Kathryn Berla - Going Places

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to real places are used fictitiously. Names, characters, fictitious places, and events are the products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places, or events is purely coincidental.

Copyright 2018 by Kathyn Berla

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, in part or in whole, in any form whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data available upon request.

Cover Design: Maddie Ceglecki

Printed in the United States of America

Advance Readers Copy | Uncorrected Proof | Not for Sale.
Dates, prices, and manufacturing details are subject to change without notice. Please check all reviews and quoted materials against the final bound book.

I read it over one last time.

Did I argue my point effectively? After two weeks of planning was I overthinking the whole thing? It was already the first of August, and sleeping in until noon was almost a thing of the past. The first day of school loomed like the grim reaper. I clicked SEND before time ran out and Moms lunch break was over. Before time ran out and my summer vacation was over. Then I sat back and held my breath. Not literally, of course, even though it felt like it.

We need to talk. I was going to say something last night but decided its better to lay it all out for you first. I have a proposal that you probably wont like, but please read this whole email before you answer.

I think I should be homeschooled this year.

These are my reasons:

(1) I only need two classes to graduate, and Ive proved I work better on my own.

(2) Senior year of high school is a complete waste of time. Nobody pays attention, and half the kids dont bother showing up for class half the time.

(3) College isnt a requirement for becoming a graphic novelist, and theres no doubt in my mind now thats what I want to do when I graduate.

(4) Quentin Tarantino (famous film director) dropped out of school at the age of 15 and his mother didnt care, and look where he is now.

(5) Ive done ALL the research. I downloaded ALL the paperwork. The only thing I need is your signature in a few places. I PROMISE Ill take care of EVERYTHING!!! Im begging you to say YES!!!!

-Hudson

P.S. Ive been thinking about this all summer so dont think its something I just came up with.

P.P.S. And please dont think this has anything to do with a failure on your part about being a good mother, etc.

>>>

It wasnt that I was scared of Mom, who is actually a really nice and understanding person. Its just that I was scared shed say no, and over the past few weeks Id managed to convince myself this was the only possible way of surviving my senior year of high school. I wasnt prepared to deal with a flat-out No . Couldnt even consider that awful possibility. What I was prepared for was a major battle that I planned on winning before the homeschool program registration deadline. So I sat in the kitchen staring at the computer screen, waiting for Mom to return fire. I checked my inbox. One new message. Top Trending Tweets . And then the dinosaur desktop froze. Instead of bolting for the laptop in my bedroom, I forced myself to take a deep breath and calmly reboot. In order to prevail against Mom, it was important to stay focused and maintain my composure. I leaned back in my chair while the computer clucked and the screen changed from white to blue to black to white again.

The kitchen. A huge part of my life had played out there. Mom hated it because she didnt have the money to update it. She claimed it taunted her every day of her life. Puke-yellow Formica counters; the rust countertop footprint of a can of baked beans; the floor that was supposed to look like a tile floor but was really just a sheet of vinyl curling up at the corners; the cabinets that never closed all the way; fluorescent lights that buzzed, flickered, and hummed like crazy; and the refrigerator hummed too. And rocked like it was about to fall on top of you whenever you opened it.

Taped to the refrigerator was a note. The one my fifth grade teacher sent to my parents. The one Mom refused to let me take down even after all this time. The one that taunted me every day the same way the kitchen taunted her.

D. Thompson

I memorized the letter, thats how many times Ive read it. Every time I opened the refrigerator in the last eight years looking for something to eat (at least ten times a day), there it was. Technically it should have been addressed to Major and Mrs. Wheeler because thats what Dad was, a Major in the army. But he never saw the letter. A month after Mrs. Thompson mailed it to my house, my dad was killed in Iraq. I was the student body president that year and believed what Mrs. Thompson said. I wasnt sure exactly where I was going, but I knew it would be somewhere big. Somewhere that would make me happy and make my parents proud, and I didnt mean just middle school.

But after Dad died, we went through our sad years where I sometimes had to act more grown-up than I was just to help Mom get through the day. After that, where I was going didnt seem so important anymore. We got through the sadness, of course. But the letter that used to feel like a promise began to feel like a dare. And there I was trying to disappear from school altogether. What would Mrs. Thompson think if she knew what I was doing?

The computer clucked a few more times while it finished updating. Finally, it was ready to go, and I breathed deeply as I signed back into my email account. One new message. Mom. I imagined her tapping out the response in that clumsy one-fingered way she did on the phone. Probably hyperventilating all the while. Shed put herself through nursing school and wouldnt be able to understand why anyone would turn their back on the luxury of being educated without having to work. To her, school wasnt just important, it was everything.

Is this about Cameron? she wrote.

I replied, WHAT??? of course not!!!! Okay, it wasnt just about Cameron, it was about Griffin too. My two best friends since grade school until last year when Griffin transferred to the school across town after his family bought a new house. And then to make matters worse, Cameron fell into a ridiculously serious relationship with a girl I didnt even like. When you grow up as a threesome so close youre almost brothers, theres a co-dependency thats hard to see your way out of. I couldnt wish Griffin back into his old house, and wishing for Cameron to break up with his girlfriend only made me feel evil, which I probably was.