No Alternative: Day 11

Word Count: 66,139

Summary of Events:

Drake and his friends met at an ice-cream shop to discuss the results of the research — which had mostly been done by Hayden — and it revealed that although the school Drake was enrolled in had more than one aviation program, all of them were already full for the autumn semester; as a result they committed to looking for other aviation programs in the area  . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“So we’re not even going to talk about the potential worst-case scenario?” Rhys asked.

“We don’t want it to happen,” Hayden replied.

“Talking about it isn’t going to make it happen,” Rhys said. “Don’t be superstitious like that. Things happen and we can’t really do anything to control them. We need to have a plan if things go the way Drake’s parents want them to go because otherwise we’re idiots. It is no different than evacuation plans for fires and stuff.”

“Emergency preparedness,” Drake said.

“Thank you,” Rhys said. “I knew there was a name for it.”

“What do you suggest then?” Hayden asked.

“Well,” Rhys replied. “What we could do is Drake takes the course, gets a job wherever he can in Alberta and hopefully works summers there, but if not saves up every penny he can, and maybe once he graduates he can get a job somewhere in Alberta or maybe near Nanaimo because of Calder’s offer, and works in the restaurant industry somewhere that he’s paid full wages and overtime and whatnot and then is able to go to aviation school.”

“You do realise that pennies are long obsolete, right?” Drake asked.

“Fine, saves every nickel,” Rhys replied.

“But we want to help him get out,” Hayden said.

“And if he gets a job outside of his parents’ restaurant that will help him get out because it will give him something more on a résumé and more income because he’ll be getting full minimum wage,” Rhys replied.

Hayden didn’t look convinced. Drake felt badly. He didn’t want his friends to butt heads because of him, but he was pretty sure that they wouldn’t hear of him trying to get them to let him deal with the matter himself.

“I mean, not really all that much changes from the best-case scenario,” Rhys said. “It’s  just, well, school is expensive, and if we can’t get a refund from SAIT for his tuition — which is highly likely — then where are we getting him the money to attend somewhere else?”

“If I can’t get into the aviation stuff at SAIT then I’m just going to have to go for the cooking stuff,” Drake said. “I can’t afford to enrol anywhere else and it wouldn’t be fair to get you guys to pay my way through school, seeing how you both want to go to school for stuff too.”

“But we have to get you out of there!” Hayden protested.

“Look,” Drake said. “I’m sorry. I appreciate your efforts, all of you, but it’s all stacked against us. I’m going to have to take the cooking course and hope I can find a job at a different restaurant somewhere so that I don’t have to come back here.”