Page 39 of Playing with Fire

"Ms. Cruz," I repeated. "The guidance counselor?" He nodded. "She's not my counselor."

"She is now, and she would like to talk to you about what options you still have for scholarships and applying for college." My chest swelled, tears burned the back of my eyes, and my mouth dropped speechlessly. Christian never ceased to amaze me, and I couldn't understand why? He'd done more for me in the last few days than my mother had in my entire life. For once, I didn't live in fear; I wasn't worried about going home and what kind of mood Noah would be in. Or in what condition I'd find my mom.

I'd spent my entire life worried that I'd come home and find my mom dead, either a drug overdose or some man finally killed her, but instead, she'd done me a favor and left.

I'm almost too shocked to speak. "You did this," I stuttered.

"Is that okay?" he questioned, unsure if my reaction was good or bad.

"Yeah," I nodded, jumping up and wrapping my arms around his neck. College was my only chance to get out of this town and away from the Villas.

"Go." Christian ushered me off. "She's waiting for you."

I walked the short distance from Christian to the office.

"Good morning, Harper," Ms. Smith, the front office assistant, said. "How can I help you?"

"She's here to see me," Ms. Cruz said, rounding the corner into the front office. "Good morning, Ms. Brooks. You can follow me." I followed her down the short hallway and into the small office. "Come in and have a seat. I already let your first-period teacher know you'd be late."

"Thank you," I said, sliding into a chair in front of her desk.

"Well, I've gone over your grades and GPA; you have the highest GPA in the school," she smiled. "Did you know that?" I shook my head. "That's amazing, but I must be honest that most college application and scholarship deadlines have passed." My shoulders sank in disappointment. "But we still have a few options for the upcoming year." I sat up a little straighter. I would take whatever I could get. "We have a couple of scholarships offered to students at this school from personal donors. The only problem is that your application must be submitted by the end of the week."

"I can do that," I exclaimed.

"I knew you'd say that," she said, pushing a stack of papers forward. "Here's the paperwork and directions on how to apply." I reached out to take the paperwork from her. "Now, college applications, there's always the option of community college, and if you're hoping to get out of town to go to college, we could apply in a different county. A few private colleges have not yet cut off their applications, but again you would need to complete those applications by Friday."

"I can do that."

"I'm going to take you out of art because you don't need it and put you in study hall," she said. "You'll be able to use that time to complete the applications."

"Thank you." I skimmed through the paperwork.

"If you need more time during the day, please let me know. I can try to talk to your teachers."

"I won't need more time," I said. "It will be done by Friday."

"Do you have any other questions?" Did I have any other questions? I didn't know I was doing this today, so I didn't know if I had any questions. I shook my head. "Well, if you think of anything or if you have any problems, you can email me or stop by and see me."

"Thank you, Ms. Cruz."

"No problem, Harper. You can head to study hall and get started. Mr. Hall is expecting you and will provide you with a computer to use."

Collecting all the paperwork, I stood and headed for study hall in the senior hallway. The halls were empty, and second period had already started. Following the brightly lit corridors decorated in the school's colors, black and gold, I looked over the paperwork in my hand. I couldn't wait to get into study hall to get started.

Rounding the corner, I saw Christian waiting outside the large double doors that led into study hall.

"Are you waiting on me?" I stopped directly in front of him.

"How did it go?"

"Great." I held up the paperwork. "I need to get inside and get started on these. They are due Friday."

"I saved you a seat."

"Wait, you're in study hall this period?" He nodded, grabbing the left side of the double doors and jerking it open. Of course, he was. Second period was my only class without Christian or one of his friends.

For the rest of the week, I spent every free moment working on all the applications. Christian came over to the pool house during meals to make sure I took a break to eat and then gave me my space to get what I needed to done. And I appreciated him for that time.

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