Page 253 of Something Rad
I feel Sherri and I gradually lean closer to both Cooper and each other as we watch her gray eyes scan over the words, not giving a single indication as to what any of them say. I halfway have the urge to reach out and grab Sherri’s hand because I’m buzzing with so much anticipation and feel like I just need something to steady me.
I had no idea this was about to happen, but whatever Cooper reads on that piece of paper, whatever the outcome of her scholarship application is, it means big things. It determines so much for her and her future. What she’ll do…where she’ll be. There’s a lot riding on this. And I’m not sure I’ve really allowed myself to think through all of the possible outcomes of this exact moment until now. And I just don’t know what to feel.
I just need to know.
Whatever the answer is.
Based on the movement of Cooper’s eyes, it seems like she’s read through the entire paper once and has returned to the top to start over. After she reaches the bottom for the second time, the crease between her eyebrows deepening further, Sherri takes the plunge for both of us, grabbing my hand and squeezing hard.
“What does it say, hon?” she asks.
“I…I can’t believe this…” Cooper mutters, shaking her head.
It feels like my heart sinks in my chest, dropping straight into my stomach.
“Did you not get the scholarship?” I ask.
She blinks at the paper a few times before raising her gaze to mine. Her eyes have a clear sheen in them, and that only makes the knot in my gut twist further.
“No,” she breathes, shaking her head.
And now it’s my turn to squeeze Sherri’s hand. In fact, I’m pretty sure I squeeze it so hard that she’ll have faint nail marks embedded in her skin, but she doesn’t seem to notice or mind. Probably because she’s feeling the same things as me.
Disbelief.
Disappointment.
Devastation.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about knowing that Cooper would officially be heading to NYU in the fall, but now that it feels like that opportunity was ripped right out from under her– the opportunity I know she’s worked incredibly hard for and sacrificed so much to achieve– I’m gutted. I’m furiousforher. She deserves it more than anyone. She deserves the world. The world deservesher. To see what she’s capable of.
“I got it.”
My head snaps up.
“What?” Sherri and I both say at the same time, dropping each other’s hands and moving around the corner of the counter to get closer to Cooper.
“I got it,” she repeats.
She got it?
A smile slowly spreads across my face, every ounce of rage and dismay I just felt melting off of me.
But then I look at Cooper’s face, and I can’t help but feel confused. Because, if she really got the scholarship…
Why doesn’t she look thrilled?
“And…” Cooper starts, but doesn’t continue, tilting her head at the paper.
Sherri lets out something between a squeal and a yelp from beside me, waving her hands in the air. “Andwhat?”
She looks up at her mom, her throat bobbing. “And…um…” she glances back at the paper, squinting her eyes as if she’s not quite believing what she’s reading, “they were so impressed with my application that they’ve also extended me an offer to come to New York early for an advanced creative writing summer program. Fully funded by the university, boarding included.”
A beat of silence passes between us before Sherri asks the exact question standing out in my mind, “How early?”
Cooper sets the paper down on the counter. “The program starts two weeks after graduation.”
A few moments go by as we all take in this information, Cooper seeming, oddly enough, to be having a harder time with it than any of us. But then, Sherri breaks the ice first, a cheer bursting out of her as she starts jumping up and down, clapping her hands together. She flits her way around me, scooping up her daughter in her arms and hugging her tight to her chest. And when she pulls back to kiss Cooper’s cheek, tears are clear in her eyes.
