⌜ chapter three ⌟

Eric's sitting on the couch in his apartment with Letty, and he's doing work for school. "Okay, first college paper. Playing with the big boys. Ten thousand words — word number one." He licks the tip of his pencil. "I want my mommy." He starts fake crying.

"Come on, Eric. You had three weeks to write this paper." Jack says as he turns away from the counter.

"You don't make fun of my learning disability!" He yells as he points at him.

"You have a learning disability?"

"Mhm. He's lazy." Letty says as she goes through the pictures in her lap.

"My work isn't as easy as yours." Eric argues, and his girlfriend reaches up and flicks his forehead. "Ow!"

"It's more complicated than point camera, push button."

"Is not! I can do that too."

"Yeah, but she takes pictures that people would actually buy and hang up in their homes. You took a picture of your foot." Jack says as he starts toward his room.

"Hey, what'd you write your paper about?" Eric asks as he looks up at him, which prompts him to change course.

"Well, alright..." He walks over to sit on the couch, and Letty scoots toward Eric to give him more room as he sits down beside her. He opens his laptop as Eric leans over, wrapping his arm around his girlfriend as he looks at the screen. "Here it is — ten thousand words. A perfectly crafted essay on my Summer in China working with paleontologists." Jack says, and Eric scoffs as he looks away. "What?"

"Your very first college paper, and you're writing about what you did on your Summer vacation?" He questions.

"I uncovered dinosaur fossils."

"You got pictures?"

"No."

"Then you got nothing."

"I think it's pretty good." Jack tells him.

"Ignore him. Can I see?" Letty asks, and he passes the laptop over to her so that she can read his essay.

"Pre— You don't get it." Eric argues. "We're in college now. We're being judged on a whole new level. Uh, theories, and footnotes, shades of meaning, nuance, spelling—"

"Hey, babe." The brunette looks at him, and he raises his eyebrows as he turns his attention to her. "Chill out. He wrote about going to a different country. It's a hell of a lot more exciting than the Summer we spent traveling and going to places that had things like the largest yogurt cup."

"Hey, that was a good trip!"

"Yell at me again, and I will smack you." She says, and he narrows his eyes at her. "Now, quit whining and do your work."

"Man, it's just like high school." Eric grumbles as he turns back to his paper.

"And you graduated, didn't you?"

"You're mean."

"Thank you." She smiles as she turns back to Jack's laptop to read through the essay that he has pulled up on the screen. "Hey, Jack?"

"Yeah?" He looks at her.

"You didn't go to China, did you?" She asks, and he sighs as he lowers his head.

"No. My sister went, and she's ten." He shakes his head as she gives the laptop back to him. "I got no pictures, and I didn't go to China."

"I have an idea." Eric says.

"You're not going down to the dean's office to try and get out of doing your work." Letty tells him, and he glares at the side of her head. "You have to do the work, Eric. That's how you graduate."

After a couple hours of failing to write his paper, Eric drags the two of them back to his parents house, and they end up in the backyard. "Mr. Feeny!" He yells as they walk into their old teacher's backyard. "Mr. Feeny! M—" He's cut off when Mr. Feeny puts his hand over his mouth.

"I was expecting you." The older man tells him, now standing outside his backdoor. "Today, tomorrow, yesterday. It was only a matter of time."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Feeny, but he won't listen to me." Letty tells him.

"That's alright, Ms. Black."

"Uh, look, Mr. Feeny. This is my roommate, Jack." Eric tells him.

"Why doesn't he look at me?"

"'Cause they're both morons." Letty mutters as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

"I'm afraid, sir." Jack says, and he sighs as he shakes his head.

"Mr. Feeny, we're both scared, okay. And so is Letty, or she wouldn't be here. I don't care what she says." Eric looks at his girlfriend before turning back to their teacher. "Tomorrow we're gonna turn in our first college paper, and w-what if they find out we're nothing more than fakes?"

"Gentlemen, Ms. Black, getting accepted into college is not a random act. You three were accepted on your merits. And by virtue of that alone, you belong." Feeny tells them. "Now, what's the topic of your paper?"

