MIT - Far away from all of the girls

I had been accepted into my first choice for college: MIT.

It was a huge moment for me, and for my family. A huge relief, calling for a huge celebration. This news was going to affect the rest of my life. But the only thing that popped into my head upon reading my acceptance letter was the realization that, after this summer, my friendship with the girls would be over.

Sure, we would stay in touch as best we could. But I would be on the other side of the country, and this was before we all had cell phones, or Facebook, or even MySpace. My ridiculous social life with my amazing friends was going to turn into an anecdote that nobody at college would even believe.

How had I not thought about this before? I mean, I had thought about it before, but it had never felt real. It wasn’t until I actually saw my MIT letter that it suddenly became the awful truth.

I put on a happy face for my parents, but deep down I just felt sick.

As the week went on, the others got their letters of acceptance as well. Talia and Rachel, as luck would have it, were both going to UC Berkeley (in spite of Talia’s inability to pay attention for more than four seconds, she had maintained a four point average). Amy was bound for USC on an athletic scholarship, Elizabeth would be attending San Francisco state, and Stephanie was headed for some liberal arts school near Seattle. Both Corrine and Simon were staying in our hometown to attend the local JC.

It was a sobering couple of days. And it was about to get worse.

After school Friday, I went over to Talia’s house to do some studying—only to find Talia furiously pacing back and forth in her room, red in the face.

“Uh, you okay?” I asked.

“That bitch!” Talia shouted in response, “I can’t believe she would do that to me!”