"Samantha, Liz, and Katheryn of Ms. Smith's science class, please report to the office during
your study hall." There was a bit of static as the secretary put the phone down to sign off the PA
system. I got a little bit fluttery in the tummy when I heard this. As soon as the announcement
was over, every single head in the classroom turned to look at Liz, Katheryn and I. Including my
best friend, Carly. She gave me a questioning look and I shrugged back. I had no idea what this
whole thing was about. I wasn't really nervous, though. I hadn't done anything wrong. I wasn't
late for school all week, actually, all month, actually, I don't remember the last time I was tardy.
My grades were fine. I was by no means a straight-A student, but I was still passing. I think. Oh
no. The test. In Ms. Smith's science class. We hadn't gotten those back yet. I still didn't know
how I did on it. Oh no. The butterflies that had started as a little flutter turned into a full-blown
swarm of nerves. But if they had wanted to talk about grades, wouldn't they have called me
separately, or even called my mom? I glanced desperately at Carly. I mimed writing and then
made an "Oh no!" face, which wasn't really that hard. She made an "A" with her hand in sign
language and then traced a plus sign in the air. I sighed. That was just like Carly. Telling me I'd
be fine, when really I didn't believe it and it wouldn't work. I am one of those people that no
matter how many times you tell me I look fine, or I will do well, or my work isn't stupid at all, I
won't believe you. But I did feel better to know that I had a friend who was looking out for me.
But that thought didn't make those butterflies go away.
As soon as science was over, Liz, Katheryn, and I decided to walk to the office together. We
knew each other pretty well from play practice, and Liz was on my soccer team, but we weren't
that close. We tried to joke, but after a while, it became clear that all anyone wanted to do was
contemplate their doom in the little time they had left. Once we got to the office, the secretary
told us to take a seat until the principal was ready to talk to us. When she saw our horrified
faces, she laughed. "Don't worry. I promise, you're not in trouble. In fact, Mrs. Clark has some
great news for you." I sighed. Now that I knew the butterflies weren't necessary, I took lots of
deep breaths to try to calm them down. But that was weird. If the news was good news, what
could it be? I thought, but nothing seemed plausible. Finally, after what seemed like an
eternity, the principal came out of her office. "I'm sorry you girls had to sit out there for so long.
I'm very excited - I have some wonderful news for all of you," she said as she waved us into her
office, shutting the door behind her.
It was a small room, with one door leading into the rest of the office area. Inside, Mrs. Clark had
a desk and swivel chair, and a small, round, table circled by four wooden chairs. There was a tall
bookcase against the wall, and another short, long one in front of her desk. Once we were all
seated around the table, Mrs. Clark began. "Girls, Camden Middle School has gotten a very
special offer. Some individuals from The New York Girl's Academy of The Arts are coming next
week to observe your play rehearsals. They are looking for young people exactly like yourselves
to come on an acting scholarship to their school. I told them I had three girls that have an
incredible love for acting and would be perfect for the spot.
"Sorry to interrupt, Mrs. Clark, but do you mean that there is more than one spot available?" Liz
asked incredulously.
"That is exactly what I mean, Ms. Tory. In fact, there are three high school scholarships
available, which is why I chose you three." She gave us a minute to absorb this information. "So,
the reason that you are here is because I have an extremely important envelope for you to give
to your parents. It has all the information that you could possible want about this offer. Now do
you understand why it is so important?" We all solemnly nodded our heads.
Mrs. Clark turned around and took three fat red envelopes off her desk and handed one to each
of us. As soon as I got my hands on that envelope, I clutched it so tightly I heard the paper begin
to crumple . I almost gasped and immediately began smoothing out the paper. Not wanting to
ruin the envelope that could hold my future, I set it gently on my lap.
Mrs. Clark laughed, breaking my thoughts. "I can see that you three are very excited. Well
then, one more thing before I let you go. The people from the school are coming on Thursday of
next week to play rehearsal, to meet you and talk to you and your parents, if they can make it.
They would like a response from your parents as soon as possible about accepting the
scholarship, within three weeks at the most. Tell your parents that if they have any questions,
they can feel free to call me. Now go straight to your lockers and put those somewhere safe."
We all promised, and then ran out of the office.
Liz and Katheryn turned one way to get to their lockers, and I turned the other. I heard them
gabbing excitedly, and at first I wished I had someone to talk to right now, but then I realized I
was actually glad to just be alone with my thoughts. It was fairly quiet out in the hallway, since
it was the middle of class, and the only sound you could hear was Liz and Katheryn talking, and
the teachers lecturing from inside of their rooms. I almost never got a chance to leave class, so I
cherished the quiet while I could. What did I think of this? I was honestly not sure. It was a lot
to process all at one time. I was excited - who wouldn't be? But a boarding school? That would
mean no Mom, no brothers. But it was an acting school. It would look great on my resume. I
could really have an acting career if I went to this school, something I'd always dreamed about.
