“I wanted to talk about something really important and I don’t want you to say anything until I’m done, okay?” You stood in front of your father, who lounged on his side of the loveseat with a book in his hands.

He sighed and set the book down, taking off his glasses. “What is it, darling?”

You sat straight up next to him. “You know how I’m about to graduate and everyone’s preparing for college. I know you said that you don’t trust me going and it’s a lot of money, but I applied to a few places and…got in. All of them accepted me with pretty good scholarship packages.” Your heart raced the more you spoke. You knew that he would be mad at you for keeping the whole application thing a secret, but you figured that he would come around and allow you to go.

Silence fell upon the both of you as he tried to process your words. “You’re not going.”