2.

MATHS A LEVEL

It has been six months and two weeks and four days since I did my maths A level. My
other book had no pages left so I am now writing in this new one. I haven’t wrote anything since
I got my results for my maths A level. Since then Mother and Father encouraged me to apply for
different universities, such as Oxford and Birmingham and Cambridge and Harvard. I do not
want to go to Harvard because it is very far from home and I will not be able to visit Father or
Mother or Sandy. Harvard is in the United States of America, and in America people act different
and are strange. I did not want to apply to Harvard, and I told Father this.

I said, “I don’t want to apply to Harvard because the people in America are different, and
I don’t like it when things are strange or different.”

And Father said, “Chris, it’s an excellent school. People from all around the world dream
of studying at Harvard.”

I shrugged.

3. I should mention now that I can trust Father again. After he hurt me I did not want to be
around him, but in the last six months I have begun trusting him again. And he got me my dog,
Sandy, which I was very thankful for. It helped me to trust him again.

It has now been exactly six weeks since I sent my applications to the different schools.
The universities emailed to thank me for my application and to say I would get my result in six
to eight weeks. I’ve been feeling sick for the last six weeks because I don’t know if I will be
accepted into any universities. It makes me feel strange and uncomfortable when I don’t know
what will happen. I have also been sick with the flu, so I also am able to see the letters from the
universities as soon as the mailman drops them off. The letters should arrive any day now, so I
have been waiting by the window to watch our mailbox with mother. Sometimes mother tells me
I’ve been waiting too long and gives me a puzzle to take my mind off of the letters. Today I
woke up at 8:32 AM, ate Mother’s scrambled eggs (which I dyed red), and sat by the window to
eat. Mother joined me seven minutes later.

She said, “Still waiting for the letters, Christopher?”

And I said, “Yes.”

And she said, “Chris, you’ve got to be patient. The letters will come eventually, don’t
worry about them.”

I nodded, but continued to look out the window. Mother sighed and got up to use the
bathroom. I learned from Siobhan that when someone does a sigh that means they can be
relieved or sad or tired. Which is confusing because you don’t know which emotion it is that they
are feeling. But I continued to sit by the window on our couch for one hour and eight minutes
when I suddenly got excited. I got excited because I saw a man in a uniform and a carry on bag
stopping in front of our house. He checked the papers in his hand and opened the gate and
walked up the steps. He looked over to the window