Page 10 of Breakaway Goal

We leave him behind to walk to Chiyoda Ramen, one of our regular spots in Cedar Shade.

I try to focus on the pangs of hunger in my stomach. They feel better than the pangs I get in my chest when I remember the end of the conversation I just overheard.

None of them,Lane’s words echo in my head.

Could he think of evenoneteammate of his that he would approve of dating his sister?

No way.

5

MADDIE

It’s pathetic to admit, but I made zero friends during my freshman year of college.

I started at Brumehill as a Business major. That was always my plan. Or the planforme, at least.

My parents are founding partners at a consulting firm. They always wanted to pass the business on to one of their children. Once it was clear that Lane’s heart was set on going pro in hockey, it was obvious that he wasn’t going to put in the work getting an MBA like he’d need to take over.

So, my parents pinned their hopes on me.

Don’t get me wrong. They didn’t force me into it. They didn’t even pressure me. It was just clear that that’s what they wanted from me, and I internalized that fact and went along with it like a raft floating down a stream.

Declaring a business major at Brumehill, loading my schedule up with business classes, and only joining extracurricular activities that would look good on a future MBA application—I never imagined doing anything else.

And I never imagined how miserable I would be at college once I was in the thick of it.

I didn’t like my classes. I didn’t feel like I had anything in common with my classmates. It didn’t help that I didn’t get along with my roommate, either.

For most of last year, I was depressed. Really depressed. The only bright spots were when I would hang out with Lane and Rhys. But that fact just made me more depressed, because I should be making new friends and having new experiences at college, not just clinging to my brother and his friend like I did growing up.

I kept my depression to myself for a long time. It was just growing pains, I would tell myself, adjustment to moving away from home and being on my own for the first time.

Obviously, that wasn’t a smart or healthy strategy for dealing with things.

As my first year of college drew to a close, the thought of three more years of doing the same thing, and then spending even more time getting an MBA, made me want to cry.

Rhys was the first person I talked to about it.

For a long time, he just let me vent. He let me get my feelings out to a sympathetic ear. He was the person I needed to hear me put into words the emotions that had been swirling inside me for months.

Then, he said something so simple.

“You should study art instead. It’s what you love. Your parents will understand. And Lane and I will support you even if they don’t.”

Sometimes, when you’re so deep in the storm of your own emotions, the simplest solutions don’t even occur to you. Your feelings and worries are like layers of clouds blocking out the rays of the sun.

But at Rhys’s words, those clouds cleared up, and it was like warm rays were shining on me for the first time in a long, long time.

Art had always been what I loved, but I never considered it anything other than a hobby. Once I let the seed of making it my career into my mind, it immediately sprouted.

Rhys was right. My parents did support me. And with Jasmine’s transfer application getting approved and knowing that she was coming to Brumehill and we’d be able to be roommates, I quickly went from the saddest and most pessimistic I’d ever been to the happiest and most optimistic.

That optimism is buoying inside me right now as I walk the short distance to my very first class of the semester.

It’s an intermediate Figure Drawing class. Anatomically accurate drawing has always been one of my weaknesses. I tend to paint in a more abstract or impressionistic style, and when I do paint more realistic scenes, they’re usually landscapes. I feel like I’m going to learn a lot in this class and fill one of the big gaps in my artistic skills.

“Maddie! Hey!”

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