Nowhere Fast
Chapter 1 - Where We Were Before
Joey Potter
Where do you see yourself in five years?
That was the essay question on my application to University of Worthington. I remember wracking my head trying to answer that question.
When you’re seven years old and you’re asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” it’s an easy question. It doesn’t require more than ten seconds of your time to arrive at an acceptable answer:
I want to be a doctor when I grow up.
I want to be a teacher.
I want to be a successful filmmaker.
Okay, I admit that last one is not your typical seven-year-old response. Then again, my childhood friend Dawson Leery wasn’t your typical seven-year-old. Where most boys that age want to play rough, cause mischief and pretend that girls had cooties, Dawson was that relatively quiet kid who actually had a female best friend. That would be me, of course. He was also the kid who always knew exactly what he wanted. Comes with the territory of being a spoiled only child, I presume.
He had his whole life mapped out. Still does, actually. In fact, I can determine his answer to that essay question:
In five years, I will have graduated from USC with a degree in cinema studies. I’ll be working as an understudy or a gofer for an influential director. That is, if I haven’t already released a successful film by that time, in which case I’d probably be casting my first major film…
Blah, blah, blah. He might dream high but at least he has one consistent vision of the future. Dawson will definitely be in filmmaking in some capacity unless life dictates that this is impossible. Well, he’s attending USC now; he just left for California last week. It’s been only a week and already I’m lost without him.
I sound like some weepy girlfriend or something. Absolutely sickening. And true. It's still hard to believe that I'm dating this guy. I'm not sure why really. He says that we were destined to be together.
Whatever I think of the status of our relationship, I can’t deny that I miss him. He’s now three thousand miles away from me. Before, it was just the distance from one shore of the creek to the other, and that's the way it had been my whole life.
But back to this stupid essay. I have always dreamed of attending the University of Worthington. It was this utopia for me. Why, I’m still not quite certain. The mere fact that I had the opportunity to attend the school seemed like a fairy tale. I received the application and breezed through it, no problems.
I saw the essay question and, at first, I was confident that this would be a snap. It’s a pretty simple query, as I’ve already explained. I wrote a first draft in which I would be in graduate school studying medicine. I reread it and had no idea where I suddenly got this idea that I’d study medicine. I’ve never had any interest in that field whatsoever.
Ten drafts later, I wasn’t any closer to a suitable answer. The deadline for submissions was a day away and I just threw in the essay that was the closest to acceptable.
It wouldn’t surprise anyone to hear that Worthington rejected me.
I ended up getting accepted at Rutgers University, an out-of-state school with a wide range of majors.
Their essay question was much simpler. All I had to do was write about a person who has greatly influenced my life. That was effortless since I knew I’d be writing about my mother. She had passed away from cancer when I was thirteen but it’s easy to see the impact she’d had on my life. Anyone who had met my mother when she was healthy always remarked on the uncanny similarities between the two of us. My sister, Bessie, received analogous sentiments since she became a parental figure to me after Mom’s passing.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
There are the answers to that question that you give to the admissions people. Then there are the true answers to the questions. Most people give responses that are completely false, mine included. In five years, I see myself out of Capeside. I see myself determined not to make the same mistakes that my mother and my sister made. I see myself not getting pregnant at a young age and thereby ruining my future, whatever future that may be. I see myself refusing to settle down immediately. I see myself away from small-town life. That’s all I actually see in five years. I have no idea exactly what else would exist in that future.
I take a deep breath as I realize it’s time to begin the next five years of my life.
* * * * *
Jack McPhee
What was the best day in your life?
I suppose it isn’t that loaded of a question. Driving off to Disneyland, which would certainly be a crowning achievement. I suppose it could even be considered a wonderful day in my life. I don’t remember much about the place itself. I know that there were a bunch of inane car games, thanks to my sister Andie, but otherwise the trip is pretty much a blur.
Oh yeah, I recall why it wasn’t that major an event. I had been stricken with the flu for half of the trip. I was stuck following everyone around on the rides while waiting by the sidelines as Andie and my older brother Tim jumped from roller coaster to roller coaster.
Besides, according to Andie, that probably wouldn’t make the best topic for the college application. They’d frown upon it, as she’d say.
I’m amazed how together she can be at times and how there are other instances where she completely falls apart. Then again, anyone would have a difficult time holding together after a car accident took Tim’s life, then ravaged my mother’s state of mind. That, in turn, had my dad stay as far away from us as he legally could. As if he wanted to deal with the mess at home.
It’s been three years since that fateful day and everyone else treats it as if it just happened. The days when Mom would act as though Tim was still alive and living on the Columbia campus. She’d have an extra place setting. I wouldn’t exactly blame my father for traveling on business trips constantly. If I were in that position, I would take the business trip over the house any day.
