Okay, where do I begin this weird story?
So, I'm now a 20 year old college sophomore. I was born just so I was always the oldest in my class. I have brother who is a 19, almost 20 year old college sophomore. He was born just before the deadline to be the youngest...in my class, all through school. It was always a pain.
I have always been at the top of my class, driven to excel - straight As, honor roll, dean's list both semesters freshman year at college. I'm frickin' smart.
My brother is a jock. His high school Advanced Placement class was PE. He starred on the football team, not in the classroom. He's average smart.
I'm actually really pretty, when I want to be. I have always tried to hide it. Since junior high, I've seen pretty girls try to use pretty to succeed. And lots of times it worked.
I never wanted my pretty to be why I succeeded.
In junior high, I started to develop a good figure. I got tits and I got hips. The numbers don't look that impressive. I don't have massive tits or BeyoncΓ© hips. But I'm 5'4" tall. That would look freakish on me. I'm 34B, 26, 30. I think I have a great figure. I have medium blonde hair with natural highlights, dark blue eyes, and oddly, dark eyebrows and eyelashes. Everyone thinks I have naturally dark hair I bleach, but no.
But I always hid it all in sweat pants or baggy clothes and no makeup. I really didn't want the boy problem. Once I got in high school, I couldn't resist the occasional skinny jeans or belly top. So there was a boy or two, and I did this or that. But I was still a virgin as a freshman in college.
I had multiple college offers with big scholarships. I chose one of the bigger schools, some three hours from home. I wanted to be away from family, especially my brother.
Imagine my horror when my university offered my brother, with his 2.4 GPA, a football scholarship! He accepted and told me he told the athletic director it would be perfect since his sis was already accepted.
I tried to stay as far away from him as I could. I applied to and was accepted into the international students' dorm. They wanted a mix. So, I was surrounded with students from other cultures all the time. I had studied French in high school, and there were six French students on my floor. My French improved greatly, and I think their English did too. Okay, they took all their classes in English. That may have helped. But really, they helped me more than I helped them.
At the same time, he was making a name for himself on campus. Because of an injury to an upperclassman early in the season, he began starting at cornerback. He was fast, but didn't have great hands, so defense instead of offense. And he was good. He intercepted passes and won games for the team as a freshman.
It wasn't legal, but alumni lavished gifts on him. Suddenly, he was driving a Corvette - a "loaner". He had money. We were from a middle class family. We didn't have money. I knew he didn't even fill out the FAFSA, so it wasn't student aid. But Ryan had cash to spend and a cool car to drive.
We spoke rarely. We never had. I think I had resented him from infancy, even though I was barely a toddler when he arrived. I sure resented him now.
Then came the opportunity to study in France for a year, in Tours, France where they speak the purest form of French. I want to be an American diplomat to France. That is my goal. I want to learn everything French. I want to be the person who explains the French to the American president. I want this with my whole being.
And I could go study there tuition-free under my scholarship. But my room and board would not be covered, $4,000 for my junior year. I could make payments. But I had already maxed out my student loan limit just to get me through four years. My parents already had a second mortgage. So, I thought of Ryan.
So, I texted him. "Want to have coffee?" I could never bring myself to use text-speak.
"Thought U 4got my X is tance" he replied.
"Nope. Busy. You, too from what I see on TV," I replied.
"Doin OK. Busbys 2morrow at 2 OK?" was his answer.
Busby's was a coffee shop just at the edge of campus.
"Cool," I texted back.
I was a bit early, he was a bit late. Life was as normal.
"This is crazy," he said as he sat down. "I'm running from class to the practice facility. I really have to go to all my classes. No one takes my tests for me. I have to spend my evenings with tutors, for God's sake! And I still practice four hours a day. I thought this gig would be easy street, but it's way harder than I ever imagined. But, I bet you're cruisin' through."
"Nope, just as hard, just different classes, and different demands on my time. You know I don't care for sports. But I watch "College Football Tonight" to see the scores. You are in the highlight reels every week. Were you this crazy good in high school? I don't remember that," I answered.
"No, sis, it's coaching. These coaches really know how to teach you what you need to know. Remember how in high school, Mrs. Edleman never really taught us anything in English? Her heart was in the right place. But it was Mr. Lawson who really taught us?"
"Coach Morrison was the best high school coach he could be. But he and his volunteer coaches just couldn't give us what we needed. These coaches teach me like it's a college course. And it's the hardest college course."
"But enough about my bullshit. Why does my sister contact me after three months of silence on the same campus after being in the same home for 18 years?"