How Green Becomes Wood

Sloan chuckled, drinking her water, "Is it weird that I don't feel lucky? I'm excited, you know, I'd walk out now if I could. But I don't really feel... I don't know." She shrugged, "I don't know how I feel. Anxious, I guess. There's still a lot I'm unsure about."
 
"I don't know why you'd be anxious," Xander said dryly. "It's not like when you finish here you'll be leaving a known and out into a complete unknown and new way of life." He paused. "Oh, wait, you are."

"Dude," Becky frowned. "I mean, you're right, but do you have to say it that way?"
 
"Ah, he's just grumpy," Sloan said, waving off Xander with one hand, "I always appreciate your love and support, Xander. But I feel I should ask, are you eepy? Do you need a nap?" Shaking her head, she didn't give any further mind to Xander's outburst. Gone were the days she felt obligated to work around his sometimes tempestuous moods. If he was going to be like that, he was going to get teased, that's how it goes. "It's not the fear of a new way of life, it's how much is out of my control. I can apply to as many schools as I want, but it's up to them if they accept me, and I'm not fortunate enough to know exactly what school I want to go to, so unless I'm only accepted to one, I'll have to make a choice that will alter a lot about what it is I do next."
 
Xander made a face at Sloan but let her tease. It didn't bother him as much as it once did. "I had a nap. Now I've got a sore neck."

"That is a pretty scary thought," Becky admitted soberly.

Peter smiled. "Any school would be delighted to have you, Sloan. I'm serious! Whether you are forced to or not, you have one heck of a work ethic, and colleges like that."
 
"Aw, poor baby," Sloan replied, smirking at him, and then said to Peter, "I don't wanna come across as self-obsessed, but... my SAT score is a 1503, so except for maybe my reach schools, I'm not super afraid of not being accepted, but when you have a choice of where you want to go... It's overwhelming. You'll see, even if you don't want to go to college. Everyone ends up somewhere, enrolled in school or not."
 
"I understand not going to college," Sloan said, knowing how certain friends of hers felt about college, "but I'm excited for it, really. I think it'll be good for me. I just, I don't know if I'll decide to stay close or not."
 
"Trade jobs don't always need a college degree, and a lot of times some things - like if you want to work for a restaurant, it's good to work in a kitchen first and get the formal education later, so sometimes even if you do want to go to college, waiting isn't a bad thing," Peter agreed.

Xander glanced at Sloan. "You should go to the farthest one," he told her. "It's your chance to be free and explore. So, pick the best one that you want that's the farthest distance and get to living your life."

"But then we'd never see her," Becky pouted.

"I know," Xander said quietly.

"She'd come visit sometimes," Alec assured Becky.
 
Sloan looked at Xander surprised. She didn't expect him to want her to go. In her mind, she expected them all to beg her to stay. "Yeah..." she replied softly, "Maybe I will." Her face brightened up slightly at the thought of it, at being able to just... be. But it didn't last, the fear of that much of a choice had a pretty loud voice, too.
 
Alec bit his lip but smiled at Sloan and patted her arm. "There's time yet. You don't have to have your life planned out to every detail right here and right now. But, when the time comes, go with your heart, but don't completely ignore your head."

Becky sighed mournfully. "Why don't you write songs? That was beautiful."
 
Sloan replied, rubbing the back of her neck, "I'll figure it out when the time comes. I haven't even really been accepted anywhere yet, and I still have the full year. I just need to prepare a good lie for why I'd choose a far away school, if I chose a far away school."
 
"The best lies are always rooted in truth," Alec told her. "You don't need to lie at all. Just say it's the best school with the best to offer for what you want to study."

"We'll talk about better lies later," Becky told Sloan, knowing what she meant.
 
Sloan chuckled lightly, "Yeah, we have assigned readings. School doesn't really give lighter workloads the higher up you go. I'm in honours and AP too, so... I definitely have assigned books. We just haven't started just yet."
 
"I got Wuthering Heights, and it's so miserable!" Becky groaned. "I barely like reading as it is, and now I have to read about a bunch of miserable people making everyone else miserable? No thank you!"

"Is one of them named Xander?" Peter smirked.
 
"I didn't like Wuthering Heights either," Sloan admitted, "I think that's probably one of those books they make you read because they were forced to read it. But if you don't like math, and you don't like reading, what do you like?"
 
"Art, even if I'm not very good, and story telling through dramatizations!" Becky grinned. "I don't mind audiobooks as much because then I don't have to sit still and just read, but our teach said we have to actually read it. Anyway, I like theater and music more than anything else in the world!"
 
Taking a glance over her shoulder, Sloan said, "Would your teacher know if you listened to an audiobook when you aren't in class? If you're alone in your room, how would she know? I mean, even if it's an e-book, you can just look at the pages while you listen."
 
"I can give it a try," Becky admitted. "She said something about wanting to compare phrases and specific words, so that's kind of hard to do with an audiobook, but now that you mention it, if I listen to it, then at least I'll have an idea of where to find it in the book. Hey, it might work! Thanks!"
 
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