Choices

Krystal had brought home her scores for the ACT and SAT during the week, and between those scores and her high school grades, it looked like she would have the same options for college that her older brother, Ethaniel, had.

Ethaniel could have picked any university in the nation and attended on a full scholarship. Even the Ivy League schools such as Harvard in Massachusetts, Yale in Connecticut, and Princeton in Pennsylvania were not off the table as choices.

However, he had chosen to stay local to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, which meant he chose from the Southern Methodist University (SMU), Texas Christian University (TCU), University of North Texas (UNT), University of Texas in Arlington (UTA), and University of Texas in Dallas (UTD).

Picking one of the least expensive options in the area, he settled on UTD. His justification being that if anything unforeseen was to happen, he would still be able to afford to complete his first 4-year degree. A choice that made Julia, their mother, pleased.

However, Krystal wasn't satisfied with being restricted to some local university and had spent most of her weekend on filling out applications to some of the bigger names across the nation. One of her first choices was the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) that ranked within the top 15 colleges in the world.

Other than her time spend on filling out applications, she went on her date, which didn't measure up to her standards. So, another breakup was in her near future.

Seeing her older sister applying for so many out-of-state colleges had made Jasmine happy. When Krystal would leave for college, then she wouldn't be nagged as much about her performance at school. At the same time, it made her consider what she wanted to do in the future.

Maybe she could get into a school like the Chicago Art Institute or Rhode Island School of Design, but this was all still too far in her future as she hadn't even started high school yet.

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Jakob Travern would normally have the weekends off to be home with his family, but a last-minute vacation request from one of colleagues changed this. Thus, he was out driving his patrol car on the streets of the suburban city that he lived in.

When he had left the military, he had felt a little lost as it was difficult to return to civilian life after being at the front lines of the ever-continuous national conflicts. The USA didn't always start problems in other countries, but with the way the politicians on capitol hill had their hands in what felt like everyone's pockets, well it is no surprise the troops would be involved in battles for their interests.

When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die.**

[[Quote from Linkin Park's "Hands Held High" that holds a lot of truth to it and has some personal impact for me, the author.]]

Sadly, it was often the poor who served in the arm forces and Jakob's case was no different. He had been born into a small family from the countryside that was more used to wrangling horses and cattle than the bustle of a city.

His choice of going to the police academy and joining the police force was solely due to the parallels that the job had to the military. It didn't require any major adjustments that would cause undue mental strain.

There was still some sense of comradery with his fellow officers, much like there was when he was in the service. Normally, he would have a partner in his patrols, but since one of the other officers had gone on vacation, they had been split to cover more ground.

He was driving down one of the major roads near his home neighborhood when a black Hummer 2 sped past him. Its driver was clearly ignoring the posted speed limit signs. Turning on his lights, he hit the gas and quickly pursued the offender.

They pulled over about two blocks down and when Jakob got out of the patrol car with his ticket book, he could hear the thumping of blaring music in the Hummer SUV. 'How annoying. Looks like I got some punk rich kid today,' he thought as he strolled over to the driver's side.

The window rolled down to reveal a male that looked to be around his son's age. Who calmly met Jakob's hazel eyes with their own cold, grey gaze.

"License and registration," recited Jakob, as per the standards of pulling someone over.

"Officer Travern, is this really necessary?" sneered the grey-eyed man.

Surprised by the familiar address, Jakob took a second look at the man. Black hair, grey eyes and that domineering attitude... It was a bit familiar.

Seeing the officer's puzzlement, Aaron scoffed and drew out his wallet to flash his driver's license.

Instantly, Jakob remembered why this kid seemed familiar and his expression grew ugly. It was the police chief's eldest son, Aaron Johnson. 'Just my luck,' Jakob bitterly thought.

Thickening his face, he replied. "This is a new vehicle? I don't remember it."

"My parents bought it for me as a gift for getting into Texas A&M," Aaron answered with undisguised, haughty pride.

"Ah, well congratulations to you. I heard you had gotten into one of the top colleges in the state from your father but couldn't remember which one."

Snorting with disgust, Aaron looked down upon this police officer. He didn't believe for a second that Jakob didn't know where his son's rival had gone, but that was of little importance as of now.

"Am I free to go?" he asked with no shred of respect.

Angered, but unable to do anything about it, Jakob just silently nodded and walked back to the patrol car with his ticket book in hand as the Hummer 2 sped off and turned into the neighborhood not far away.