office was quick since everyone was still in their homeroom, leaving the hallways thankfully empty, preventing a run in with Dylan or any of the other bullies.
“Emma! Perfect,” Ms. Rogers exclaimed excitedly, her bright smile almost as vibrant as her typical red cat-eye glasses. “I heard you got your official ACT score.”
“I did,” I nearly squealed as she shut her office door. Sinking into my usual chair, I did a little dance. “I got a 30!”