Fiction: Acceptance
Jun. 26th, 2014 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
clare_dragonflyTitle: Acceptance
World: Extranormal Crimes
Word count: 1,186
Rating: PG for very mild violence
Prompt:![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rainbowfic Antique Brass 3, Yeah, my only pleasure left in life: concocting ways to embarrass you.
Notes: I had no idea that Maggie had started college a year early until I started writing this. Also, not sure it's actually canon as some things don't quite fit with other stuff I've written...
Maggie did not listen when her mother told her to start thinking about applying to colleges. She continued to not listen when her father lectured her that it was time to think about colleges. She also did not listen when her sister Grace called from her own college and told her to start worrying about college, for serious, because if you weren’t prepared your head would explode with stress and Maggie could hardly handle another problem getting in between her and her future.
Maggie did not listen to any of them for one simple reason: she had already applied, a year early, to several different colleges. She was just waiting for the responses to come in. None of them seemed to have noticed that she was spending so much time working on her college applications. Grace at least had the excuse that she was not living in the same house with Maggie; her parents only had the excuse that they couldn’t tell the difference between Maggie sitting in her room reading and Maggie sitting in her room working. As long as she didn’t leave the house, they didn’t bother to wonder what she was doing.
Then one day, when she arrived home from school, her mother met her at the door, her eyebrows pinched together and her lips in a thin line. “Margaret,” she said, “you’ve got a lot of mail today. Bigger packets than usual. You’re really going to have to start reading the mail that these colleges are sending you.”
Maggie’s heart leapt, but she didn’t allow her excitement to show on her face or in her voice. She was pretty sure she was actually going to read this mail. “Fine. Where is it?”
Her mother pointed to where it had been dumped on the couch. Maggie rushed forward and snatched up the envelopes. Sure enough—four from the colleges she’d applied to. One of them was thin; probably a rejection. But the other three! Huge and thick packets! Had three of the colleges she’d applied to really accepted her?
“Are you finally going to put some effort into this?” her mother said, coming up behind her. “I really thought you would be more serious about this than Grace was. You have such prospects, Margaret.”
Maggie couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up from within her. She turned around, clutching the three packets to her chest and letting the small envelope drop to the floor. “Yes,” she said. “I do.” One by one, she opened the envelopes and pulled out the first page—the one that said she had been accepted. She handed the pages to her mother and achieved great satisfaction in watching her eyes get wider and wider.
“But—“ her mother finally spluttered. “How can they—how can you—you’re not even finished your junior year! How can they have accepted you already?”
“I applied early,” Maggie said, her cheeks hurting from the huge smile on her face. “One of the counselors at school helped me with it. They take early applications sometimes. We told them that high school was not productive for me and that I would work hard in college. They liked that I had career aspirations already, I guess.”
That made her mother’s expression turn to mild anger again. Maggie had forgotten about how she disliked Maggie’s desire to go into criminal justice—or maybe she just hadn’t cared at the moment. She thrust the acceptances back at Maggie. “It’s good that you applied to other colleges as a safeguard, but you’ll be going to Virginia Tech, of course.”
Maggie shook her head, accepting the papers. “Virginia Tech was my safeguard. They don’t even have a criminal justice program. Besides, I still have two more colleges to hear from.”
“You applied to six colleges?” Her mother’s eyebrows went bushy and pulled together. “Didn’t they all have application fees?”
“Some of them were waived, or partially waived,” said Maggie. “But you’ve been giving me allowance for years.” She shrugged. “I haven’t really had any friends to spend it with—not since I was twelve. And since the only bookstore around here is the c—silly little WaldenBooks in the mall, I haven’t had much trouble saving it for this.” She turned and headed for the stairs. She had plenty of time to look through these packets. Hopefully they had sent her information on their criminal justice programs; she’d mainly applied to colleges that she’d found on a list of places with good criminal justice programs, but she didn’t know which one would be the best fit for her. And since she hadn’t exactly had a chance to visit the schools (excluding Virginia Tech, of course, where Grace currently attended), she didn’t have anything else to judge them by.
