The clouds gather once again, and the rain begins. The soccer ball is too slick to continue.
Craig: Are you hungry? There’s a vending machine close by.
Prosperity: Yeah, sure. I could eat.
He shows me where we can get some food. There’s even a microwave, which is beginning to feel like a luxury. I purchase a ready-made meal and heat it up.
We’ve barely made it over to the picnic table before we begin to hear claps of thunder, which surprises me because it’s not something I’m used to hearing being from Oasis Springs. I’d love to get out of the rain, but returning to camp won’t offer us much shelter.
Prosperity: What do you all usually do when the weather gets like this?
Craig: If we’re not working, then we usually just hole up in our tents or hang out in the research center.
The latter sounds the most appealing to me.
I grab my umbrella and hurry to the research center. I don’t expect Mr. C to follow, but he enters the research lab just as I’m about to sit down. I notice he has more clothes on now. He seems very comfortable in various states of undress, so I suspect that the research center is one of those no shirt, no service type of places.
I haven’t checked on the status of my applications since I applied to college. Now is as good a time as any. I turn on the computer and take a deep breath., then release it in a long drawn out sigh.
Craig: Everything okay?
Prosperity: I hope so. I was about to check on my college applications.
Craig: It can’t be that bad, right?
Prosperity: I don’t even know why I’m so nervous about it. I can’t even open the email.
Craig: I can check it for you if you like.
I forward the email to him. He logs into his email and opens it…taking his time reading it.
Prosperity: Well?
Craig: You’ve been accepted to both Britechester and Foxbury. You even qualify for two of Britechester’s distinguished degrees…art history and fine arts. That’s not an easy accomplishment. *turns to face me* I guess you do have a talent after all.
This time his extra little side comment doesn’t bother me. I’m too entranced by the bright colors of relief that fill the room suddenly.
Prosperity: I got in!
I already know that Gran-Alice will be thrilled at the news, but I’ll hold off on telling her until I’m 100% sure that I’m going.
Craig: Do you know which one you’ll attend? I’m a Britechester alum, but you can’t go wrong with either one.
Prosperity: I’m not sure. Those distinguished degree program offers sound appealing though.
Craig: Britechester is the top art school in the country.
Before I can respond, my cell rings, and I see that it’s Byron. I answer the call and give my good news, not even considering that there’ll be consequences.
Prosperity: *on the phone* I got in! I was accepted to Britechester and Foxbury!
Byron: I thought you knew that already.
Prosperity: What do you mean?
Byron: How were you able to promise to see me in Britechester in the Fall if you didn’t even know you got in? Had you even applied yet?
I suddenly feel like I should have swallowed my tongue.
Prosperity: No…I hadn’t. Byron, I shouldn’t have promised you, because I wasn’t 100% sure that I was even going to college. I’m still not.
Byron: So you lied to me?
Prosperity: It wasn’t a lie. It was a promise I felt pressured to make.
Byron: So it’s my fault?
Prosperity: No, I…you’re turning this into something more than it needs to be. I made a mistake. I’m sorry!
Byron: Congrats on your college acceptance. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if I see you again.
Byron ends the call.
Craig: Trouble at home?
Prosperity: That was my boyfriend. I told him that I’d be in Britechester in the Fall. I guess I should have kept my news to myself.
Craig: It’s a shame not to be able to share good news with those we love.
Prosperity: Love? *scoffs* I don’t know about all that.
Craig: Oh…sorry, I misspoke.
I feel a strong need to elaborate.
Prosperity: It’s not that I don’t care about him. He’s like one of my favorite people…but it’s hard to want to be around someone when you feel pressured to do what they want you to do.
Craig: You remind me of myself in a lot of ways.
Prosperity: How so?
Craig: Would it be incorrect for me to assume that your family is well off?
Prosperity: Well…we’ve never hurt for money or wondered where our next meal is coming from.
Craig: My family is in Windenburg. And, well…let’s just say I’m not exactly living the life they had planned out for me.
Prosperity: But you got your degree, right?
Craig: Yes, in History. I’m supposed to be well on my way to becoming a judge, like my mother. And her father before her. But instead…
Prosperity: *finishes for him*…you live in a commune.
Craig: My mother’s exact words. How did you know?
Prosperity: Because it’s the same thing my grandmother said to me.
Craig: See? I get what you’re going through.
It’s nice having someone who understands me. Knowing this about Mr. C humanizes him and makes him one of the most relatable people that I have in my life. But that doesn’t justify the sudden flashes of purple and pinks that I see hovering around me…
I jump out of my seat…shocked at the bright hot pinks that mesh and intertwine with other colors that up to now, I’ve only felt when around Byron. But even with him…it was never quite like this. I’m suddenly very uncomfortable being here alone with Mr. C.
Prosperity: Uh…I, uh…I’d better head back to camp.
Mr. C is oblivious to my confused and way too intensely colored emotions.
Craig: I have an article that I’d like to finish, then I’ll be heading back myself.
Prosperity: Yeah…okay.
I walk out the door trying to recall when the comfortable buds of angry reds began to bloom into full petals of desire. How is this happening? Mr. C is well into adulthood and I just barely graduated high school. But the attraction is there and I suspect that it was from the start…even when I claimed to hate him.
I take my time walking back to camp…hoping that everyone will be asleep in their tents. I know that I’m the only one that can see the colors hovering around me, but I still feel exposed…like there’s a movie screen on my forehead revealing all my private, internal thoughts.
Wild is the only one still up when I arrive at camp. I don’t know if she sees me, because she doesn’t wave or acknowledge that I’m there. Instead, she puts away her knitting and goes straight to her tent. I put away my umbrella and crawl into my own tent…grateful for the small miracle that Piper is already asleep when I zip the door closed behind me.
(Generation 2 Chapter Summaries)
