Chapter 1
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“Obie! Come back here,” I yelled. This dog would be the end of me. My frustration faded when he turned around and started wagging his tail vigorously. He knows me too well. “Are you trying to get hit, you silly dog?” I said as I knelt down to pet him. This led to him playfully jumping up on me
When we got home, I dashed to the kitchen and grabbed something to eat. It was embarrassing, but I’d barely eaten all day, and my stomach had been grumbling for the entire one-hour walk with Obie. I grabbed some leftover lasagna I had prepared a week ago when my parents left for a vacation. It was a reminder of their absence and my solitude. So much for traveling home from break and being alone; at least I had Obie at home, eh?
I rushed to the dining table after devouring half my plate of food. I wouldn’t want to pepper myself, but I was a good cook. Wow.
As I paced back into the kitchen to grab the phone I’d left on the countertop, I heard it chime. It wasn’t a text message chime, however; it was an email notification. The timing was odd, considering I was on break and had completed all my school assignments. And just as I had thought, it was an email from my university—not from my lecturers, but from my principal...
Dr. Benjamin HarringtonPrincipalSt Luke’s University250 Oakwood DriveBrookdale, NY [email protected](555) 123-4566
February 24, 2023
Ms. Eleanor Harris142 Willow LaneBrookdale, NY [email protected]
Subject: Scholarship Termination Notification
Dear Ms. Harris,
I hope you are doing well. Following a review of your academic performance, you are no longer eligible to continue receiving the St Luke’s University Stellar Achievers Award Scholarship due to a decline in your grades.
The scholarship agreement states that recipients must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5 to remain eligible for financial support. Your most recent academic record, regrettably, does not meet this criterion. As a result, your scholarship will be canceled from the beginning to the start of the second half of this semester.
With this change, you are now responsible for covering all tuition, semester fees, and associated costs. We advise you to look into other ways to fund the remainder of your tuition costs.
While I recognize that this news may be difficult, I urge you to seek academic support to improve your performance. You are a bright girl with an even brighter future, so nothing should distract you!
I wish you the best in your academic journey.
Sincerely,
Dr. Benjamin HarringtonPrincipalRiverview Academy(555) [email protected]
My hands were trembling by the time I was done reading the email, and my vision blurred with panic. My scholarship had been rescinded—just like that, the funding that allowed me to attend my dream university was gone. A knot tightened in my stomach as reality hit me: tuition, housing, books—I had to cover all this alone. I instantly lost all my appetite. I could’ve sworn for a moment there that my heart had stopped beating for a second. At least I had grants that had paid most of my costs, including utility bills and rent. But even with that relief, I still had thousands of dollars to pay toward my education, food, and everything else.
It struck me that I had to get a job, scratch that, I had to get jobs just to survive. The thought sent me spiraling. When would I even get the time to study? Would I fall even further behind?
I couldn’t tell my parents. I just couldn’t. The thought of their anger sent a wave of nausea through me. I was their perfect little girl. Their little girl would come home with her report card to shove in their faces. I was their perfect little girl coming home from school with a fat smile, knowing she’d aced her tests. Their perfect little girl had graduated high school with all sorts of honors. I had made them really proud.
But not anymore. They had warned me not to mess up, and I had. Swallowing and breathing hard, I tried to compose myself, but the kitchen walls seemed to be caving in on me.
I genuinely had no choice but to figure it all out by myself.
I’d known I needed to control myself over the past few months since I’d gotten carried away with the whirlwind of college and had forgotten to keep up with school.