But what would Mom think about it? I just didn't know. I needed someone to talk to about this.
Carly. I made a mental note to see her ASAP. Then I headed back to class.
I didn't get a chance to talk to Carly all day. I said "bye" as we were getting on the buses, and
that was it. I made a phone motion to indicate that I would call and talk to her later, and she
nodded. I felt slightly guilty for not telling my best friend about something so important right
away, but as I said, telephones were invented for a reason. As soon as I got off the bus, I raced
inside.
"Mo-om, I'm home!" I yelled.
My seventeen-year-old brother Tucker came to the door. "Mom has to work late tonight. I was
about to leave to go pick up Max from day care."
"Can I come?" I loved picking up Max - and it was something I hardly ever got to do. His reaction
was so cute when he got to see someone other than Mom or Tucker at daycare.
"Yeah, of course."
We hopped into the car, and Tucker let me go in by myself to get Max. As soon as Max saw me,
he yelled, "Sam!" and ran to hug my legs. I scooped him up and told the instructor that I was his
sister, and that Tucker was waiting in the car. She came outside with me, and when Tucker saw
her he waved. She smiled, told me and Max to have a good day, and then went back inside. I
buckled Max into in his car seat, and sat in the back with him.
"So, how was school today, Max?" I asked my little brother. I was really excited to tell my
brothers what had happened at school, but I wanted to wait to tell everybody at once, when
Mom was there.
"Good. We finger-painted." He held out his little hands, which were covered in every color of
finger paint possible.
"I see that!" I laughed. "Hey, Max," Tucker interrupted from the driver's seat, "Mommy's not
home, 'kay? You can play downstairs, but you need to let Sam and I do our homework, all
right?"
"Awww! No mommy!" Max howled in response. Tucker caught my eye in the rear-view mirror,
and he rolled his eyes at Max. I smiled back and then put one arm around Max, since hugging
him while he was in his car seat was kind of hard. "I'll play with you once I finish my homework.
And I'll be fast."
Max is pretty quick for a little kid, so I wasn't surprised when he realized how his bigger siblings
schoolwork was affecting him and he mumbled to himself, "I don' like 'omework."
"Yeah, we don't like homework either," Tucker replied with a smile. I couldn't help but laugh to
myself.
That night at the dinner table, it was just Tucker, Mom, and I. (Max was already in bed.) Once
we sat down, no one really had anything to say. Since I hadn't told Tucker about school that
day, I thought that now would be a good time to bring it up.
"Something exciting happened at school today," I began.
"Oh, really? What happened?" asked Mom, sounding tired but genuinely interested.
"Well, Liz, Katheryn and I all got called down to the office-" As soon as I said this, Mom and
Tucker both got a funny look on their faces.
"Oh, no," I laughed. "Nothing bad happened. That's what I thought at first, too. But the
secretary told us that Mrs. Clark had good news for us, and she was right. Mrs. Clark gave us
each one of these." I dramatically pulled the envelope from behind my back. I hadn't let it out
of my sight since I took it out of my locker at the end of the day.
Mom picked it up and began to read the front. "Mmm, what's this? The New York Girl's
Academy of The Arts?" she read, enunciating every word.
"Yup, me, Liz, and Katheryn, all are being offered acting scholarships for high school there... the
people are coming on Thursday to watch our play practice and talk to us and you - you have to
come too.. that envelope has all the information you need, and Mrs. Clark said to call her with
any questions." I said all of this in one breath and had to put my hand on my head to stop the
dizziness that comes with not breathing for a while.
"That's great, honey. I'm so happy for you." My mom sounded truly excited. She paused. "Well,
I think this is a lot to process, and our dinner is getting cold, so I think we should all think about
it and talk a bit later."
I was the first one to finish. I pushed back my chair, and looked expectantly at Mom and Tucker.
"You know," Mom began. "Tomorrow is Saturday, and I believe we are all home..." She looked
at Tucker
"No plans," he confirmed.
"So," she continued, I think we should all get a good night's rest and read all about this 'New
York Girl's Academy of The Arts' in the morning."
