Matilda Hayden grew up with her father in the Elite Upper Class of Boston, and she quite enjoyed her life- thank you very much. She didn't have many complaints. She was going to be attending Yale, her dream school. She had her best friends with her...
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S4. E2
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧
There's something special about college. It's the first time most young adults get that taste of freedom they've been desperate for since they were early teens. It's the place where you move away from your family, hometown, and old friends. It's the sweet taste of freedom. Just a little bit, not the whole thing. Like a sample from Costco.
In college, you can dye your hair at three A.M. with your roommate in the bathroom, and your mom can't stop you. You can go to as many or as little parties as you want, date who you want, be who you want. You can reinvent yourself again and again and then one more time just for the heck of it. That's the beauty- no, the magic of college. That is... unless you were born into the Upper Class.
If that's the case then it doesn't matter where you go. With all the privilege of choosing whatever school you want and having access to ridiculous amounts of money comes the social responsibilities. You have a name and a reputation to uphold. If you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth and a magnifying glass on your every move then you didn't receive the luxury of reinventing yourself.
This was something Matilda Rose Hayden knew all too well. College is about networking and putting your best foot forward. Straub used to tell her that college was the beginning of the rest of her life, and she did not get any do overs. Luckily for Matty, she didn't feel the temptation to reinvent herself. She had almost no complaints about her life.
When Matty's father moved her to the East Coast and immersed them into this life, he made one thing very clear to his daughter. Her sky was limitless.
Matty was always given a choice- about whether she wanted to wear a dress to some fancy event, what sport she wanted to play, how she decorated her room, all of it. Straub and Francine didn't understand at first, especially Straub. He would always say children don't need to be given choices, they need to be told the right choice. Let's just say that didn't go over well with Christopher. He continued to give Matty choices, and she lived with the results of those choices.
Matty always knew she could be whatever, whoever, she wanted.
Perhaps the reason Matty had no problem embracing this Upper Class life was because she was never forced to embrace it. She enjoyed cocktail parties, dressing up, the whole nine yards. She knew there were downsides, and there were things that she didn't particularly enjoy; but that's life. There was no need to pity her. She was perfectly happy with her life...for the most part.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧
The stone archways of Yale University could look very daunting- intimidating, even- especially as a Freshman.
Matty Hayden led the movers through the gates to Vanderbilt Hall, taking in the gaudy buildings that looked like they had been plucked out of a Renaissance movie. Yale University had been her dream since she was five. It was the first trip to the East Coast she remembered. Her dad had taken her to Yale when they were visiting her grandparents, and it was magical.
