The Rules We Defy

The Choice: Chapter 1

I sat on the blue vinyl seats of Cody's car with a bag of potato chips in my hand and a 20-ounce soda wedged between my legs, my bare feet resting against the dashboard. As I reach in the bag, Cody snatches it from me.

"I'm cutting you off, Jessica." He tosses the potato chips in the back seat. "That's your fifth bag in two days."

"Yeah. So I like potato chips. Big deal." I lick the salt from my fingers, release my seat belt, and reach over the seat to retrieve my chips.

"Hey, buckle up. And if you finish those, that's your last bag. You need to start eating better."

I roll my eyes as I resumed my position. "You're no doctor yet, Cody. You haven't even started med school, so don't start lecturing me on my health."

He nudges me from across the seat. "Not everyone gets a full-ride scholarship to some fancy East Coast college."

I shrugged. "What can I say? If some rich guy offers to pay for your college, you go."

"He gave you the scholarship because you deserved it. More than anyone I know."

"Don't start, Cody." I focused out the side window, watching yet another state go by. Cody rolls his window all the way up, muffling the road noise. "We're almost there, and I just need to say it one last time, and then I'll shut up."

I sigh dramatically. "Fine. Hurry up."

"I'm really proud of you, Jess. Most kids your age would've shut down after what happened. They would've dropped out of school. But you ended up the freaking valedictorian."

"I know. I was there. Now are you done? Because none of that matters now. That was high school. This is college. I have to start at the bottom and prove myself all over again."

"You won't have to prove anything. You're totally going to kick ass at that school from your first day on campus."

"Okay, no more pep talks. I don't need you boosting my ego only to have reality hit as soon as I get there. High school was easy. There's more competition at college. And I'll be going to school with spoiled rich kids who went to fancy prep schools and probably had private tutors their whole lives."

"Hey, don't get that attitude going before you get there. You haven't even met these people. Give them a chance before you start judging."

I open my soda, and it fizzed out the top and all over the seat. "s**t! I'm so sorry." I hold the bottle up, wiping the soda off with my hand.

"Don't worry about it. This car is thirty years old. This isn't the first time soda's been spilled on it."

"It's clean." Cody grabs hold of my arm, which is furiously drying the seat.

Cody is my brother. Well, not my real brother, but close enough. I met him six years ago when he moved into a house down the street from me. He was fifteen at the time and I had a huge crush on him. He, of course, had no interest in dating a twelve-year-old. So I gave up trying to win his affection and just hung out with him, acting as his annoying little sister. The role stuck, and I've been annoying him ever since.

I scrunch up the open end of the potato chip bag and drop it behind my seat. "There. I won't eat anymore. Are you happy now?"

"I'd be happier if you ate an apple every once in a while."

"Baby steps, Cody." I return my feet to the dashboard and wiped my hands on my shorts to get rid of the salt that remained on my fingers.

"I'm getting off at the next exit. I need to get some gas and check in with Dad."

"Let me call him." I held my hand out for the phone. "You know he'd rather talk to me anyway."

Cody smiles. "I know he would." He reaches into his shirt pocket and hands me the phone. Cody's dad, Nate, volunteered to be my legal guardian after my mom died. Nate and my mom went to college together but lost track of each other when my mom dropped out. Her college career ended when a one-night stand resulted in me. The sperm donor took off, and she never heard from him again.

After I was born, my mom never managed to get her life back on track. Instead, she started drinking and got hooked on prescription drugs. I can't remember a time when she was ever normal. My entire childhood was spent taking care of her. And to this day, I hate her for that.

When Nate moved down the street, he tried to be friends with my mom again, but she wanted nothing to do with him. Probably because he kept trying to get her into rehab. Whenever she had one of her drunken meltdowns, I'd run off and stay at Nate's house. Pretty soon, I was staying at Nate's almost every night, so it wasn't that big a deal to move in with him and Cody when mom died.

"Hey Nate," I say when I hear him pick up. "We're almost to Connecticut. And thank god, because your son is driving me crazy."

I smile as Cody rolls his eyes. "I can't take another minute in the car with him. Now he's trying to ban me from eating potato chips. Can you believe that?"

"She had five bags!" Cody yells at the phone as I hold it by his face. "In two days! And not the little ones!"

I hear Nate laughing as I put the phone back to my ear. "See what I mean?"

"He's just worried about you, honey. We both are."

I get a lump in my throat as he says it. It's only been a couple of days and I already miss Nate. He's been like a father to me ever since I became friends with Cody and if he hadn't taken me in years ago, I probably wouldn't even be going to college.

"Has Cody given you his lecture about college boys yet?" Nate laughs as he says it.