Oh, who am I kidding? Of course I wouldn’t actually do that. Mom wouldn’t be able to handle that. Neither would Andie, for that matter. I suppose that’s exactly what I was doing when I was applying exclusively to out-of-state schools. It didn’t really seem that way to anyone else since there really aren’t many decent schools in the Providence area. Andie applied, and of course got accepted, to Brown University, which is basically the equivalent prestige of Harvard without the worldwide name recognition.
Rutgers University will do just fine for me. Actually, that’s what I ended up writing the essay on. The happiest day of my life would be when I went to college. In the essay, I wrote about being independent, seeking what I’ve probably been missing in the previous eighteen years of my life. Then again, that day actually is today and it doesn't seem that much different from any other day.
It’s much better than writing about where I’ll be in five years. It’s not that I don’t know. I have at least a vague idea that I’d like to be working with children, either as a counselor or a teacher. It’s just every other part of that vision that I’m clueless about.
To Andie, it’s practically sacrilegious. She could definitively answer that “five years from now” question some of the other colleges posed:
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, I’d be enrolled in Harvard law school. I’ll meet a fellow law student who I’d become friends with, which would eventually lead to a business-type relationship, then a personal relationship…
Yes, Andie can tire someone out pretty quickly. Also, yes, she’s even incorporated her romantic life in her grandiose plans. If the question had been where do you see yourself in ten years, she’d probably reply she’d be partner at a law firm with previously mentioned student and eventually marry him. Twenty years from now, she’d have three children. Lori, Allen, and Thomas.
That’s probably why I didn’t end up applying to University of Worthington. Not that I am such an academic that I’d seriously consider attending there, anyway. Yeah, keep telling yourself that and you might actually believe it.
I can’t see myself in those terms. I certainly can’t see the settling down with one woman, as much as I’d like to. That’s actually another thing I’d like to leave in Providence: doubt. Lately, I’ve been having these dreams. Otherwise wonderful dreams except for the fact that the other person in said dreams is a guy. It was more comfortable to me than anyone I’d been with before and that’s actually pretty scary to me.
Shaking my head, I continue driving, wishing I had taken Andie up on her offer to drive me down here in her Saab. At least she could have distracted me.
* * * * *
Pacey Witter
I pulled my car onto the freeway, being careful not to damage the mini-fridge, which wasn’t as secure in the back seat as I thought when I originally packed the car.
Does this school realize that I, Pacey J. Witter, do not belong at a school like this? At least, that’s the conclusion that my family would reach.
Screw them. I’m proving to them that my life in five years won’t be about working in a fast-food establishment. Or picking up garbage off the curb. Or being a college dropout.
I swear, it’s so easy to bullshit the answers to some of those entrance questions. Take the one I chose, for instance:
Write about a person who has greatly influenced your life.
Hell, I was surprised that I didn’t have to settle for community college. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but it just doesn’t sound as wonderful to your friends from high school when describing where you’ll be. Well, I wouldn’t have to spiff it up for Jen Lindley, my closest friend during high school. At least Rutgers University was close enough to still see Jen - she was attending a state school in New York.
In actuality, Jen is probably the person who has greatly influenced my life. She’s the one who showed me the tourist attractions of New York City when my family moved here. Hell, she showed me the sites not usually found in the brochure as well. It was through her that I was introduced to the wonderful underground parties, which can always be found on a given night.
That’s not the type of answer that gets one into a university. The answer I gave was that my father was my greatest influence. He’s a police officer who prides himself on his work ethic. As I was writing it, I channeled my brother, Doug. I knew that he was always the one that adults loved. He was certainly his father’s son. I don’t know what the hell I was, but I’m sure Dad pretended on more than one occasion that there must have been a mix-up at the hospital the day I was born.
Why the hell would I write such a stupid answer? Well, that stupid answer got me into a decent school, so who cares why I wrote it. It was much easier to answer that question than the other option:
What was the best day in your life?
How the hell am I supposed to write down what was the best day in my life? That’s such a dumb question. Also, a question that I’d probably have to manipulate a solution. Truthfully, it would probably involve when I lost my virginity, or maybe a raging party or something equally unsavory for the powers that be.
It was much easier to answer the first choice because at least Doug was around as a basis for an answer. What wonderful idea could possibly sound convincing? Thank heaven for two options.
I turned around, noticing the mini-fridge was actually staying in the proper place. I certainly don't need the car to have dents in it this quickly.
That should wait until I'm actually in the college.
Chapter 2 - The First Meeting
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