Chapter 5

                                            

"Celeste!" I heard my mother shout. I walked out of the kitchen, wiping my hands on the apron that I was wearing. My hair was tied up, my cheeks were dusted with flour, and I looked ridiculous.

"Yeah?" I looked at her while she stood in the doorway. There was a postman at the door holding an envelope with him.

I went towards them so that I could sign for the package and see what it was. The postman handed over the package and left without saying a word. I shut the door close while my mother looked at me expectantly for an answer.

The envelope was white in colour, with my name on it. I ripped it open to see that it was a letter from the University of Edinburgh. My heart skipped a beat, and I felt the nervousness kicking in. What if it said that I didn't get in? I felt the urge to sit, this was the letter that would either be a sweet fruit for all my troubles that I went through, or it would be another one of my huge disappointments.

"Open it." I heard my mother say. I gave her a slight nod, and I slowly broke the seal.

My eyes glanced over the basic introductions but widened when they read one line-  I made it. I was able to get a seat in this prestigious university and for the course of my choice. I was on cloud nine.

"I got in!" I exclaimed my arms up in the air and a huge smile on my face.

"I am so proud of you!" My mother told me, hugging me. I felt like I could finally take a deep breath. After a year and a half did I finally get what I had prayed for.

"Guess what? I just received the acceptance letter from Edinburgh." I quickly texted my friends. I soon had to go about saying thank you for all the congratulations messages that were flooding my phone.

I went up to my room and pulled out my planner from my pile of books and ticked off the 'get into the university' section. Step 3 was over, and a few more steps to be completed.

Now I had to get all my financials and other things in place. I wanted to call up Phoebe and Alexandra about their letters so that we could start planning for the apartments. Yes, we three had decided to live together till we finished our masters and maybe for a little more while. It was a good strategy to do so it would make things much easier. I decided to ask them later about it if they had received it they would have told me about it. It was not right of me to just rub it in their faces that I got it before them. I switched on my laptop and started browsing through the apartment options, and noted down the contact details of a few real estate owners.

Although I knew that now I could give myself at least a day to rest, but yet there was so much stuff to be done and not much time left before I had to fly. So I did what I did always - keep myself busy with the things that were to be done.

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"I have a few apartments that I have already shortlisted for you girls. I am pretty sure that you will like them all. Once you reach here, you can have a physical look at those, and we can get the paperwork done right away." Mr Robin, says through the speakerphone.

"Sounds great. Our flight tickets are booked for the 28th of August. We will contact you as soon as we reach Edinburgh." Alexandra replies, next to me. 

We say goodbye to Robin and end the call. Alexandra and Phoebe had received their acceptance letter a week after mine. Robin was a real estate agent that we had gotten in touch with to help us with the apartment for our duration of stay in Edinburgh. He was a very sweet man, and he was helping us a lot with the whole apartment searching and stuff.

"Okay. So we have this thing also sorted, now we only have to do the packing, shopping and wrap up with all the other minute details." I added. They both nodded their heads, and a wide smile broke out on our faces. We were doing this!

"Okay so three months until we fly out of this country and a week before graduation," Phoebe adds. I was hoping that these three months would go by faster.

"We will finally get to see Celeste in a saree," Alexandra adds. I vigorously shake my head.

"I am wearing a dress if I can't wear a dress I am skipping graduation!" I reply stubbornly. Sarees weren't just my thing. I know it was a typical Indian girl thing to want to wear a saree but I already wore it twice (and that's because it was 10 and 12th grade, and it was compulsory to wear the saree they provided for graduation. Basically I was forced to wear it and I hated every second of it.)

"You can't skip graduation!" Phoebe added, rolling her eyes.

"Watch me," I replied. I didn't get the hype around sarees really. It just felt soo weird to wear one. I could go ahead and wear the heaviest gown ever made, but never wear a saree. I guess I wasn't completely desi in that aspect, the very reason why my friends called me a white-washed brown girl, I guess I truly was one.

"Okay fine, wear your dress. But don't miss graduation." Alexandra added, shaking her head at me.

"I think I should head home now," I commented after a while. We were at Alexandra's house; her house was in the middle whereas Phoebe's and mine were on the opposite sides of the city.

"I should probably leave too!" Phoebe added. Alexandra nodded her head, and we packed our bags.

"See you guys in 15 days time," Alexandra adds, giving us a hug and waving us goodbye.

Both me and Phoebe make our way to the bus stops, both of us going on our opposite ways. I let out a breath, in three months time, I would finally be out of this place and get a chance to start fresh. I hope Scotland would treat me much better than this place, both mentally and physically. God knows since how long I have been craving for a break.

I plug in my earphones and ignore the noises around me.