𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐄𝐒 • Luke Dunphy

xxxvi . college? no

hi. as u saw in my last chapter i was hoping to write autism into tias character.

unfortunately i skimmed through the book and realised that within the first 35 chapters she's displayed very few traits. i'm aware that not all autistic people fit the general stereotype, but there r many symptoms that most have that tiana doesn't, and i therefore think that giving her signs of autism now would make it seem forced.

however, i still wanted to represent disabilities that may effect a child's education and life in general, and i noticed that tiana shows quite a few symptoms of dyspraxia. my aunty has this and i did some research on it.

for this reason, i've decided to give her dyspraxia rather than autism. i do wish to write an autistic character in the future, but i think it's too late to write it into tias character.

i may add a character with autism to this book, or make an mc with autism in one of my future book, i'm not sure yet.

i hope that this doesn't disappoint any autistic readers too much, and i hope to give a good representation if dyspraxia through tiana.

"I can't even get into some of the worst college in LA," Tiana said, "I'm a failure. I'm gonna be homeless and dead by forty."

Luke pulled Tiana into the couch. She lay her head in his lap and stared up at the ceiling as he played with her hair, braiding a small piece of it.

"You're being dramatic," he said, gently, "You're the one who told me that there are other options. Sure, you may not be academically smart, but you have your own qualities. You're one of the best people I've ever met, you have a good future ahead of you."

"You're just saying that because you're my boyfriend."

"I'm just saying that because it's true. Some of the richest people in the world didn't go to college. Do I think you're gonna be the richest person in the world? No. But I think you're gonna work hard, and make what you need and more, because you're determined." Tiana still didn't seem convinced. "And in the unlikely event that things go to shit, I'll be by your side forever." He stopped braiding her hair and instead moved his hand to stroke her face.

"I love you," Tiana said sleepily.

"I love you, too. Everything's gonna be okay."

Luke was trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince Tiana, but he was worried for his own future. He knew he'd had Tiana by his side, which was all that truly mattered, but it would be nice to have some achievements, to not feel like a failure for once. Oh well, at least he was winning in the girlfriend department.

So far, Luke had been rejected by six colleges, and Tiana had been rejected by eight. She'd applied for more. Most of the schools that most people saw as 'safety schools' had rejected Tiana. That hurt.