“Just one moment, young lady,” her mother said. There was enough steel in her voice to make Maggie sigh and turn around.
“How exactly do you expect to be paying for all this?” Her mother’s eyes were flashing. Maggie wasn’t sure she cared about that expression any longer, though it had frightened her for years as a child. “I hope you realize that your father and I will not be supporting you monetarily if you insist on disregarding our wishes.”
“I can get pretty good financial aid,” said Maggie. “We’re not rich, and with Grace in college too I can get even more. Of course, if you’d care to make your lack of monetary support explicit and legal, I can get even better financial aid. And I’ll be applying for scholarships, of course. Plus, once I’m out of your house and you can’t make the rules for me any more, I can get a job.”
“You listen to me, Margaret Elizabeth,” her mother hissed, drawing closer. “If you think you can get away with flouting your parents and throwing your future away—“
Maggie threw fire at her mother.
It wasn’t real fire, of course; it was harmless. But it frightened her mother enough to scream and back away, and Maggie took off for her room with her acceptance packets in her arms, giggling.
Of course, she wasn’t going to get away with that. But what could they do to her? Ground her for the rest of the school year, and into the summer too? Make her do chores? Being grounded hadn’t bothered her since Skylar disappeared, and she would rather do chores than have to deal with her parents. They weren’t going to stop her from going to school, and they couldn’t stop her from declaring her intent to attend one of these three colleges.
If the other two accepted her, her mother would probably destroy the packets, she thought as she leaned on her closed and locked bedroom door, breathing hard and listening to any movement from the hall or the stairs. She was going to have to choose among these three.
She moved to her bed, hearing no movement outside, and spread out the three packets. Maybe the school with the best criminal justice program wasn’t quite what she needed. Maybe it was the one furthest from Virginia.
Did you enjoy this story? You can read more stories in this world or see all my fiction posted at Dreamwidth!
World: Extranormal Crimes
Word count: 1,186
Rating: PG for very mild violence
Prompt:
rainbowfic Antique Brass 3, Yeah, my only pleasure left in life: concocting ways to embarrass you.Notes: I had no idea that Maggie had started college a year early until I started writing this. Also, not sure it's actually canon as some things don't quite fit with other stuff I've written...
Maggie did not listen when her mother told her to start thinking about applying to colleges. She continued to not listen when her father lectured her that it was time to think about colleges. She also did not listen when her sister Grace called from her own college and told her to start worrying about college, for serious, because if you weren’t prepared your head would explode with stress and Maggie could hardly handle another problem getting in between her and her future.
Maggie did not listen to any of them for one simple reason: she had already applied, a year early, to several different colleges. She was just waiting for the responses to come in. None of them seemed to have noticed that she was spending so much time working on her college applications. Grace at least had the excuse that she was not living in the same house with Maggie; her parents only had the excuse that they couldn’t tell the difference between Maggie sitting in her room reading and Maggie sitting in her room working. As long as she didn’t leave the house, they didn’t bother to wonder what she was doing.
Then one day, when she arrived home from school, her mother met her at the door, her eyebrows pinched together and her lips in a thin line. “Margaret,” she said, “you’ve got a lot of mail today. Bigger packets than usual. You’re really going to have to start reading the mail that these colleges are sending you.”
Maggie’s heart leapt, but she didn’t allow her excitement to show on her face or in her voice. She was pretty sure she was actually going to read this mail. “Fine. Where is it?”
Her mother pointed to where it had been dumped on the couch. Maggie rushed forward and snatched up the envelopes. Sure enough—four from the colleges she’d applied to. One of them was thin; probably a rejection. But the other three! Huge and thick packets! Had three of the colleges she’d applied to really accepted her?
