Too Many Loves

Rain

When I was a little girl, I was obsessed with the rain. I used to stare out the window and watched it fall. Lightning intrigued me; I thought it was beautiful. Thunder made me feel at home; the rain comforted me. I remember being obsessed with Hilary Duff and listening to "Let The Rain Fall Down" and watching the music video over and over again. I envisioned myself as Hilary Duff, rain pouring outside and me surrounded by candles. I always imagined a boy with me too, the love of my life, enjoying the rain with me. I think the reason I love the rain so much is because I think it's romantic.

I was always too much of a romantic. That's where my mom and I clash. She thinks boys are a waste of time, and that love doesn't really exist. It's not like in the movies where you meet the love of your life and even after lots of trial and tribulations you still make it work and end up together. She says those romcoms are all a load of crap. 'Boys are a distraction, and you should not allow anyone to steer you away from your successful, fabulous future.' I vowed since I was 5 and watched Legally Blond, and A Cinderella Story ( a little obsessed with Hilary Duff, I know) that I was going to prove her wrong. I would get into an elite university, have a fantastic career, and have the love of my life.

So far, I have one of those. But I am making my way to obtain the other two.

I finish brushing my hair, feed Mittens, my grumpy cat whom I adopted from my friend Elizabeth about a year ago after the unfortunate death of my loving dog and my refusal of having any other dog in order not to replace him, and head down stairs. I make my coffee, two teaspoons of cream and three of sugar, place it in my favorite pink to go cup and grab a chocolate muffin. Mom is already in her office working on whatever it is accountants work on, so I make a mental note to text her once I get to school. I run to my beloved Genie, a red two door genesis I fell in love with the minute we stepped foot in the dealership and begged mom for a month that it was the perfect car for me until a month later I woke up to it parked in the garage with a big white bow on top, place my coffee cup in the cup holder, school bag in the passenger seat, and speed away to school.

Jasper is waiting for me at the front of the school garage like always - he is one of those three things I have that I was talking about, my one true love - and I rush to hug and kiss him. I text mom a quick got to school text, and place my full attention on Jasper.

'You can never get here without coffee in your hand can you?'

'Coffee and I go hand in hand, kind of like you and me'

We talk about the classes we are taking this semester, he brags about how great AP Calc B is going to be with all his buddies there with him, and how he is going to ace this one just how he aced the other one. Then he goes sullen and explains it's really the only class he's looking forward to; AP Physics was already full (I took the last spot), and AP Psych didn't entice him the way it enticed me two years ago when I took it, and he took every other AP class already.

'Babe it's okay, you killed yourself the past three years so I'm sure the colleges are going to be fine with you having an easy last semester.'

'Colleges are never fine with that, maybe easy going, accepting everything that walks colleges but not the ones I want to go to. You know I dream of MIT, Harvard and Yale, and those colleges want you doing extraordinary things every minute of every day.'

It was my turn then to be sullen. I dreamed of the same universities he did but I don't think I did something extraordinary every minute of everyday. Yes, I have plenty of AP credits, and unlike Jasper my schedule is full on hectic this semester. I start my day this week with AP Government, then move on to AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and end it with AP Environmental Science. The following day I start with AP Statistics, Pre Calculus honors (not being the math nerd he is), AP French, and end it with Creative Writing; a hidden guilty pleasure of mine. But in the previous semesters I've had the same hectic schedules with different AP and honors courses and when I wasn't busy studying for these classes after school, volunteering at the local hospital, or working part time at Barnes & Noble, I was dedicating my time to Jasper; not doing anything extraordinary.