Chapter 35: Senior Year


    EMMA’s POV :


    "Can you believe it? We''re officially high school seniors,"


    Carrie eximed as we walked down the long hallway and rows of lockers.


    "l suddenly feel so old,"


    Mark said as he put his arm around Carrie.


    "I think I''m having senioritis already,"Tiff added, rolling her eyes.


    "Look alive, Tiff.College applications areing up,"Carrie said.


    "I’m not gonna go to college.I''m taking a gap year to backpack across Europe,"Tiff announced proudly.


    "Are you really?" I narrowed my eyes at her.


    "My parents think it''s a good idea.This way I can figure out what I really want in life.I also have an aunt


    that lives in Barcelona.She’s gonna let me stay with her,"


    "Wow, your parents are the best,"I admitted.


    Tiff really had the coolest parents out of all of us.


    They were these vegan, hippie, and earth loving type of folks.


    They were always happy, positive, and Zen.


    They encouraged their kids to explore and live life boundlessly.


    I would say they did a great job because Tiff turned out to be an amazing girl.


    "God, I wish I could do that.My parents would never let me,"Carrie sighed.


    "Me too.They‘re dead set on sending me to college ever since I was two.When I told them UC Berkeley


    is my first choice, they actuallyughed at me.They said UC Berkeley''s a safety school.They don’t want


    anything less than Ivy Leagues or MIT and Stanford,"


    Mark rambled about his home life.As student body president, his whole life was dedicated to


    college.This was his moment.


    "My parents met in Berkeley,"Tiff cut in,


    "What, your parents don''t think UC Berkeley is good enough for you?"


    "Clearly, you''ve never met my parents,"he replied.


    "Yeah, and trust me, it’s better that way,"Carrie scoffed ,


    "They actually think that I was the one that poisoned Mark into wanting to go to UC Berkeley,"


    "But it’s kinda true though? Mark’s only applying to Berkeley because you wanna go to Berkeley," I


    pointed out the obvious and Carrie red at me.


    "Yeah, but that’s not the point now is it?"


    Carrie pped my arm yfully and Iughed.


    "How about you, little miss perfect attendance? You thought about where you''re applying to?"


    "A bunch of schools in the east coast.And like, one school in the state,"


    I sighed when I remembered I had to apply to one, "Safety,"


    "The east coast? Like what?"Mark asked.


    "Some schools in New York like the CUNYs, Fordham, Barnard, and Columbia.Also Princeton and


    University of Pennsylvania, but I wouldn''t count on those,"


    "Why not? You''re definitely Ivy League material,"Carrie stated.


    "Yeah.You scored a 1500 on your SATs, your grades are amazing, and you did a bunch of


    extracurricr activities,"Tiff added.


    "And teachers love you.I bet they''ll write you a kickass rmendation letter,"


    Mark chimed in.


    "Yeah, I bet,"Carrieughed meaningfully.


    "Teachers totally do love you,"Tiff winked and nudged me to the direction of a teacher that was walking


    towards us.


    "Guys, stop it,"I shushed them quickly as Mr.Hayes walked over and nodded to us. Mark still had no


    clue and I intended to keep it that way.


    "Hi, Mr.Hayes,"Tiff and Carrie said in unison.


    "Carrie, Mark, Tiffany,"he greeted everyone, pausing for a second before giving me a look and said,


    "Emma,"


    He was eyeing me from head to toe.He bit his lip as he noticed how short my skirt was.He narrowed


    his eyes at me, but I just gave him a confident smile.


    "Hi,"I said.


    "Have a great first day,"he meant to say it to everyone, but his eyes were fixed intently on mine.


    Tiff and Carrie were having a hard time suppressing theirughs.


    "You too," I muttered quickly.


    I had one hand shoving Tiff and Carrie to keep them quiet.


    My friends were making this situation awkward as hell, butn was unfazed by everything.


    Instead, he let out a small chuckle and leaned closer to me.


    "Good job on your art portfolio, by the way,"he said slowly.


    My breath hitched as soon as I caught his delicious masculine scent.


    "Five out of five," Damn.


    Even his smell is contagious.


    His lips twitched into a naughty smirk as he knew the effect he had on me.


    He nodded goodbye to my friends onest time before turning to his heels.


    I couldn''t stop watching him as he walked away, all cool and sexy AF.


    I thought senior year was gonna be a breeze.


    I had finished my AP Art ss so I had no other sses withn.


    How foolish of me to think that things wouldn''t be awkward with us in the same school.


    Because of course, he wasn''t gonna let me off so easily.


    And boy, do I like it.


    I had a free period today after lunch, so I decided to meet Mrs.Ash, our guidance counselor for some


    wisdom in regards to my college future.


    Mrs.Ash was a small red- haired woman in her sixties.


    Every year she said she was retiring, but she never did.Her office was this small square room with a


    desk in the middle.


    She had all these motivational posters on the wall with cliché quotes such as, ‘The Only Way to


    Guarantee Failure is to Never Try" or "Discipline: When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline will


    take care of itself".


    She was on the phone for a while, so I had ample time to read through the motivational posters and


    letters from her previous students on the wall.


    Judging from those letters, these students really loved and thanked her for helping them go to college.


    Mrs.Ash was known to be a realist.


    She would tell you straight up if you weren''t Harvard material.


