Chapter 1
The date is April 21,
2000. I’m seventeen years old, going on eighteen in May and I still had no
idea where I was going for college. I had applied for California State
University of LA, and that was it. Until Spring Break came along and I thought I
had found the light. I fell into what I called my “Tony Slattery
high.” I obsessed over the man for several days until I came up with a
plan, and that was to apply to the University of Dundee. It was one of those
“sounds crazy but might work” plans, and I was serious about it. I
HAVE to go to Dundee. There was just something about Tony that struck me, and I
just had to be with him. To hold him, and kiss him, be there for him, and do
whatever I fantasized about doing with him. Even if he is old enough to be my
own dad. But I didn’t care. Age doesn’t matter when you’re in
love, or so they say.
I presented my idea to my
family, and they were not too pleased with my decision.
“Why there?
What’s over there? Do you think you’ll survive on your own in
Scotland?” they told me. To plead my case I told them that Dundee was a
highly praised school in Scotland and that’s what I wanted. I’ve
always wanted to go to England anyways, which was nearby, so that made it even
more worthwhile. There was no way I was going to tell them that I only wanted to
go there to meet Tony Slattery.
After a few days, they
approved of my decision to go to Dundee! I was so excited! But now the only
thing I worried about was actually getting in the school. I did my research
online about the school and I was surprised to find that they didn’t have
theater or pharmacy! I debated it for a while. Maybe Dundee really isn’t
the right school for me. Usually I would back off and forget about it, but this
time I didn’t. The only thing that sounded interesting to me was History,
a subject that I was always good at. So my decision was made: I was going to
study History at Dundee.
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It is now July and as an annual event, I went to California for the summer. I
applied for Dundee immediately in late April and I was still waiting for a
response. I kept tabs on the mail back in Georgia by calling my dad long
distance every day to see if I had received anything. Most of my family in
California approved of Dundee, except my two cousins, Steph and Jess. After I
told them I was applying for Dundee, they both called me crazy and said I was
ruining my future for doing it. They knew that I had a thing for Tony, and they
say they hate him, but I didn’t care. I had a good feeling about going
there. So despite their begging and arguing, I still stuck to my
plan.
One day in the middle of July, my dad called me
from Georgia and said that there was a letter for me from Dundee! I told him to
open it and read it to me. I waited in anticipation as he opened the envelope
and began reading the first part of the letter.
“Did I get in? Did
I get in?” I begged for an answer. He skimmed it a bit and finally read
“Congratulations, Jennifer! You have been accepted to the University of
Dundee…”
That’s all I needed to
hear. I dropped the phone on the table and began running up and down the stairs
in my aunt’s apartment. I screamed and cheered and ran around like mad
while everybody just stood around and watched me.
I’M GOING TO
MEET TONY SLATTERY!!!
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