"It's an open assignment, we can write on anything we want. No rules, no guidelines, no parameters. It doesn't even have to be in English."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Uh, no." He shakes his head.

"Ms. Black, what'd you write yours on?" Feeny asks as he looks at her, and she shakes her head.

"I haven't." She tells him.

"Okay, well, the best advice I can give you is to write about something personal. Perhaps about the anxiety you're feeling."

"Yes, that's it. The anxiety!" Eric smiles before running off.

"What about you?" He asks Jack.

"I was thinking of handing in a paper I wrote about discovering dinosaur fossils in China." He tells him.

"You got pictures?" He asks, and Letty starts laughing. Jack shakes his head as he looks at the older man. "Then you got nothing. Ms. Black?"

"Uh... My Life As Trailer Girl?" She smiles.

"Scarlett, you've lived an eventful life. You lost both your parents, lost and gained your older brother, raised a boy two years younger than you, have been working since you were seven years old, graduated high school despite all your hardships, know more than one language, and are now helping your best friend raise her two daughters. And you're telling me that you can't think of a single thing to write for an open assignment?" He questions.

"See, that's just it, Mr. Feeny. I've been looked down on as trailer trash my whole life. I don't want my first college paper to be some sob story."

"You were never trash, and I won't stand to listen to the way you look down on yourself." He says, and she takes a deep breath as she glances at Jack. "Your story is one of overcoming the odds, and becoming a successful young woman. If you can't see that, then you're not the one who failed, Ms. Black, I am."

"You? Fail?" She scoffs. "Feeny, I'm alive because of you."

"No. You're alive because of you." He corrects. "Me, Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Matthews — we all just helped you see what we could from the time you were a child." He says, and a small smile pulls at her lips.

"I think I just found my topic." Letty tells him. "Thanks, Mr. Feeny." She pats Jack's shoulder as she walks past him, and then goes in the direction that Eric disappeared.

—

"So, what'd you write your paper on?" Letty asks as she sits on the couch next to Jack, turning so that she's facing him as he shuts his laptop.

"Well, I didn't go to China this Summer, but I did reconnect with my little brother and my childhood best friend." He says, and she smiles.

"Aw, you wrote about me?"

"And Shawn." He nods. "But, yeah, you were mentioned too. What did you write about?"

"Putting the past behind me and not letting who I was define me as I take on helping my best friend raise her daughters."

"So, not about me then?" He muses, and the brunette chuckles.

"You may have come up."

"Are you sleeping over again?" Jack asks, and she nods.

"I was certainly considering it." She smiles. "It's not a problem when I sleep over, is it?"

"Well, I wish you two wouldn't spend so long in the shower, but no, it's not a problem." He shakes his head, clearly amused when she seems mildly embarrassed by the comment. "You're welcome here anytime as far as I'm concerned."

"Well, on that note..." Letty clears her throat as she gets to her feet. "I'm going to bed."

"Hey, Scarlett?" He calls after her, and she looks down at him from the top step of the higher level. "I really am sorry for any issues that I caused between you two in the past. It honestly never occurred to me that getting those letters and presents would bother a boyfriend. I just wanted you to know that I never forgot about you, and... Well, I wanted you to know that I wasn't like my mom, you know? I never looked down on the trailer park or anyone in it. And especially not you."

"I know, Jack." She offers him a small smile. "I appreciated everything you sent me, and I still have the necklace and the camera. Whatever happened between Eric and I has nothing to do with you, and it's all water under the bridge now anyway. No worries."

"Good." He nods, and she then heads to her boyfriend's bedroom.

"Hey, there she is." Eric smiles when Letty shuts the door behind her. "Now, I have some news, and I think you'll like it."

"You finished your paper?" She raises her eyebrows as she looks at him.

"Five minutes ago, but that's not what I wanted to tell you." He smiles. "I don't have any clean pajamas to wear to bed tonight. I'm thinking I'm gonna sleep naked."

"What a coincidence. Because I didn't bring any pajamas to sleep in."

"That's my girl." Eric grabs her waist as he moves toward the bed, and Letty laughs as the two fall onto his mattress.