“Are you finally going to put some effort into this?” her mother said, coming up behind her. “I really thought you would be more serious about this than Grace was. You have such prospects, Margaret.”
Maggie couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up from within her. She turned around, clutching the three packets to her chest and letting the small envelope drop to the floor. “Yes,” she said. “I do.” One by one, she opened the envelopes and pulled out the first page—the one that said she had been accepted. She handed the pages to her mother and achieved great satisfaction in watching her eyes get wider and wider.
“But—“ her mother finally spluttered. “How can they—how can you—you’re not even finished your junior year! How can they have accepted you already?”
“I applied early,” Maggie said, her cheeks hurting from the huge smile on her face. “One of the counselors at school helped me with it. They take early applications sometimes. We told them that high school was not productive for me and that I would work hard in college. They liked that I had career aspirations already, I guess.”
That made her mother’s expression turn to mild anger again. Maggie had forgotten about how she disliked Maggie’s desire to go into criminal justice—or maybe she just hadn’t cared at the moment. She thrust the acceptances back at Maggie. “It’s good that you applied to other colleges as a safeguard, but you’ll be going to Virginia Tech, of course.”
Maggie shook her head, accepting the papers. “Virginia Tech was my safeguard. They don’t even have a criminal justice program. Besides, I still have two more colleges to hear from.”
“You applied to six colleges?” Her mother’s eyebrows went bushy and pulled together. “Didn’t they all have application fees?”
“Some of them were waived, or partially waived,” said Maggie. “But you’ve been giving me allowance for years.” She shrugged. “I haven’t really had any friends to spend it with—not since I was twelve. And since the only bookstore around here is the c—silly little WaldenBooks in the mall, I haven’t had much trouble saving it for this.” She turned and headed for the stairs. She had plenty of time to look through these packets. Hopefully they had sent her information on their criminal justice programs; she’d mainly applied to colleges that she’d found on a list of places with good criminal justice programs, but she didn’t know which one would be the best fit for her. And since she hadn’t exactly had a chance to visit the schools (excluding Virginia Tech, of course, where Grace currently attended), she didn’t have anything else to judge them by.
“Just one moment, young lady,” her mother said. There was enough steel in her voice to make Maggie sigh and turn around.
“How exactly do you expect to be paying for all this?” Her mother’s eyes were flashing. Maggie wasn’t sure she cared about that expression any longer, though it had frightened her for years as a child. “I hope you realize that your father and I will not be supporting you monetarily if you insist on disregarding our wishes.”
“I can get pretty good financial aid,” said Maggie. “We’re not rich, and with Grace in college too I can get even more. Of course, if you’d care to make your lack of monetary support explicit and legal, I can get even better financial aid. And I’ll be applying for scholarships, of course. Plus, once I’m out of your house and you can’t make the rules for me any more, I can get a job.”
“You listen to me, Margaret Elizabeth,” her mother hissed, drawing closer. “If you think you can get away with flouting your parents and throwing your future away—“
Maggie threw fire at her mother.
It wasn’t real fire, of course; it was harmless. But it frightened her mother enough to scream and back away, and Maggie took off for her room with her acceptance packets in her arms, giggling.
Of course, she wasn’t going to get away with that. But what could they do to her? Ground her for the rest of the school year, and into the summer too? Make her do chores? Being grounded hadn’t bothered her since Skylar disappeared, and she would rather do chores than have to deal with her parents. They weren’t going to stop her from going to school, and they couldn’t stop her from declaring her intent to attend one of these three colleges.
If the other two accepted her, her mother would probably destroy the packets, she thought as she leaned on her closed and locked bedroom door, breathing hard and listening to any movement from the hall or the stairs. She was going to have to choose among these three.
She moved to her bed, hearing no movement outside, and spread out the three packets. Maybe the school with the best criminal justice program wasn’t quite what she needed. Maybe it was the one furthest from Virginia.
Did you enjoy this story? You can read more stories in this world or see all my fiction posted at Dreamwidth!