High and Dry by Sarah Skilton

Author:Sarah Skilton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2014-03-05T05:00:00+00:00

During third period, I was scheduled to meet with Palm Valley High’s guidance counselor to follow up on my plans for college. It was a pointless exercise and I treated it as such.

Ms. Gerard had pushed her desk to the wall and set up a cozy “we’re all friends here” couch and chair, with a snack-covered coffee table between us. I sat down across from her.

“Lambert’s my first choice, my backup, and my safety. Cool, huh? See you at graduation.”

I stood up.

“Sounds like you think everything’s set in stone,” Ms. Gerard said. She was a serious-looking blonde in an argyle sweater vest and glasses, just one makeover and hair toss away from being voted Hottest Faculty Member. The sweater vest and glasses were a feeble attempt at staving off that title. “How do you feel about that?”

I reluctantly sat again, stretching out on the couch. “Are you a guidance counselor or a failed psychiatrist?” I said.

She looked at me for a second, and then laughed. Barely. It was one of those laughs that tells you to back off. “You don’t seem very enthusiastic. Is there someplace else you’d like to go? Plenty of places have rolling admissions policies.”

“It just makes sense. Why spend a fortune when I can get a perfectly good education almost for free?”

“Just because something makes sense isn’t reason enough to do it.”

“Does Lambert know you’re actively discouraging students from attending? Should I alert the chancellor?”

She set her pencil down. I pictured it sticking upright in the table like a thrown knife. “Okay, Charlie. Are you going to take this seriously or shall I call in the next student?”

“Look, I appreciate what you’re doing, but it’s settled. I was going to live at my granddad’s, get some space from my parents, but now he’s selling the place. So yeah, I’m bummed about that, but the thing is, I don’t have any money. My parents are footing the bill, so they should have a say, don’t you think?”

“Could they foot the bill someplace else?”

“For ten times the price?” I said sarcastically. “Right now they’ve set aside forty grand in a money market account for me. With my dad’s discount, and no room or board, that’s four years at Lambert including classes, supplies, and textbooks. Or I could spend a month at some other school.”

“What about scholarships?”

“You really don’t want me to go to Lambert,” I remarked. “You’re obsessed.”

“It’s not about what I want. It’s about what you want. If you could go anywhere on the planet, forget about cost or logistics or what ‘makes sense,’ where would you go?”

“Wherever Ellie is,” I said without thinking.

If Ms. Gerard were a failed psychiatrist, it was only because she’d dropped out a week before graduation to follow Phish on tour or something. I’d walked right into her trap. Sneaky.

“Who’s Ellie?”

“Ellie Chen. Drop-dead gorgeous Chinese girl. Did you meet with her yet?”

“We met on Tuesday,” Ms. Gerard said guardedly.

“Can you tell me—”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to ask yet.”

“I can’t tell you where she’s going.

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