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Maude

Harvard Law. A top three law school. The only one I've even considered.

My dad went to Harvard Law back in the day. And my brother just graduated. It's also where my grandfather went, and my great grandfather, and pretty much most of my family. And whoever didn't go to law school, well they went to med school and are all surgeons or have their own practices.

My family is pretty well known for being a family of lawyers and doctors. Higher education is mandatory, and for us, undergrad is basically high school. My brothers and I, and all of our cousins, have been preparing for the day we take our LSATs or MCATs since we were able to read.

It's pretty much a given that we get into law school. I mean, I think if someone were to get a bad score on their LSAT they'd be shunned from the family. Even though we're very much deep in our legacy roots at Harvard, my family believes in earning your spot. You have to get a near perfect score, you have to get straight A's in college and high school, and you have to get in on your own merit.

I'm sure my name, and the fact that my dad is very involved in the school still, helped me get into the school, but that just got them to look at my application. My grades, personal statement, and 178 on the LSAT got me into the school.

My score was the highest in the family in the last few generations. My brother got a 175, something I'll never let him hear the end of. In a family of mostly men, it was important for me to prove that I'm just as capable as they are. When they found out my LSAT score compared to Lance and my other cousins, I quickly became the favorite child, and my family makes sure you know who the favorite is.

People say we're intense, but I definitely wish sometimes I had a normal family. One where it didn't matter if I went to law school or not, just that I'm doing what I love. And I do love this world, it's really all I know honestly, but I never got a chance to explore if maybe something else would be appealing to me. But all I know is that I'm going to be an attorney one day, most likely working for my dad's firm until I take it over, which he's claiming is going to happen now since I had the higher score. Spencer's lucky though, he's going the medical route like my mom.

The pressure is definitely on for me though, even more than it was growing up. Now I'm the number one in the family, something that happened out of pure luck, and I have a whole slew of lawyers breathing down my back, waiting for me to sink or swim. I'm hoping I swim, but I kind of miss when they all brushed me off as Lance's sweet little sister. Now I'm expected to be a hardass criminal defense lawyer like my father.

Sterling & Sterling LLP is a pretty well known firm. My dad, also named Lance, and his brother, Rodger, are partners in the firm. They took over once my grandfather and his brother decided to hang it up finally. The Sterling name is pretty well known in the legal space, especially whichever family members get picked for the shiny criminal defense attorney position. The firm handles a plethora of legal issues, from wills and estate shit all the way to big murder trials. No pressure or anything I guess.

To be honest, I'm not too sure about how I'm feeling about Harvard yet. Obviously I've worked my ass off to be here, but I mean, maybe I should have focused more on med stuff and gone down the same path as mom and Spencer. But I just had to prove that a woman can be a big fancy lawyer in this family.

All my cousins are boys, which feels unnatural honestly, but it just added to this need to always prove myself growing up. I've fought to make a name for myself in my own family, and now I have and I'd kind of like to go back to being sweet little Maude who just keeps to herself and sometimes will play with the boys.

But I'm here now, and I'm not going to let my uncles and cousins down. I'm going to be the first Sterling woman to go to Harvard and graduate, and I'm already proving to be a force to be reckoned with.