Don't Let Go

Chapter 3.

I huffed as I sat up and hit my pillows a few times, trying to get comfortable. I reached for my phone debating on whether the sounds of the ocean would calm me enough when my phone lit up.

N: Open the front door.

I sat straight up. He didn't.

Flinging the covers back, I crossed the room and headed downstairs. I walked to the front of the house and opened the front door, quietly, to find Noah standing there in his pyjamas.

'Um?', I said as I eyed his appearance. 'I'm pretty sure I told you I was okay?'

'And I'm pretty sure that you were lying', he whispered as I rolled my eyes and moved out of the way so that he could come in. Dad was at Linda's and Brad was at a sleepover. They wanted to give me a space that allowed for no distractions and to think.

'Noah.....'

'You want me to go?' he asked as he stopped at the foot of the stairs, spinning around.

'No', I laughed and he shot me a 'told you so', look. He gabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs towards my bedroom.

I really needed to sleep and maybe now with Noah, I would be able to....well, maybe in a little bit.

***

'So, Miss Evans. Kate has filled us in on your background and how you two became aquatinted through the DDM competition. We're very intrigued. On paper, you've got the grades and the extra curricular activities to support why you would be a fantastic fit for the Game Design program at USC...', Andrew started as they flipped through my file.

This morning at been a blur. I vaguely remember saying goodbye to Noah and driving to USC. I was given the questions and ten minutes to think about them. I could hear my phone constantly buzzing, a string of messages from either Noah, Lee or my Dad. They were either checking in or wishing me luck or telling me to calm down. After I a while I just turned the stupid thing off.

Once it was my turn, I was led into a room where Professor Kate Hunter welcomed me with a familiar face and I was introduced to Professor Andrew Jacobs and Professor Luke King. The interview had been fairly straightforward, until now, where I could tell they were going to start going a little deeper into the questioning.

'We are just curious, as to why you think USC and the design program is a better fit for you or something that you would prefer pursuing than a degree at Harvard University?'

'Ah', I nodded. Obviously they were able to see where I had been accepted as it was all available to them on a national database. So they were curious as to why I wanted to go to USC rather than Harvard? Did they think on some level, I was just wasting their time?

I paused for a second as I debated my answer.

'Honestly and I am hoping that honesty here is the best way to go forward about this', I started as all three of them nodded in my direction, 'Harvard or Berkley for that matter, where I was accepted as well, were great choices and I'm honoured to have been given a place there. However, my intentions for going to those schools was not for the wrong reasons, but for the right reasons to make others happy. I'm connected to those schools through two of the most amazing people I know and choosing either one of them would have let me stay close to one of them....'

'Again, speaking honestly, I changed over the summer and realised that just because I didn't attend either of those schools doesn't mean that I have to make either of them unhappy nor does it mean that I love either of them any less. I've known them my whole life and I'm going to know them for the rest of my life. Just being in different parts of the country is going to make this difficult, but I know and they know, that I'm pursuing something that is going to make me happy. I haven't done that before and it's so refreshing to get excited about something that I am passionate about and will hopefully be able to explore and study more'