No Alternative: Day 3

Word Count: 18,028

Summary of Events:

Drake watched as his mom decorated the restaurant with dollar store decorations for his grad party disdainfully before going outside to chat with his friends, who'd only been invited because Drake had invited them. Once everyone had eaten Drake opened the grad presents, which culminated with a gift from his parents that was contained in a normal letter envelope . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Drake was puzzled. He’d expected a box or a gift bag containing some more of the kitsch that had been placed on the table next to the one he was at in which would be a gooey, sentimental card — wholly Mom’s doing — that would contain a cheque or a few dollar bills.

Dad took the envelope from Mom and very seriously handed it to Drake over Hayden’s head while Hayden cowered down close to the table, not wanting to get touched by Dad’s arm.

Feeling somewhat wary, Drake took the envelope and looked it all over.

Mom’s familiar hand spelled Drake roughly in the middle on the front side, the back flap was completely sealed — as Mom always did — which annoyed Drake, who honestly wished greeting card companies would only put a little dot of sealant on their cards, except that he knew a lot of people sent them through the mail, and thus wanted or needed to seal the whole thing.

Rhys produced a jackknife before Drake could even think of looking around for something to open the envelope with and Drake took it, sliding it into the small opening at the edge of the flap that all envelopes had, lest the things be completely impossible to open without damaging the contents.

The envelope open, Drake gave Rhys his knife back and drew out one single sheet of paper that was folded into neat thirds. It was printer paper, not lined paper, and when Drake lifted the top third he found it was printed with a letterhead from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Drake furrowed his brow and started reading the text underneath. Horror slowly constricted his stomach until Drake felt like it was the size of a pea as he read over the words of the letter, which was signed by the head of admissions for the school — which abbreviated its name to SAIT.

It was an acceptance letter telling him that he was enrolled in the autumn for a two-year program in cooking.

“What is it?” Calder whispered, looking concerned.

Drake pried his eyes from the letter and handed it over to Calder, who read it over, an expression of shock and upset coming over his face before he handed it off to Rhys, who reacted similarly, as did Hayden when he received the letter from Rhys.

“What?” Hayden asked. “This isn’t–”

Waving his hand low over the table, Drake looked at Hayden seriously and then looked up at Dad, who looked expectant and, it seemed, moderately smug.

“Thank you,” Drake said, trying not to choke on the words in spite of the fact that both rage and agony wanted to consume him. “I really appreciate this.”