Read Online One & Only (Canton) by Viv Daniels - Free Book Online

words. “Never mind. See you in class tomorrow.”
    I waved and departed, though I wondered the whole way home what it was he’d wanted to say.
    ***
    When my father came to visit, he always parked behind our apartment complex so no one spotted his car. It wasn’t a flashy car or anything, just a beige Lexus SUV, but he still didn’t want anyone to recognize it. He was there when I got home that evening.
    I bore no illusions that Dad would be happy to see me. We dispensed with the usual pleasantries even more quickly than usual.
    “I can’t believe you didn’t consult with me before making such a huge change,” Dad said, his voice filled with fatherly concern but his eyes doing that hard, flinty thing they always did when he was angrier than he was letting on. “Your mother tells me you’ve lost a whole semester in this transfer of yours. Is that true?”
    “Yes, sir.” I was sitting across from him on the couch, my hands folded in my lap. Mom was in her usual armchair, perched on the edge and listening. She wore the same concerned expression as my father. Tattletale.
    “And that doesn’t bother you?” he asked. “I thought you were a serious student, Tess. To give up a whole semester…” He clucked his tongue.
    I resisted the temptation to roll my eyes. “I wasn’t going to graduate in eight terms at State, either,” I said. “I couldn’t get into half the prereq courses I needed. I hardly lost any credits in the transfer, but I have to catch up on prereqs. I was going to need another semester, at Canton or at State. This way, my final degree will say Canton on it, and that’s worth an extra term.”
    “This scholarship of yours is going to cover it?” he asked skeptically.
    “Yes.” Well, as much as it was covering anything. I wasn’t even going to be able to afford books pretty soon if I didn’t figure out an extra source of income. Like that symposium…
    “What I’m most baffled by, Tess, is that you didn’t even think to ask me if this was all right. After all the money I invested in your schooling at State…you just threw it all away.”
    My eyes shot up to meet his. I hadn’t asked him because I knew he’d say no. “I didn’t throw anything away. I made the best decision I could for my future.” What did he want me to do? Pay him back for eight credits’ worth of lost room and board at State?
    He was shaking his head at me, his face a mask of disappointment. “And I can’t imagine what your professors think. That nice botanist who gave you a job in his lab—what was his name?”
    “Dr. Stewart,” Mom supplied.
    “Stewart. I can’t imagine he’s happy that you transferred. You might as well have said to his face that you don’t think he or his program is good enough for you.”
    “As a matter of fact, Dr. Stewart wrote my recommendation.” I could have added a lot more, but I didn’t. Dr. Stewart was the one who’d told me about the Canton scholarship going vacant. He’d known it was where I wanted to be but that financial constraints kept me from attending, and there wasn’t much he could do for me in Bio-E from the botany department. We’d both agreed it was the opportunity of a lifetime.
    “The whole thing just strikes me as so…ungrateful,” Dad said. “And all for what? A few extra lab hours? A microscope or two? You don’t know anyone at Canton—”
    Au contraire, Dad. I know your daughter’s boyfriend quite well.
    “And you aren’t likely to find another research assistant position, either. I’m guessing all those slots have already gone to their own students.”
    “I am ‘their own student’,” I pointed out, irritated. “Transfers aren’t second-class citizens, Dad.”
    “Sweetie,” my mother pleaded. “Give your father a break. He’s just trying to show you some cons that you may not have thought through entirely.”
    My mother could take her peacekeeping efforts and shove them. I was an expert at examining my options, after years of