Road Trip with a Nerd - Stephanie Street Page 0,20
other three prestigious institutions hoping to add me to their illustrious alumni. Not many people get perfect scores on both the ACT and SAT. I was one of them.
We’d almost reached the shore. My feet hit the rocky bottom before Mallory’s. Instead of moving further into shallow water, I stopped and turned to face her. Her arms still twined around my neck, her face only inches from mine. In the last twelve hours, my crush had turned into head over heels. It was tempting, the desire to lean forward, press my lips to hers, almost overwhelming.
We’d talked about a lot of things during our day together. However, she still hadn’t told me why she needed to get back home so badly she’d taken a ride with a near-perfect stranger over hanging out with her sister for a couple of weeks. We hadn’t talked about Matt, her boyfriend, but she’d flirted with me a little, held onto my hand a lot. And right at that exact moment, I could have sworn she wanted me to kiss her as much as I wanted to kiss her.
“No,” I said. She pulled back, a furrow forming between her brows. “My parents didn’t ask me to stay in Indiana. That’s my choice.”
Her shoulders relaxed a little. “Why?”
“They were older when they had me. My dad’s not as young as he used to be. He likes to pretend, but the work on the farm is too much for him by himself. He’s too stubborn to ask for help or hire it. Besides, it’s just a piece of paper. I can get one from anywhere. It won’t change what I know in the end.” I’d slogged my way through half of a bachelor’s degree already with online courses and the dual enrollment program at our high school.
Mallory’s eyes widened. “Just a piece of paper? But what about job applications? Won’t it look better if you have a piece of paper from Harvard as opposed to Purdue?”
I shook my head. “Not the end goal for me to work for someone else.” I thought about it for a minute. Should I tell her? No. I didn’t want her to look at me differently. Because the truth was, I didn’t really even need a degree to be successful at what I was already doing. Going to school had more to do with my parents, their expectations, than what I wanted or even needed. I’d do it, finish my degree in the next two years. Then, I’d just keep doing what I was already doing. Working on the farm. Developing my own games. Working on my own projects. And hopefully, selling them for small fortunes when they were ready.
Something else I’d kept from my parents. I’d tell them soon when I had enough to actually be of help to them. Right now, I had the money to pay for a car if I wanted one, but not quite enough to pay the mortgage on the farm.
Soon.
“I don’t understand.” Mallory watched me, her pretty blue eyes full of curiosity, and what? I couldn’t tell, but whatever it was, it made my stomach feel a bit jittery.
I began making slow progress to the edge of the lake until Mallory’s feet touched the bottom.
“I told you about my video game, right? That didn’t require a degree.”
She frowned. “But that’s just for fun, isn’t it? It’s not a real job?”
Gritting my teeth, I had to remind myself she didn’t know what she was talking about. Writing and developing my own video game was fun, but it wasn’t just fun. I had every intention of selling the game to a larger gaming company. As well as the others I had on storyboards saved to my computer. It was only a matter of time.
“Come on. We better get back. I kind of still want a shower.” I held out my hand and Mallory took it. We made our way to the sandy shore and collected our shoes and my t-shirt.
“Yeah, I feel like I smell like fishy water.”
Bending over her head, I take a big sniff. “Ew. You totally do.”
She pushed at my shoulder again, but only half-heartedly. “I feel like I said something wrong,” she said as we walked back toward my truck.
“Why would you feel like that?” And why would you care? I wanted to ask but didn’t.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. You seem kind of sad or something. Did I offend you?”
“No,” I reassured her. “We’re good. I’m just tired. It’s been a long