Without You: Book 1 of the Changing Hearts Series (18 page)

She heard Lucas give a small cough, and she glanced at him. He looked at her before looking back down at his food.
 

Ariana decided she wasn’t going to let Wendy have this.

She brought her head up and tried to act normal. So what if Lucas’s ex was right here? She was not going to be the jealous girlfriend. She was not going to let Wendy get to her because of what happened last semester. She was not going to let her ruin anything else for her.
 

She focused on eating and following Jimmy and Mayra’s conversation, laughing when something was funny instead of worrying about who was right next to her. Lucas did the same and relaxed.

Soon the bell rang, and she got up with Lucas to put away their trays and head to their first class.
 

First, though, she headed to her locker to grab a couple things.
 

Before she turned the corner to get there, Lucas stopped her.
 

He looked her in the eyes. “I love you.”

She saw his chest rise from taking a deep breath before he kissed her on the lips.
 

“Okay, break it up,” she heard. They took a step back and saw a teacher walking down the hall.

She turned back to Lucas. “What was that for?” Although she had an idea.

“Thank you,” he said. “For knowing that I love you.”

She gave him a smile. “I love you too.”

“I’ll see you later, okay?” He gave her one last kiss before walking in the opposite direction.

Ariana went to her locker, grabbed some stuff, and continued heading towards her first period class. It was an advanced computer class she thought might come in handy when she tried to find a job or something.

She froze for a second when she walked in. Wendy was in this class. She made herself not look at her as she strode to the opposite end of the classroom, but she could see her smirk out of the corner of her eye. She already had English with her. Senior year was threatening to be hell.

###

The next morning, Ariana sat straight up in bed and looked at her phone. All in one swift moment.
 

“Shit!” she half whispered, half shouted.
 

She was gonna be late for school. Again. She couldn’t get another tardy or her mom would get a phone call about it. And it was only March.

She and Lucas could not afford that. But that’s what she got for staying up way too late last night texting him. She ran to the window and glanced out, phone still in hand. Her mom’s car was still in the driveway, but she’d surely be leaving any minute now.
 

She ran into the bathroom before her mom saw that she was not ready. Just as she quietly closed the door, she heard her mom’s bedroom door open.

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

“Ariana?” It was her mom. “You almost done?”

“Uh, yeah. Just about,” she said, remembering to keep her voice calm and not too hurried, like her heartbeat right now. She began brushing her teeth while turning on her straightener.
 

“Okay. I’m leaving. I’ll see you later. Drive safe.”

She saw her hair in the mirror. Shit! Of course her hair had to look like a troll’s today.
 

“Okay. Bye!”

She looked at her phone again. She had seven minutes to leave if she wanted to make it to school on time. She rinsed her mouth out while dialing Lucas. After a couple rings, he picked up.

“Hey, you okay?” he asked. She didn’t usually call him this early. She wiped off her face.

“Yeah,” she said, brushing through the tangles in her hair. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t oversleep like I did today.”

“Nope. But it was not fun waking up this morning.”

“I bet,” she said quickly. “Okay, well, I gotta run. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright. Bye.”

The call ended, and she peed faster than she had in her life. She put on a little makeup and checked her phone again.
 

Four minutes.

Arana brushed her hair and worked the straightener through just the wildest parts of her hair before turning off the straightener and unplugging it.

She ran back into her room and opened her closet. She grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She pulled them on along with some socks and sneakers. At least her backpack was ready to go.
 

“Jimmy! You ready?” she called out. He’d better be, she thought as she ran into the bathroom for her phone

“Yep. Fifteen minutes ago,” she heard. “Watching TV.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” she said to herself as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed out.
 

Two minutes later, they were at Mayra’s driveway, but Mayra was putting her stuff in her car. Ariana didn’t bother pulling in to the driveway.
 

Her mouth fell open, and she forgot they were running late. She rolled down her window, and she and Jimmy stared at Mayra.

“Surprise!” She held up her driver’s license. “Finally traded my permit in for this baby this weekend, and my car is finally up and running. I’ll see you two later.”

Mayra winked and got into her car.
 

Ariana smiled and waved along with Jimmy as they continued to school.

“Well, thanks for the rides and everything, but I don’t think I’ll be needing your services anymore,” Jimmy said.

“Whatever,” Ariana said, laughing.

“Man, I can’t wait to get my permit. My birthday is almost here, and I’ve been reading that driver’s ed book. Watch me get it on my first try.”

“Oh gosh. Can’t even imagine you
and
Mayra on the road. What has the world come to?”

“Speak for yourself,” Jimmy muttered. “I can’t wait to have my own car and drive around like you do.”

###

“So what are you up to?” Lucas asked over the phone.

“I just got done applying to some online scholarships. I’ve literally applied to like twelve scholarships. One of them is this huge forty thousand dollar scholarship, which I highly doubt I’ll get, but oh well. I’ll take what I can get. It just sucks because the application is basically my life story.”

“Um, yeah, I have like no time for that, and they’d probably start snoring as soon as they opened my B average application.”

“Actually, there are all kind of scholarships on here. You should really look. Watch me apply for you because there are ones for being Latino, being artistic, whatever. Not just grades.”

“Oh,” Lucas said, although he still didn’t sound very interested.

“Now I’m filling out all the financial aid stuff for UGA. The priority deadline or whatever is coming up in like a week,” she said without tearing her eyes away from her laptop. Her phone was on speaker next her on her desk.
 

“Yeah, I think the deadlines for the college here is way more relaxed. I got plenty of time,” Lucas said.

Ariana laughed. “Still, don’t wait until the last minute. So you never did apply for UGA, did you?”

“Nope.”
 

Silence.
 

