habits ❀ mattia polibio

sessanta

𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄

this upcoming week was an important week for passaic valley seniors. this entire week, seniors had to finalize their college applications and submit them by friday.

madison had no idea where she wanted to apply. as a freshman in miami, she always had the dream of going to the university of miami, but now she wasn't so sure if she wanted to spend the next four years of her life in miami.

she hasn't talked to her mother ever since she found out she told her dad about what happened between her and mattia. her siblings don't talk to her, her aunt is always busy with her job, and mariano doesn't even talk to her anymore.

mattia, on the other hand, he knew where he wanted to go. columbia was his dream school and new york university was his back up school if he was denied from columbia. his goal is to play soccer for columbia and attend on a scholarship.

"where are you applying?" lauren asked her best friend.

madison shrugged, "i don't know." she replied. "miami has always been the dream school, but i left miami only to go back." she said.

"apply to nyu." lauren encouraged her.

madison narrowed her eyebrows, "yeah 'cause they'd definitely accept me." she scoffed. "they have an expensive ass tuition."

"and miami doesn't?" lauren said and madison chuckled. "there's always financial aid."

madison shrugged. should she apply to new york? a part of her felt an odd feeling in her stomach just thinking about new york. she knew that's where mattia wanted to live and she couldn't help but wonder where he was applying to.

she definitely did not want to make it seem as if she was applying to new york for him. "are you applying to the same school as alejandro?" she asked lauren.

lauren nodded, "we applied to our first choices but we applied to the same backups." she said. "oh! i heard ucla has a nice campus."

california. across the state away from her family and her first love. is wanting to be businesswoman worth traveling across the country?

as much as she loved the west coast, her heart belonged to the east coast and she could never abandon her family for four or more years.

she sighed in frustration as the bell rang to go to lunch. "you have this entire week to apply, take it easy on yourself." lauren tells her.

"i don't know where to apply." madison tells her. "i want to apply to new york but i don't want it to seem as if i'm chasing him."

"are you chasing him?" lauren asked and madison shook her head.

"no."

"then there's nothing to worry about." she says. lauren points with her head towards a person behind madison, only to see mattia walking towards us from afar.

"hey." she smiled as genuine as she could, to hide the fact that she was stressed.

"hey." he responds with much more enthusiasm. "where have you applied to?" he asked.

"i haven't applied anywhere yet." she told him. "what about you?"

"columbia, nyu, usc, uf, and umiami are on my list but i haven't submitted it." he said and madison's eyes widened.

they'd be applying to similar schools.

"ivy league?" she asked him and he nodded with a smile. "i didn't think you'd go for an ivy league."

"what's that supposed to mean?" he joked with her and she laughed.

"i'm gonna be honest, i haven't applied anywhere because i have no idea where i want to go." she said with a voice that projected how she truly feels.

"you can always apply to where i'm going." he said and she rolled his eyes. "i'm dead serious."

"why would i do that?" she asked him and he looked taken aback. "i didn't mean it that way." she chuckled and he sighed in relief.

"because we're..friends i guess and i don't know you just should." he suggested and she couldn't help but smile.

"i don't know, i'll see." she says and he swings an arm over her shoulder as they enter the crowded cafeteria.

"i have a free period tomorrow so i can pass by your class and help you." he offered and she smiled with a nod.

"i would appreciate that." she said.

the rest of her day consisted of her worrying about her future. she couldn't help but wonder "where am i going to be the four years?"

college was a topic she was recently avoiding. she knew she wanted to go to college, but her life has made a big flip ever since she met mattia.

she's a lot more well known and she doesn't know how things will be next year. she also wondered about mattia. the thought of losing him again scared her and she wasn't sure how things would be if they were to be separated again.

would things get better for them? would they get worse?