Perhaps maybe I am smart. Maybe I don't give myself that much credit. Maybe I don't realize how smart I actually am, not logically but book smart at least.

"You want me to open it?" Dad asks, his hand holding onto my shoulder.

I bite my nails as the both of us stand in front of a letter from one of many Universities I've applied to. This was a big deal because it was the only college letter that has arrived.

"No. Actually yes. Wait-" I groan and rub my hands on my face.

"Yes. I want you to open it." I nod my head and nervously watch as he reaches for the envelope.

I look for any sort of reaction to give me an answer but his poker face is A game. His eyes scan the letter and finally he moved the paper away, never giving me any kind of a reaction.

"Ok." He says nonchalantly, handing me the letter.

"Ok as in Ok that's bad or as is Ok she did that?!?" I'm desperate to know.

"Read it and find out." He shrugs and I take a deep breath.

My eyes scan the words carefully before I reach the part I was looking for. The answer just made me more worried.

"I got in?" I more so question than state. I can't believe it. Dad lifts me up and spins me around as he cheers.

"My daughters going to college!" He cheers and I feel a little selfish to say that I was disappointed.

I guess I was more so nervous about the fact that I would get in, I was hoping I wouldn't so that then I'd have an excuse to not go to college. But maybe this was a sign for me to go. Even though I wasn't 100% sure.

"Yay.." I trail off in thought as I let my thoughts take over.

"You're excited, right?" He asks me, when I don't make a big reaction like him.

"Moms gonna be excited. Should I call her and tell her?" I change the topic and reach for my phone.

"Thalia. Don't worry about whether or not your mom will be excited. I'm asking if you are, because you don't look it." He leans his arm on the table as he stares at me.

"What if I didn't want to go to college?" I hesitated to ask.

"Hypothetically speaking , of course." I nervously chuckle and he takes a seat.

He's sitting, I know this is going to get serious.

"If you feel like college isn't for you, then I'd support whatever it is you'd want to do with your life. You know why? Because it's your life and I want you to be happy." All he's saying is more and more of what I wanted to hear.

"That's if we're being hypothetical of course." He gives me a look and I smile at him.

"Right. Thanks dad." I give him a genuine smile, knowing he knew what I was talking about.

"I got you kid. Don't worry about what anyone else says, not even your mother. Fuck her" He brushes it off.

"Dad!" My jaw is dropped by that last part.

"Sorry, pretend I didn't say that." He holds up his hands.

"But now that I did. It feels good to get it off my chest." He says proudly and I laugh.

"I know I shouldn't think this way but she deserves that sometimes." I sigh, sitting down myself.

" She hates me." I sigh and lay my head on my fist.

"I don't even know what I did for her to hate me so much." I look at my dad who looked hurt for me.

"Let me tell you something about your mother." He starts and gets that annoyed look on his face whenever he would talk about her.

"She still holds a grudge over you and it was understandable at the time but she has got to let it go. She isn't going to disrespect my child any longer." He tells me but I'm confused.

"A grudge for what?" I ask, interested in hearing this.

"You know, your mother was young when she had you. She was stubborn, still is. When we met she was eager to start this business of hers but then she got pregnant with you and you know." He waves his hand around as he finds the words.

"She had gotten the news unexpectedly, she wasn't prepared but neither was I. Ever since then she would get angry even at me. She had to stop working and post pone her business, she would tell me that she wasn't ready to be a mother, that she still wanted to fulfill some dream of hers and what not." He explains.

"She thinks that you were the reason for why she stopped working on her business. She still holds some kind of a grudge against you and it's not fair. You've put up with a lot. And on her behalf I'm sorry for that." He apologized and everything suddenly made sense.

I look down at my hands as I put some thought into it. So she blames me for being the reason to hold her back from her dream. All of this because of that. This sucks.

"Don't you think that's kind of stupid? I mean when she left us she could've went ahead and finished whatever business she started. But instead she went off with some other man and got pregnant a few years later." I just don't get it. How is that my fault?

"It doesn't make sense but I don't want you to think it was you Thalia. She just needs someone to blame for why she could never fulfilled that dream of hers." Dad explains carefully.

" I don't think it'll ever make sense but I'm done trying to make her proud. I don't care anymore, if she never did, why should I?" I think out loud.

"The only person you should impress is yourself, sugar plum." Dad ruffles my hair but I back away from it.

"There you go with that Nickname again." I chuckle and shake my head.

"I enjoyed our pep talk but it's time for me to roll out." I stand up and stretch my arms out.

"Where do you plan on going?" He asks.

"To the club. I'm stopping by my dealers house to collect the drugs for the strippers. They're my friends." I make up but his eyes widen.

"Thalia if you don't tell me you're lying I-"

"Relax. I was just kidding. I am going to a party though. With Heath and Duke." I tell him. A party with people Heaths age, I had to practically beg him to let me go with him.

Duke managed to convince him too. Together we make an annoying team, he just had to say yes. And he did.

"I know you're legally an adult but that brain of yours does not act like it. So please make good choices." He tells me like always.

"Yeah, yeah. I won't. Bye dad." I check my phone to see a message from Duke, telling me he was parked outside.

As I approach his car, I see Duke driving and Heath in the passenger seat. He's looking cute as always.

" Ready to party like you've never partied before?!" Duke shouts as I get into the car.

"Yeah I am" I shout back and Heath turns around to look at me.

"Are you sure you want to go?" He asks , he's asked me this five hundred times. I think he's the one that doesn't want me to go.

"I'm sure." I reassure him once again and he sighs before returning to his seat properly.

"Stop worrying. It won't be that bad, Thalia will be fine." Duke says but I can see that Heath didn't look too sure.

"I don't want her around them." He mumbled, I'm pretty sure he said that for Duke to hear but I heard it too.

"Is it because you're embarrassed of me or something?" I asked, that's the only thing I could think of.

"No. They're just different from you." He shrugs, I wonder what that could mean.

"You'll find out for yourself. For the most part they're cool people. We've known them since our college days." Duke explains to me, I don't care I'm excited to go.

I want to ask them questions all about Heath and how he was like in college. I want to know it all.

"Oh and if they offer you any food. Be smart and don't take it." Duke instructs me and I force myself to remember that small detail.

What could be so bad about the people at this party? I'm assuming it'll be just like every other party I've been to. Fun and a way to make new friends.

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A/N

This was more of a filler chapter so it was kinda short.

Thanks for reading 😎

8/4/22