"No. But I'm sure he will."

"So you're almost to Connecticut?" Nate asks. "Are you getting nervous?"

"What's there to be nervous about? It's college. Big deal."

Truthfully, I'm scared shitless. I have no idea what the classes will be like or the homework or the professors. At this point, the whole idea of going to college is freaking me out, but there's no way I'd ever tell Nate or Cody that.

"You're going to be great there," Nate says. "I'm so proud of you."

"Here we go again." I glanced at Cody. "I haven't even done anything yet."

“You know I'll never stop saying that. Let's talk later, Jess. I need to speak with Cody a bit.”

I hand the phone to Cody as he pulls up to a gas pump. We both get out, and I fill the tank while he talks to Nate.

When the tank is full, I wait in the car for Cody. A few minutes later, he gets in, still on the phone.

"What's wrong?" I asked him as he ends the call.

"Dad's nurse quit today. I need to call the agency and get someone over there."

"Why don't you call Chloe and ask her to check on him?" I suggested.

Cody shakes his head. He takes his phone and goes outside. I order our food and then sit back in my seat as my mind wanders to the college experience that awaits me. I've never been to Moorhurst College. I've only seen the brochure, which showed a photo of a big stone building, surrounded by maple trees at the peak of the autumn color. There were photos of students that looked like rich, preppy kids who got whatever they want. I'm still not sure why they wanted me at this school. I didn't even apply there. My guidance counselor just called me in his office and said I was offered a scholarship to some private college in Connecticut. I was awarded the Kensington Scholarship, named after some rich guy who owned a chemical company and donated money to the school. Cody comes back inside and is in a much better mood. “The agency is sending someone over within the hour.”

We eat dinner, then head back on the road. A little over an hour later, we exited through a maze of trees. Tall, leafy trees line both sides of the road. Soon a large granite sign that reads Moorhurst College appeared. Cody turns the wheel and steers the car up a hill on a long entrance road and then the campus finally comes into view. It looks like something from a movie. The buildings are covered in light colored stone with ivy growing up the sides. The buildings line the perimeter of the campus, forming a square, and in the middle there's a large grassy area with benches and a giant shade of trees. I look around and take it all in as Cody pulls the car to a stop in front of Carlson Hall, the place I'll be living in for the next four years.

Darkwooden doors with numbers on them line the hallway. We stopped at one of them that had an RA sign on it. Cody knocks on the door and a tall thin girl with long black hair and olive skin answers. She looks at me and smiles.

"Hi, are you moving in?" She has a slight foreign accent, but I can't tell where it's from.

"Yeah, I'm Jessica Taylor. And this is Cody, but he's not moving in. He just drove me here."

"Great. Nice to meet you both. I'm Jasmine. Welcome to Moorhurst. Let me grab your key."

She turns back, then grabs a large folder sitting next to it. "This is your housing information packet." She hands me the folder,

“Go through it and if you have any questions, just let me know. Follow me. I'll show you to your room.”

She leads us to the very end of the hall, right by the stairwell. She opens the door, then hands me the key. "The rooms are small, but you'll get used to it."

I scanned the room. It's not that small. But I guess if you're used to living in a mansion, like the other students are, then it probably seems like a closet. The room has white walls that look freshly painted, light wooden floors, and a window covered with beige curtains. There's a twin bed, a tall wooden dresser, and a small desk with a chair. A giant basket is sitting on the desk.

"That's a welcome gift from the Kensingtons," Jasmine says.

I go over and unwrap the cellophane around the basket. It's overflowing with an assortment of items stamped with the Moorhurst logo; a t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, keychain, coffee mug, plastic cup, shorts, sweatpants, socks, and other items. There's even a cover for the cell phone I don't own.

"Well, I'll let you get settled," Jasmine says. "If you need anything, just stop by."

She leaves, and then I shut the door and sit on the thin bare mattress on the bed. Cody stands there surveying the room. “I don't think it's that small. And you hardly have any stuff, so you'll have plenty of room.”

Cody turns to me, his lecture face on. "You can't go four years without any friends. Not everyone here is a stuck up snob. And just because people are rich, doesn't mean they aren't good people. You need to get out and do stuff. Interact with other students. Go to football games. Go to some parties. That's what people do in college. Well, I don't, but I'm the exception to the rule."

"You know I don't like parties, Cody."

"Yes, I know. But you don't have to drink. Just go there and hang out. And if it gets out of hand, just leave.”

"Let's go unpack the car." I took his hand and dragged him out the room.

"Did you just say that I'm right? That's a first. Could you repeat it, so I could record it on my phone? I can make it my ringtone."

“Will you shut up? That was the first and only. Don't get used to it.”