The Year We Became Invincible

by Mae Coyiuto

  I was having all these deep thoughts at midnight when I got the message.

  “Come out.”

  Ian was there outside my house. He stood there with his arms crossed, smiling at me. I smiled back.

  “To what do I owe this pleasure?” I asked.

  “I wanted you to be the first one to know,” Ian said. He handed me a piece of paper. It was a printout of an email:

  “Greetings!

  Thank you for your recent email regarding your wish to attend the University of Virginia. We can’t wait to see you in the fall.”

  I was so thrilled, excited, and all those happy emotions that made me want to embrace Ian, so I did. Then I realized that I wasn’t sure if we were in that stage where it was okay to hug, so I let go.

  “I didn’t know if you would believe me if I didn’t have physical proof that I was signing off my soul,” Ian said.

  “I thought you weren’t the type of person who goes to college.”

  “It has recently come to my attention that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve heard that this place called college has something to do with learning, teaching…that sort of thing.”

  “Those professors in Virginia must be crazy good if they’re going to teach you something you don’t already know,” I laughed.

  “You did,” he said. “Thank you.”

  “Any time.” I handed back the paper to him. “You should keep this. I think Rica will need proof when you tell her.”

  “Yeah, I’m never going to hear the end of it.” He walked over to his car and climbed in. “I’ll see you then.”

  I had so much to tell him, but I had no idea how I could articulate all the thoughts in my head. I ended up saying, “I’ll see you.”

  I was about to go back in the house when I heard the door of his car slam.

  “Hey, Cam!”

  I turned around, and he was standing right in front of me.

  “Is it okay if I kiss you?”

  I nodded. He literally lifted me off my feet, but quickly dropped me. “Damn my back. I was supposed to carry you, and it would be all romantic and perfect…”

  I put my hands on his face. “Perfect is overrated.” He kissed me, and I couldn’t imagine anything better.

  “What happens when I leave?” Ian asked.

  “We’ll figure it out when it happens. It’s not like we have a life plan.”

  He had the biggest smile and said, “I have another question.”

  “What?”

  “Do you want to go on an adventure?”

  It looked exactly like it did months ago: the circle drawn in chalk, the immense amount of junk food, and the same five people.

  “Not that I don’t enjoy getting woken up at 2AM, but what’s the emergency?” Gabby asked.

  I glared at Ian and said, “You told them it was an emergency?”

  “How else would you get them to wake up?”

  “Okay, it’s not an emergency, more like an announcement. Guess who’s going to be a member of the University of Virginia class of 2016?”

  Ian raised his hand, and I thought Gabby was going to wake up the whole town. “No way!” she screamed.

  “Those poor students,” Rica said.

  “In any other time, this would be the biggest news. But I can’t disregard the feat of this noble gentleman.” Ian patted Felix on the back. “He proved the impossible. He found that there is actually a beating heart inside Rica, the legendary Ice Princess.”

  “Shut up, Ian,” Rica said as she cuddled closer to Felix, and he put his arm around her.

  We stayed there and talked about anything and everything. Before we knew it, light was peering in through the windows, and we climbed up to the roof to watch the sunrise.

  There are some people who know exactly who they want to be, and there are some people who have no idea. I’m still trying to figure out which one of the two I fall under. I don’t have all the answers right now (I actually have more questions than answers), but what I do know is that I’m lucky to be loved. Maybe, I am too young to know what real love is. Love may be a different thing for my parents. Five years from now, love may be a different thing for me. But dancing out of pure passion in front of the people I care about, having dinner with my family, laughing in the classroom with the Invincibles—that felt like love to me.

  I may have met you already, and you might still be a complete stranger to me. Writing to you has been great. You’ve really been there for me a lot. But one thing I learned from this rollercoaster of a year is that I don’t need you to experience what love is. I also don’t need to wait for you to live my life. My life doesn’t start when I meet you, my life has already started, and it’s a constant surprise. Someday, I’m going to share this life with you, but I’m not going to wait until then.

  Maybe, I'll always be the girl who loves planning and who loves her fantasies, but I don't think I need to hear it from you to know that everything will be okay. As I look at my life outside all of these fantasies—it's pretty great. Even if all my plans don't push through and my fantasies remain as fantasies, I still have all of this. And when we do meet, I think it would be better if you got to know me by spending time with me, rather than reading letters. I think that would be more interesting, don’t you?

  Looking forward to meet you,

  See you soon,

  Camille

  GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR BOOK CLUB DISCUSSIONS

  Are you fond of writing letters? What does writing letters to a future partner say about Camille’s character?

  What do you think happens to Camille after the last page of the book?

  What does Camille mean when she says she feels invincible? Have you ever experienced this feeling?

  What happened to Lea? Do you agree when Camille said, “Sometimes you didn’t really have to know in order to understand?”

  Throughout the book, Camille shares a lot of ups and downs with her commitment to ballet. Have you experienced a similar struggle?

  Do you agree with Camille’s dad when he said, “You’re too young to know what real love is?” Do you think the relationships these characters in high school have in the book are all “puppy love?”

  Are you more like Camille with her love of planning for the future or Ian with his “living impromptu” philosophy? Do you agree with Ian when he said that they are very different people?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Mae, or more formally known as Samantha Mae Coyiuto, wrote her first story at the age of six. Since then, she has released a series of three children’s books and a collection of young-adult short stories entitled Flight to the Stars. Mae is also the founder of the "Are You READy?" foundation, which helped put up a library in a Habitat for Humanity community in Navotas. She currently bounces back and forth between the Philippines and California, where she is pursuing her degree in psychology. She hopes to finish sometime soon and is looking forward to a life of constant surprise. To learn more about Mae and her stories, you can follow her on Twitter @maecoyiuto or check out her website maecoyiutowrites.com.