Katie, Melanie, Jo, and Margaret all came back Sunday evening together. Katie and Melanie were heading back to their house, so they dropped off Jo and Margaret at school. When they stopped by the mailboxes by the dorms, Jo had gotten a letter while they had been gone. It was from the nearby school informing her that they had filled up their class for next fall and that the waitlist was now closed. They thanked her for the application and encouraged her to apply next year.
Jo was very upset and in a sullen mood the rest of the evening. Margaret went back to her dorm room rather than stay with Jo that night. Things did not improve by the morning. When Margaret went to get her from breakfast, Jo would not open her door. She yelled out that she was skipping her morning class and she would see everyone at lunch.
The schedules were such that all four of them were available to have lunch at noon on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Katie and Melanie had bought a partial meal plan so they all ate at one of the school's cafeterias. Jo was there but was still in no better mood than she had been as she joined Katie, Melanie, and Margaret. She set her tray down and looked at Margaret. "Did you tell them?" she asked waspishly.
"No. I thought that it wasn't my place to say anything,"
"About what?" asked Katie.
"The school filled up, so my waitlist is now a full-fledged rejection."
"Oh, Jo. I'm so sorry." said Melanie.
"So that only leaves me with an acceptance at the school in Boston."
Everyone was silent for a moment, not really sure what to say. Trying to lighten the mood, Margaret said, "Boston is full of colleges which means a lot of cute coeds all over the place. I hope I don't lose you when you're back there."
"Oh, your mother would
love
that, wouldn't she?" Jo's response was harsh and had a real angry and nasty tone to it that took the other three very much by surprise. Margaret just stared at Jo for several seconds. Then she burst into tears and got up and ran for the door. Melanie sprang up and took a few seconds to scowl at Jo. If looks could have killed, Jo would have fallen right on the spot. Melanie ran after Margaret.
Jo stood up and called out to Margaret as she reached the door, but Margaret did not even slow down. When Melanie was out the door trying to catch up to Margaret, Jo sat down in her seat. She finally looked over at Katie. Katie had not moved but Jo could tell from the look on her face that Katie was very angry at her.
Finally, Katie could not hold it in. "What the hell was
that
all about?!?"
"I know. It was terrible of me. I was just really hoping that the I'd still get in so I could stay around here. What am I supposed to do now? Go to Boston? Not that there's anything wrong with Boston. But I'm still not even sure why I thought I wanted to go to law school to begin with. And now I'm gonna be on the other side of the Country? I just don't think that my heart is really into it. I..."
Jo stopped in mid-sentence and was just sitting there with her mouth open and her eyes went vacant. She was clearly in her own head at that moment. Twice Katie asked, "What Jo?" Then suddenly Jo's face broke into a smile as big as Katie had ever seen. She looked at Katie and said, "My mom is a genius."
Then Jo began talking to Katie and she was talking very fast. "Katie, you've got to get a hold of Neve. Let her know that I am not going to be at practice today. And you might not neither. I've got to go put some things together so I'll have to skip the rest of my classes today. Also, I might need a ride downtown later this afternoon if I can pull off the other stuff. That's when I'll need the ride."
"What other stuff?"
"Don't worry. That's my problem. Hopefully I'll need the ride later this afternoon."
"I'm not sure I want to give you a ride. I'm ticked off at you yelling at Margaret like that."
"Katie, there's no time for that now. Be as angry at me as you want tomorrow. I deserve it. But I need you to help me now. I'll call you when I need the ride. Oh, and you have to talk to Melanie. She has got to get Margaret back here for dinner. I'm gonna be here and she's not gonna want to come but Melanie has to make her. She'll be the only one who can. So I need you to make Melanie make Margaret come here for dinner."
"It has to be here?"
"Yes. I was terribly mean to her here, so I have to make it up to her here. I have to go. Please Katie, can you do this for me?"
"I'm not sure. What's this all about?"
"Look. I have to try to make a few things happen that I might not be able to anyway. If you take me downtown, I will explain it all to you."
"Okay. Go do whatever it is you have to do and call me when you want your ride. But just because I am going to give you the ride doesn't mean I am still not very upset with you."
"Fair enough. And like I said, you can be mad at me starting tomorrow all you want. But I am really gonna need your help today. I'll call you."
And with that Jo went bounding off and out the door. Katie watched her go thinking about how it had been quite an eventful lunch. Then she realized that she had four lunch trays full of food that would have to be bussed.
"Well, at least I didn't get stuck with the check."
she thought to herself.
About three o'clock Katie got the call from Jo. Everything had worked out perfect for her so far and she needed that ride downtown. As they drove Jo told Katie about all the various people she had to talk to and why. When they finally got to the address on the GPS, Katie looked at the store as they arrived.
"Are you kidding me?"
Jo beamed at her. She was on cloud nine. "Nope. One hundred percent serious. Do you want to come in and help me or stay out here in the car?"
"You know, Melanie might have been the better person to take you here."
"I'm sure you will be a big help if you come in, but you don't have to. Besides, she has to get Margaret to dinner tonight or all of this is pointless."
"No, that's fine. I'll come in and be as much help as I can."
"Does that mean you're not mad at me anymore?"