“It’s okay. I don’t even know if I’m going to get in,” she said, finally looking away from her screen. She glanced at all the paperwork in front her, taxes and stuff like that from her parents.

“I think we all know that’s BS,” said Lucas. “Of course you’re getting in. I saw your report card last week. Honors list again.”

She could tell he was smiling. She sighed loudly. “I sure hope so.”

Ariana thought about that. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just stay here and go to school with you and Mayra.”

“Listen. Go where you want to go. Don’t sacrifice the next four years of your life for us. We don’t deserve that.”

Silence again.

She had a hard time knowing what to say. “Yes, you do. It’s just hard. Making a choice.” She shook her head and looked at her screen again. “Let’s worry about all that later. No sense worrying about it now. Let’s just be happy for now.”

“Got that right.” Lucas was sounding sleepier by the minute.

He had just gotten off of work. She got an idea.

“Hey, why don’t you just send me all your stuff later, and I can help you out with all the financial aid stuff. I have nothing to do all week anyway.”

“You are awesome,” Lucas said.
 

“You know it,” she said, typing again. She didn’t know where they’d each be next year, heck in six months, but she knew she wouldn’t be without Lucas.

“So when do you find out?” Lucas said kind of groggily. “You know, about UGA.”

“Um, soon. The website says the letters get mailed out next week, but I can log on and find out immediately like last time.”

“Wow. That sneaked up real fast.”

She thought about that. “Yeah, it really did.” She tried not to think about the butterflies in her stomach right now.

“My application’s not even due yet, I think.”
 

“Oh wow,” she said. “Better get that done on time.”

“Yeah, yeah.”
 

“Better not be one of those bums who doesn’t go to college either,” she said with a laugh.
 

“Haha,” Lucas said. “No worries there. I do not want to get paid eight fifty an hour my whole life.”

“Can you imagine what next year is gonna be like?” she asked him as an image popped into her head of them cuddled together on an apartment couch watching a movie, with no worries about curfews.
 

“I don’t know. I just know I want to be with you,” Lucas said.
 

Ariana hated the feeling that popped into her stomach right then, like being with Lucas wasn’t in her control.

###

Today was the day. April 15.
 

Like that cheesy saying. Today would start the rest of her life or something like that. Or her life might be over, and she wasn’t sure which was which.

She was going to find out if she had gotten into UGA. Again.

“So you’re getting the letter today?” her mom asked. Ariana was surprised she remembered. She had made it a point not to make it a big deal when she told them back in December.
 

“They get mailed out today, so I probably won’t get it for another few days,” she replied.
 

“Hm.” They were folding some laundry in the living room, but Ariana had been folding the same shirt for a few minutes. She couldn’t think of anything else besides whether she had gotten in or not. Her whole day had been like that, but she’d managed to distract herself.
 

A few days ago, she had decided she would wait for the letter to come in the mail. She didn’t want to go through the same thing as last time. Just click and her dreams were almost shattered. She wanted to open an actual letter. The bad thing was she’d probably know right away anyway. A thin envelope did not hold good news most of the time when it came to acceptance letters.
 

But now, she wasn’t so sure. She just wanted to know.
 

“I could check on the computer,” she thought out loud.

“Well, then, go check,” her mom said, not folding clothes anymore.

Her mom looked at her when she didn’t get up. “Are you nervous?” she asked.

“Kind of,” Ariana said with a small smile.

“If it’s meant to happen, it will happen,” her mom said. “Even though I don’t really want you to leave.”
 

Jimmy came in from playing basketball outside. “Ryan had to go home,” he said. “What’s up?”

“I find out today if I got in to UGA. Or I can wait for the letter in the mail.”

“Dang. Well, are you gonna check or not?” he asked as he sat down next to her. He held up a pair of huge underwear.

“Who’s is that?” he said as he flung it back inside the container.
 

Ariana laughed. “Not mine.”

Her mom snatched it away and tucked it behind a pile of clothes. “It’s to keep everything in place.”

Jimmy tried not to gag. “Now I can’t take that image out of my head.”

“Just you watch. You’ll grow old soon enough and need them too.”

Ariana tried not to think about that. She got up. “Yeah, I’m gonna check my application status now.”

Jimmy jumped up from the sofa and followed her to her room.
 

“Tell me what it says!” her mom shouted after them. Ariana got her phone out and dialed Mayra.

It was Saturday, so Lucas was at work, but she wanted to surprise him anyway. And have time to think about things once she found out the decision.

“Hello?” Mayra finally answered.
 

Ariana sat down at her desk, and Jimmy stood behind her as she logged on to the UGA website.

“What’s up?”

“I’m checking my application status for UGA,” she said.

“I thought you were waiting for the letter,” Mayra said.

“I changed my mind.”

“Hey, Mayra,” Jimmy popped in.

“Hey,” she replied.
 

“You two finally going out or what?” Ariana said, mostly to stall. The page was loading. From there, she’d be able to click and find out.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Jimmy said.
 

“Seriously, though, why all the mystery?”

Jimmy shrugged. Now that she had them both together, maybe she could find out what was going on between them. They were always together anyway.

The page was ready.

“Hold that thought,” she said, her voice a little shaky. “You guys ready?”

“Let’s do it,” Mayra finally spoke up.

“Okay, I’m clicking on the ‘show my application status’ button,” she said as she clicked.
 

A few seconds later, there it was.
 

Her heart jumped.
 

“No way,” Jimmy said quietly.

“What? What?” Mayra said. “Don’t make me go over there.”

“I got accepted,” Ariana said. “I GOT ACCEPTED.”
 

She jumped up and down and hugged Jimmy. He picked her up and threw her on her bed, and she screamed, but from pure joy. She felt the mattress beneath her, and she spread out like she was making a snow angel. Her smile was so big it was hurting her cheeks. She stared at the ceiling.