    But if she saw something good in you, she would make sure you know about it and not let it go to


    waste.


    "Ms.Sinir,"she said when she finally finished her call , Sorry about the interruption.My husband forgot


    where he put his keys, again,


    All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    "It''s okay.I hope he finds it,"


    "It''s his jeans’ pocket.Always is,"she rolled her eyes and grabbed a brown file from her desk.


    It had my name on it and she started flipping through the pages furiously.


    "So, I see you''re applying to several schools out of state.And one school in the state.The University of


    Georgia,"she read aloud.


    "Yeah, that’s a back-up n.My parents think we might not have enough money for out-of-state tuition,


    "I paused for a moment before continuing, "But I''ve been working all summer.I''m working on the


    weekends too.I''ve been saving up.I think I can make it,"


    "Right, there are financial aid and schrships avable.I can help you look into some of that,"


    "That would be great,"I nodded appreciatively.


    "Okay.Now, financialponents aside, let''s take a look at your grades,"Her eyes busily scanned the


    papers in her hand.


    She nodded appreciatively a few times, so I took it as a good sign.


    "You scored very well on your SATs.You''ve got marvelous grades.And your teachers all have nothing


    but nice things to say about you.And your extracurricr activities are superb,"she said as she put the


    papers down.


    "So, are you saying that I have a good chance at Princeton, Columbia, or U Penn?" I asked with


    hopeful eyes.


    She didn''t answer right away.


    Instead, she took a deep breath and watched me intently."That''s possible,"she said finally, "With the


    right college essay, Ms.Sinir, I think you can go far," I let out a relieved sigh and said, "That’s good to


    hear,"


    "But tell me, why these schools in particr?"she paused for a moment before saying,


    "The University of Georgia is also a good school.But you don’t seem to care as much for it,"


    "The University of Georgia is a great school, but..." But that’s not wheren and I will be.


    We’re gonna be in the east coast next year.


    "But it’s not an Ivy League school,"I said instead.


    "If you''re dead set on the Ivy League, then I must tell you, they''re not easy," she said in amanding


    tone.


    "Your college essay should be priority number one.And then you need to prepare yourself for an


    interview, either with a staff from the school or a_ selected alumni representative,"


    Whoa, suddenly everything looked so daunting.That tone of voice hers wasn’t helping either.


    "Think you can handle all that?"she said again.


    I swallowed hard at her question and my mind started racing.


    I was thinking hard about the future—about how it could be.


    He would get that job in the art gallery and I would be a student in Princeton—or Columbia—or the


    University of Pennsylvania.We could get an apartment together.We could live together and be happy


    forever.


    "Yes, I can handle it," the words escaped my mouth faster than I expected.


    Mrs.Ash studied my face and I remained confident.


    Finally, she nodded her head in approval and said, "Alright, then we better get to work,"


    After leaving the guidance counselor''s office, I was feeling pretty great.


    Yes, I still had my work cut out for me, but at least I was on the right track.


    Mrs.Ash sent me off with some brochures on schrships and somemunity service opportunities


    that I could do to enhance my resume.


    As I walking down the corridor, I noticed the door to the art room was slightly open.


    I stopped my tracks and I sawn, he was alone in the studio.


    I thought that this might be a good time to say hi, so I hiked my skirt up a bit more and straightened my


    shirt before entering the ssroom.


    "Mr.Hayes,"


    I knocked on the door and stepped inside.


    I thought about making a sexy entrance, purposefully showing off my legs as I walked in.


    "Ms.Sinir,"


    And that was when I noticed that he wasn''t alone in the room.


    There were about ten junior kids in there, huddled around a painting.  "I didn''t realize you have a ss


    right now,"


    I smiled awkwardly and haphazardly pulled my skirt down to its normal length.


    "You''re not in this ss anymore, Emma.What are you doing here?"he took a step closer to me and


    spoke lowly.


    "Oh, I think I left a book in here somewhere,"I said loudly, so the other kids wouldn''t notice anything


    weird.


    Smiling confidently, I said, "Do you mind if I take a look around?"


    "Go ahead,"he nodded in agreement.


    "In the meantime, ss please continue your observation on the painting.I''ll give you two minutes


    before we discuss,"


    The students’ attention left me as they went back to the task at hand.


    I let out a relieved sigh as I paced aimlessly to the bookcase at the corner of the room.


    I knew my n didn''t work right away, but I was feeling that I could still save it.


    Smiling naughtily to myself, I stood straight and bent down seductively, pretending to look for


    something on the lower shelf.


    "It should be around here somewhere..."


    "Do you need a hand?"he coughed and tried to avert his gaze from me.


    "Nope, I found it,"I chirped and picked up a random book.


    Thankfully, the other students were not paying attention to us.It would be bad if they did, because


    they''d notice the bulge that was forming on Mr.


    Hayes’ pants.


    "Thank you, Mr.Hayes,"


    I said and licked my lips when I was only an arm''s length away from him.


    "You''re wee,"he swallowed hard.


    I was about to run for the exit, but since no one was paying attention, I thought it would be okay if I


    stay and y a little bit more.


    "Have a great ss," I purposefully brushed past him on my way out and whispered, "See you tonight,"


    "You are so gonna pay for this,"he hissed under his breath.


    "Looking forward to it,"