Excited to finally have a plan, I jumped up from the table. "Super! I'm gonna go brush my teeth
right now!" I told them, and raced upstairs. That night, as I lay in bed, I thought about all that
happened that day. I thought of Carly, and how she didn't know yet. Oh my gosh! I sat up in
bed. I needed to call her! Luckily, I keep a pen next to my bed, so I wrote on my arm as best I
could in the dark, "Call Carly. ASAP." Relieved to have remembered, I fell back on my pillow and
fell asleep.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early. I raced through my morning routine - shower,
brush teeth, get dressed, and go downstairs to eat breakfast. Once I got in the shower, I noticed
the message wrote to myself last night. "Call Carly. ASAP." I told myself I would remember, then
scrubbed the ink off. "'Morning, Mom." I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl. Once I
had my cereal I sat down at the table. Mom was eating her own breakfast and making sure that
Max didn't end up with his on his head. I laughed as I reached down to wipe up what my twoyear-old brother had dripped on the floor. "So, are we going to read all that stuff today?" I
asked mom. "I think so, as soon as that lazy-bones brother of yours gets out of bed." As if on
cue, Tucker appeared in the doorway, yawning and stretching. "What about a lazy-bones
brother?" Mom and I laughed. After breakfast, we all settled in the living room to read all the
stuff in the envelope. Max was left playing on the floor. When we were done, we had learned
about all the classes you could take, and all the credentials you could get for college, and how
many good actors had gone to that school. "Well, what do you two think?" my mother
addressed my brother and me. Tucker answered first. "I think it sounds like a nice school.
Umm... I guess that's it." He looked at me. It was my turn. “Honestly, I'm not sure what I think. I
think it would be a great opportunity, especially since I would be going for free, but I don't
know if I could do it, and I don't want to leave all of you."
"Hmmm... That's very insightful of you, Sam," my mom commented. "Well," she continued, "I
think that we should all think about this some more, and discuss it later. And anyways, Sam and
I get to meet these people for ourselves on Thursday."
"You know," interrupted Tucker, "I wouldn't mind meeting these people for myself, especially if
they are going to be teaching my little sister.
"I don't think they would mind if we brought along a couple extra people, do you, Mom?" I
asked.
"I think that's a great idea. We can call Mrs. Clark. All right, meeting adjourned. Now, who
wants to come shopping?"
The day passed in a blur. All too soon dinner was over and I climbed into bed. I was so happy
that my family wanted me to do this, and they were going to help me do it. Of course, we
actually hadn't made an official decision, but it looked as if I was going to end up going. We had
discussed it and decided that I was close enough to come home for weekends, and definitely
holidays. I was totally for going to the school. But my mom says no final decisions until we meet
the people from the school. But that's OK. Thursday can't come soon enough.
When I woke up on Sunday, I got a funny feeling. I thought and thought and thought, but I
didn't realize it until after lunch. Ohhh, dang. When I figured it out, I ran to my mom. "I'm using
the phone, 'kay?" I asked gasping for breath. Not waiting for an answer, I raced back inside.
Ring, ring, ring. Oh, why oh why wouldn't she pick up the phone.
"Hello? Sam?"
"Carly! Carly!" Yes! She answered! And she didn't sound mad!
"Hey, Sam? Why are you yelling my name?"
"Oh. I'm just happy to hear from you."
"Sooo, Sam. Are you going to tell me what was going on on Friday?"
"Oh my gosh! Yes, that is exactly why I called you! I'm so sorry didn't get a chance to call you
before!"
"Well, get on with it!" That was puzzling. Carly sounded as if whe were trying to pass it off as
joke, but it sounded almost... angry.
"So, once we got to the office, Liz and Katheryn and I were all really worried, you know? But
then the secretary told us the principal had good news. So I felt a little bit better, because that
meant I hadn't failed science. So, are you ready for what Mrs. Clark said to us?"
"Ready and waiting." Carly still had that hint of annoyance in her voice.
"She said... That the three of us got scholarships to and acting school!"
"Oh my gosh, Sam! That is so awesome! I - “She sounded as if she were going to say more, but
then stopped.
"What?"
"I mean, I'm your best friend. How come you didn't tell me abbot something so important right
away?" OK. Hmmm. That was a good question.
"Ummm. I mean, Carly, there was so much going on... and I was so excited... And I wanted my
mom to know... And Tucker..."
"Yeah, I know you were excited. But since when do you not tell your BFF about something so
important. What constitutes 'so much going on?' Huh, Sam? What?"
"Gosh, Carly, I didn't know it would mean so much to you."
"You mean you think I wouldn't care? I wouldn't care that my best friend since preschool is
gonna leave and go off to a schmancy fancy boarding school to leave me all along to go to high
school By. My. Self!" Carly was practically shouting by now. Being the good friend that I am, I
tried to calm her down.
"Carly, I -”
"Yeah. It's all about you, isn't it?" she went into a high-pitched voice. "I'm going to a private
school. I'm doing this. I'm doing that. Carly, what do you mean you wanted to know? I figured I
could just blow you off!" She was really shouting now. "Talk to you later, Ms. Actress."
"Carly, hello? Hello?" No answer. She really had hung up on me. In all the years that Carly and I
had known each other, she had never hung up on me. I hadn't hung up on her either. I didn't
know what to make of it. But Carly was right. I had done something inexcusable in her eyes, and
I guess in my eyes too, and Carly was totally within her rights to be mad at me. I didn't know
what to do. So I ran to my room, buried my head in my pillow, and cried.