Chapter 20 - The Future With My Name On It
My roommate, Jo, had covered her half of the dorm in postcards before I even arrived. She asked whether I wanted the desk by the window. Nobody said I had to earn it by doing the dishes.
I took an introductory engineering seminar because I still wanted to understand why some neighborhoods had sidewalks and bus routes and others didn't. The first assignment asked us to describe a problem we wanted to solve. I wrote about the uneven street outside our old apartment, the one Cleo had walked along after dark when the streetlights failed.
I didn't write about saving everyone. I wrote about making a street safer.
The first week was terrifying in small ways. I got lost between two buildings. I burned noodles in the shared kitchen. I felt guilty every time my phone stayed quiet. Then I learned quiet could mean Cleo was finishing her homework and Mom was handling dinner.
On Sunday, a video call came through. Maisie held up a drawing of our new apartment, with three figures on the front steps. Cleo told me the recreation center had a robotics club. Mom stood behind them looking tired, but nobody asked when I was coming home to fix something.
After the girls went to find a snack, Mom stayed on the screen.
"I want you to know I'm sorry I canceled your scholarship," she said. "I was afraid of losing you, and I did something that could have ruined your life. You don't have to forgive me today."
"I hear you," I said. It was the truth, and it was enough for now.
Before bed I pinned the yellow planet above my desk. The scholarship confirmation sat in a drawer with my student ID, not because I was afraid someone would take it, but because I no longer needed to stare at it to know it was real.
I opened my notebook to a clean page and wrote my name.
May you like
Zarya Ellis. First-year student. Here by choice.
For the first time, the future wasn't another shift someone had booked for me. It was a place I had reached, and I was allowed to stay.
