The Final Chance by Cait Marie
Beth Ann
Beth Ann pulled her coat tighter, hugging her arms around her torso to fight the bitter cold air. Her breath created tiny puffs of fog as she walked toward the advising offices. She’d received an email the day before saying her advisor needed to meet with her as soon as possible, so she was trekking out much earlier than she’d planned. Her first class wasn’t for a few hours.
In the distance, she could hear the busy traffic of Manhattan—horns honking, sirens blaring, people shouting back and forth. Despite the chaos, Beth Ann grinned. She’d wanted that busyness for as long as she could remember. A car drove by too fast and sprayed slush up from the street. She let out a screech as she turned out of its path, and her feet slid on the icy sidewalk.
Strong hands grasped her waist to steady her as a deep voice said, “Easy there.”
And just like that, her mood flipped. She looked up with a glare already in place. “What are you doing here, Dylan?”
He grinned, his hands still around her. “Walking you to class?”
“I don’t have class right now.” She took a step back, putting her hands on her hips and shifting to one side.
“Okay, I was coming to see if I could walk you to class. I don’t have your schedule, not like last term when you texted it to me.” He held up his phone and shook it back and forth. “You know, back when you were talking to me.”
Guilt coursed through her, but she refused to acknowledge it. She would not feel guilty when all of this was his fault. “Fine, let’s go. I’m going to be late.”
Dylan’s face lit up like he won the lottery. He turned to walk by her side, and she couldn’t fight the butterflies fluttering to life inside her.
“Where are we going?” he asked, the back of his hand brushing hers.
“I have an appointment with my advisor.” She played off the touch as an accident, but then he did it again.
This time, he laced their fingers together.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking over.
“I told you, walking you to—well, your advisor, I guess, not class...”
She turned to scowl at him. Holding up their clasped hands, she said, “No, this. Why are you doing this?”
“Bethy—”
“Stop calling me that.” She pulled her hand away and began walking again. “I said we can be friends, but you’re pushing it.”
When he stopped and said, “you’re right,” she stilled. Slowly, he moved around to face her. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”
The sincerity in his eyes made it hard for Beth Ann to remember why she was mad at him. She nodded before continuing down the sidewalk. He fell in step beside her, and she wanted to hate how natural it felt. It was too easy imagining this life with him by her side, but she had to remember he wasn’t here to stay. He was only visiting.
She hesitated as they reached the advising center.
“I have some time after this,” she said, turning toward him. “Do you want to get lunch before my next class?”
Her heart raced as he smiled. The entire atmosphere seemed to lighten around him. “I’d like that very much.”
“I will meet you out here in like half an hour then. Sound good?”
“I’ll be waiting.”
She rolled her eyes and pushed him in the direction of the student center next door. “Go wait in there or something. You’re going to freeze out here. I’ll meet you there instead.”
He agreed and headed to the large building that housed enough to keep him interested while she was in this appointment. The appointment she started to worry about as she walked inside. She was doing well in her classes, and it wasn’t time to register for next year yet, so she had no idea why her advisor had called this urgent meeting.
Warmth covered Beth Ann as she walked to the front desk. When the receptionist smiled up at her in greeting, Beth Ann said, “Hi. I have an appointment with Mr. Whitmore.”
The woman typed something and asked, “Beth Ann?”
“Yes.”
She asked for Beth Ann’s ID. Once confirming she had the right person, she said, “You can go on back. He’s in one-fourteen.”
“Thank you,” Beth Ann said, moving in the direction the woman pointed. She headed down the hall to the advisor’s room and knocked on the open door.
“Ah, come in, come in,” Mr. Whitmore said, standing from his desk. “Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice.”
Beth Ann mumbled about it not being a problem as she took a seat across from him.
“Miss Meyer, how are you doing? How are your classes going?” he asked, sitting back down.
She crossed one leg over the other, trying to hide how nervous she was. “I’m good. I love the classes so far. Especially the ones for my program.”
“That’s great.” He shuffled some papers on his desk before clasping his hands and meeting her stare.
When he let out a sigh, she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“There’s been an unfortunate development regarding your tuition.”
“What do you mean?” She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward.
Mr. Whitmore passed over a couple papers. “Your parents’ last check was cancelled. Someone in the bursar office has talked to them and confirmed they are unable to continue paying. Therefore, we need to find another way for you to keep your place here.”
Beth Ann took the papers with a shaky hand. The words blurred before her as she tried to process what he was saying. It didn’t make any sense. With her father’s company, they’d always been well off. They said there was enough money for her to even attend school out of state without any issues.
“Because you’re already enrolled, we want to try and work something out quickly. There are some grants set in place for emergencies such as this. You’ll need to fill out the forms online, but I can almost guarantee there won’t be a problem there.”
She let out a breath and looked up.
“However,” he said, making her stomach plummet. “That will only cover this semester. You’ll have to figure something else out for next year if you wish to continue.”
Beth Ann walked down the hall at a turtle’s pace when they finished speaking. She folded up the papers on scholarships and loans and shoved them into her bag. Pausing between the two sets of outer doors, she pulled out her phone. She sniffed and cleared her throat before hitting her mom’s number.
As the phone rang, she wanted nothing more than to sink down to the floor. More often than not, she avoided her mom’s calls. The ones she took usually ended in her berating Beth Ann about her plans for the future. Her parents had agreed to her going to school for fashion, but neither seemed thrilled about it. On multiple occasions, her mom made snide comments about it not being a secure career or about Beth Ann not looking the part for the industry.
“Hi, sweetheart.” Her mom’s somber tone broke the dam.
Tears streamed down Beth Ann’s cheeks. She barely muttered out, “What happened?”
“Your father’s business went under,” her mom said. “We took a really big hit, and we just don’t have enough to pay for school after getting out of the hole his partner dug them into.”
Beth Ann put a hand to her forehead. All of her hard work, her dreams… it was for nothing. She leaned her head back against the hard brick wall and took a deep, shaky breath.
“Did you get the info about the emergency funds?” her mom asked.
“Yeah,” Beth Ann whispered. “I’ll fill it out this afternoon, but Mom, what am I going to do about next year?”
“We can look for scholarships and grants.” Her mom’s tone that surprised her. She sounded as if she actually wanted to support her daughter instead of tear her down further.
Scholarships. Beth Ann’s eyes snapped up at the reminder. If she won the fashion show competition, she’d get a scholarship big enough to cover at least her classes next year. If she won, she might not have to give up her dream.
“Beth Ann, are you listening?” her mom asked, the usual irritation back in her voice.
“Sorry, Mom. What?”
“I said, maybe this is a sign you should just come home. We could work on finding you something more suitable here.”
Beth Ann straightened and walked outside. She shook her head as she headed toward the student center. She should’ve known the moment wouldn’t last. “Mom, this is what I want to do. This is all I have ever wanted to do.”
Her mom let out an annoyed sigh. “You need to start being more realistic.”