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prior to

Today is a special day, as today is my graduation day.

Although I've never stepped foot into a physical school, I am happy to tell you that I finished all of my online college requirements. And at the age of 18, when most teens are just starting college, to top it off.

All my life I've been homeschooled, but it's not like I had a choice. (Okay, I did, but even I knew what was best for me at the time.) Yet I'm not complaining either.

And never have I seen the house so full of people.

That is to say, I've never seen my parents, who are both full-time doctors, and my personal physician and his assistant in the house all at the same time. Usually my parents are too busy to be home together, besides supper time, and by that time Donny and Nora should already have left.

My parents have no siblings, and their parents have long since gone, so I have no cousins, nor aunts, nor uncles, nor grandparents.

"Clover!" Mom shouts from downstairs in the tone she uses as if she's been trying to get my attention after a hundred tries. Donny told me to prepare for possible hearing loss, as it should begin in my early twenties, but it came a lot sooner, apparently.

"Coming!" I reply as I carefully go down our carpeted stairs as fast as I can.

Our house looks like it's been baby-proofed, and has been ever since I was born. By now you should've figured out that that's not because we're too lazy to remove the rubber corners off of every one of our tables, or no one's had the time to take off the nonslip mats all over the bathroom floor.

So apart from never stepping foot into a physical school, perhaps I should add that I've never stepped out of our house. It's not like I'm being imprisoned, because I have anything and everything I could ever need here. After all, I must admit that our place is pretty big. And if I really want to have a little bit of what's outside, I can just open the two huge windows from my bedroom's bay window seating area.

And it doesn't get lonely because I've got Mom, Dad, Don, and Nora. So if my parents are away working, I could always count on Donny and Nora to keep me company, who visit me daily for check-ups.

"Dad's just grabbing some last-minute things from the grocery," Mom says as she cooks, too busy to look at me. "Why don't you make sure everything's spick-and-span so that--" she turns around upon hearing a faint beep boop from our security system, shortly followed by another one, which means that two people have entered the house. "Actually, you know what, go greet Dr. Carlise and Ms. Nora and have them seated. I can't really finish up here, 'cause your father hasn't come home yet."

Before I could argue, Donny and Nora had already come up the corner. I quickly force a smile. "Oh, you guys are real early," I say a bit more sarcastically than I was going for.

"Yeah, we left early thinking there might be traffic, considering that it's the first week of summer, but the roads were clear as day!" Donny says as he seats himself down on the sofa. "And Mary, I've told you one too many times to not call me that anymore! Call me Donny, otherwise I'm gonna have to start calling you Mrs. Tenbrook." He says it like it's some sort of punishment to be addressed by your surname, but Mom just responds with a "Oh, alright."

For a pretty experienced personal physician, he seems like he came straight out of college. For a medical graduate, that is.

"Thank you for inviting us, Mary," Nora says, curiously looking over at where Mom is, probably wondering what she's cooking. "It's quite nice to be able to be here for reasons other than treating Clover."

As for her, I think she actually just came out of med school when she started helping out Donny, so she's pretty young too.

"Where's Morris, by the way?" asks Nora. And as if right on cue, a faint beep boop sounds and we all turn to Dad, who's arms are loaded with grocery bags. I feel as though he's got it all under control, so I won't help unless he asks.

He practically drops the bags onto the kitchen counter, where some contents spill out. "Alright, so I got some extra flour, sugar--'cause you said we were running out--and..." Dad pauses and quickly peers into the paper bags one by one, looking for something. "Wait, what was it you said was really important that I buy again?"

"Red apples! Dammit Morry, you got all the things we already have but you didn't get the one thing we didn't have!" Mom closes her eyes and presses a fist to her mouth before realizing that she shouldn't take her eyes of the stove. "If you're lucky, the Fuji apple tree we planted outside might have some fruit, but I haven't checked in a while, so I'm not sure."

Dad turns at me and has this look on this face as though he's just conjured up a brilliant plan. "Why not have Clo do it? It's about time."

My eyes widen so much I feel like they're about to pop out of their sockets. Boy, oh, boy do you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this! Okay, maybe you do. (But if in case you actually don't, that's 18 years.)

Mom hesitates for a moment. "I mean, yeah, sure, but why don't you just do it, Morry?" I don't think this is the reason she wants for my first step outside. I would've thought so too, but I don't really care so long as I get to go out.

"Yeah, I think Clover's a big enough girl to pick her own apples," Donny adds. He and Nora exchange looks and she perks up, "After all, what's a better way to celebrate Clover's early graduation, right?" 

"Alright," Mom says, turning off the stove so that her full attention is on me now. "You've seen how they do it on TV right? Twist and pull?"

I roll my eyes, my lips curling into a half smirk. "Mom, please."

Her expression softens into a faint smile, and then she turns the stove back on and goes back to her cooking.

Before I go out, Dad calls out, "It's actually a bit cool outside, this morning. If you want, you can take your jacket with you. That way, you can also stuff them apples in your pockets!" So I do, and then put on some shoes.

I open the door and feel a rush of wind blow through my hair. I look up at the sky and inhale the sweet summer air and feel the warmth of the sun, even though I've felt these all so many times when I open the many windows around the house, but this is different.

I take one step out and shut the door behind me. I look around at all the other houses and shrubs and pavements and can't take my eyes off them, even though I've seen this view so many times through those same windows, but this is different.

I can't move my feet any further to get them off the welcome mat and onto the dirt, to walk over to the apple tree I watched Mom and Dad plant when I was ten to pick the ripest fruit. But that's okay, because I'm outside.

I'm actually outside.