Hell on Earth

Chapter Fifty Nine - College Talk

Cynthia sat on the floor behind the counter as Robin finished ringing a guy up for the movies.

"Have a nice day," Robin said as the man left. She looked back over at her college applications on the counter and sighed. "I don't want to do this."

"Neither of us want to do this," Cynthia said as she filled out her personal information on Ball State's application. "But we have to. Especially you." She looked up at Robin. "Have you even started one?"

"Actually I have," Robin grabbed her pen and started writing. "I've actually filled out all my information for colleges."

"And have you finished any of the essays?" Cynthia asked.

"I'm working on it," Robin said. "It's just I have no idea what to write. All of them have at least one question about what's the most difficult experience you've experienced?" Robin looked down at Cynthia's face and saw the smirk on it. "And not a word from you, Cynthia. It's just the biggest two things I could write about I can't. I mean, it's not like anyone would believe that I helped to stop Russians from destroying the world."

"I thought we stopped that in July," Steve said as he rounded the counter. He didn't even pause when he saw Cynthia on the floor. "And hello person who doesn't work here."

"Hello person who always has to wear a vest," Cynthia sassed.

"What are you two even doing?" Steve asked.

"College applications," they both said.

"Great, you're both going to leave me," Steve said as he rested his elbows on the counter. "The only person who I'm going to be hanging out with is Henderson."

"Stop being dramatic," Cynthia said as she stopped writing once again. "We're not going to leave you."

"Even if we wanted to, we couldn't," Robin said as she put down her pen. "We've all been through too much shit for us to leave you."

"Great," Steve ran a hand through his hair. "That makes me feel so much better."

"Cynthia, this sounds like a bigger issue," Robin looked down at her.

"There isn't a bigger issue," Steve scoffed.

"I'll start the conversation," Cynthia put her things in her bag. "What's wrong, Steve?"

"Nothing is wrong," Steve tried to defend himself.

"That's such bullshit," Robin said. "You've been mopey and dopey ever since we've started applying to college. Spill."

"Look, nothing is wrong," Steve said again.

"And I'm the Queen of England," Cynthia raised her eyebrow. "Steve, we're your best friends. You can tell us anything."

"It just sucks that you two are where I was last year, are actually going to get somewhere with it, and won't be stuck in this stupid town renting movies for the rest of your lives," Steve finally broke. "It sucks that I can't do anything with my life."

"That's not true," Cynthia said. "You're going to get out of this town."

"Yeah, you're like way too awesome to be stuck here forever," Robin said.

"Yeah?" Steve asked. "Besides getting the shit beat out of me, what is going to get me out of here?"

"The fact that you want to get out of here," Cynthia said. "Look, it's not going to be easy, but you're going to get out of here."

"How?" Steve asked.

"You can always apply again," Robin suggested. "Now that you have more experience, you'll seem like an even better candidate."