Early Bird | ✓

32 | loon

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Lizzy | JJ

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           LIZZY stretched out her sore feet as she lay in bed, her eyes closed with the sun shining its morning rays upon her. Memories of last night twirled in her head like a group of ballerinas—mostly the pleasant ones that caused a dreamy smile to spread across her face. Dancing with Teagan, laughing with her classmates, sweaty bodies caressing cool and smooth dresses, elation so palpable that it touched Lizzy all the way to her bones—these recollections she played over and over again, ones that she vowed she would never forget.

           "Lizzy?" a voice asked tentatively, teetering on the edge of a whisper, through Lizzy's bedroom door.

           "Yes?" she dragged out, annoyed that another human had disturbed the peace she had just been relishing in.

           "Do you think you could quickly pack a suitcase right now? In less than ten minutes?"

           Lizzy's eyes opened and adjusted to the sunlight, her head tilting as she turned to the closed door. "Why?" Her eyes slowly swept her room until they landed on her lilies that drooped in the vase she had placed them in, their petals and leaves depressed and shriveled like a sorrowful old lady. She frowned at them sadly.

           "Because you and I are going to visit colleges today, sweetie."

           Lizzy swung her feet off the side of her bed and dragged herself to her bedroom door so that she could speak to her mother face to face. "Don't you need to like—I don't know—warn them before you show up?" Lizzy grumbled, leaning on her doorframe and gawking at her mother who was dressed and ready to go with a full suitcase by her side.

           Her mother rested her hand on her hip, impatience intensifying within her. "Honey, this isn't my first rodeo. I visited colleges too when I was your age. Now, pack up!" Lizzy's mother tried to shoo her back into her room, but Lizzy wouldn't budge until she got some answers.

           "So did you contact the colleges or not?"

           Her mother sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Yes. Your guidance counselor, Mr. Martin I think his name is, sent over your list of colleges that you want to visit. A couple of them we had talked about visiting. I contacted those colleges and I wanted to surprise you with a fun mother-daughter road trip. I know it's been stressful around her lately with your father trying to find a job and all and I feel like I haven't seen you, my baby, in forever. So let's go." With that, Lizzy's mother ran off and scurried down the stairs, presumably to the car where she would place her suitcase.

           "His name is Mr. Morris, Mom!" Lizzy called after her with a shake of her head; nevertheless, a smile had made its way onto her face and a form of eagerness bubbled in her stomach. It was strangely electrifying and exhilarating to visit new places—places that she might find herself going to school in a few years.

           She closed her door shut and headed straight to work. Before she began packing, she sighed at the dying flowers on her desk, her eyebrows furrowed as her fingers brushed them tenderly, and quickly dumped its contents—lilies, stems, leaves, and all—into her trash bin.

           After a few minutes, Lizzy found herself lassoed in her mother's car by a seatbelt, an organized list on her lap that scheduled where they were going and at what times. About seven schools were on the list, including ones in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and their home state, New York. Her mother put forth a lot of effort into this and Lizzy was deeply impressed. Her eyes traced over the schedule multiple times before the last school on it sunk into her brain.