Filmed [complete]

Interview

"I would like to defer for a year," or not attend college at all. 

Mom and dad were taken back at my announcement. Dad took a deep breath and folded his hands onto his lap, thinking over what I had said while mom had a slight smile on her face, knowing that this is what I had wanted all along. 

"What would you be doing this year?" Mom asked me. 

I handed her my phone with the email confirming my interview with National Geographic Director of Photography, Sarah Leen. Leen was flying down from Washington DC to meet me at a cafe downtown. I was not the only person that was going to be interviewed while we were there; Nick was also coming down to meet Brian Clark Howard, one of the writers for National Geographic. 

She skimmed the email then handed the phone to dad. "I hope that you know that this interview is not going to get you into National Geographic. I'm sure that there is a lot of other people applying for this internship at National Geographic," she explained to me. "Why not something a little for closer to home? The Dallas Morning News is in Dallas and it is only an hour drive from here."

"I tried calling them and scheduling an interview but the photographers are always busy to meet me," I told them. "National Geographic is coming down to talk to me; The Dallas Morning News has done nothing for me."

Dad handed my phone back to me. "If you don't get into this National Geographic internship, I don't expect you to stop looking for internships if you really want to defer for a year. If you don't find any internships that relate to photography, I want you to attend college in the fall. Do you understand me, Autumn?" 

A smile that was twice as big as a grin appeared on my face as I went up to hug my parents. "Thank you! Thank you! I will try my very best!" I let go of them and ran up the stairs to my bedroom. I closed the door behind me, locking it. 

I quickly changed out of my clothes that I wore to school.

"Woah! Please put some clothes back on," I heard Alice's voice behind me and covered my bra with the shirt that I had taken off. 

"What are you doing in my room?" I asked her, walking over to my dresser to find a top to wear.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Jace isn't texting me back. I gave up trying to call him because I know that talking to someone that you hate is hard when you are filled with rage so I figure that reading what he has to say is going to be comforting but I'm sure that he blocked my number."

I quickly put on a shirt and went over to the bed to try to console her. "Jace wouldn't block you from his contacts. We both know that he knows what happened at the dance and I'm sure that at one point in time, he will talk to you again. But-" I sat next to her and put my hands on her shoulders, "- he is hurting from seeing you with another guy, whether or not you were under the influence."

"I wasn't, I was being threatened," Alice explained to me. "It has been a month, you think that he would get over it by now."

Shaking my head at her, I said, "How would you feel if you saw Jace making out with someone at a dance that you asked him to." She lowered her gaze to the comforter. "Exactly. Give him time and I'm sure that he will accept your apology." I got off the bed and went towards the window. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice wiggle her eyebrows. "Are you going to go visit lover boy right now? I thought that your parents didn't want you to use the tree to see him anymore."

"They don't care as long as I don't fall flat on my face as I am crossing it."

"What about the sex part of this relationship?" she asked me.