Chương 9: CHOOSING AN OPTION

"Grandma, why don't you stop setting up your stall for a while? Your health is more important, and I will soon be prepared for the college entrance exams. Can you please stay home and cook for me all day?" I find the school cafeteria food tasteless, I long to eat at home…"

Hearing Amaranta Cid's sweet and honeyed words, her grandmother looked at her and said calmly: "Amaranta, don't put too much pressure on yourself!"

Amaranta Cid raised her head to see her grandmother. "Grandma," he replied, "I must gain admission to an accredited university and apply for scholarships, to pay for everything necessary, such as tuition and housing. Once I obtain everything necessary, I will take you on vacation. As you have never seen the ocean, I'll take you there, and we can eat some nice seafood."

Seeing that Amaranta Cid had recovered her spirit, the grandmother was overflowing with happiness as she responded: "It's okay. Very good."

After eating, Amaranta Cid got on her bicycle and headed to school.

The school looked like she had in the past: a small five-story red brick building.

Amaranta's classroom was on the first floor. Upon entering the classroom, she sat at her assigned desk. The boy with glasses who shared it with her was already there, reading.

In her previous life, she did not do well in her college entrance exams.

And because of that, her grandmother Mary had had to swallow her pride and travel to the city of Granada to beg Amaranta's biological father to find her a place at a university…

Remembering the person she had been in her previous life, Amaranta Cid violently shook her head, vowing to never repeat the stupid mistakes she had made in this new life.

The girl who sat in front of Amaranta Cid turned around to ask her about her grandmother, looking worried. "Amaranta, I heard your grandmother is sick. How is she?"

"She's not bad." She responded with a thin and sad voice.

Looking at Amaranta Cid, the girl asked: "What's wrong with you today?"

"I spent the whole night at my grandmother's bed in the hospital and didn't get much sleep."

Placing her backpack on her desk, Amaranta Cid walked directly to Mariana Cid's side and gently knocked on her desk.

"Mariana, when school ends today, please go home and tell your mother not to harbor any guajiro dreams on my family's property!"

Staring at her, Mariana replied: "Amaranta Cid, stop accusing people with your baseless lies!"

"Last night, your mother took my grandmother to the hospital. Because of her dirty lies. Mariana Cid, I'm telling you now, you and your family better pray for my grandmother to recover soon. Otherwise, I, Amaranta Cid, I swear on my life that your entire family will not have peace, in this life and in the following ones…" Amaranta Cid declared, her eyes shining with hostility, annoyance, and anger.

Shuddering, Mariana Cid realized that she, in fact, was secretly afraid of Amaranta Cid. —"Amaranta Cid, your grandmother is old, so it's normal that she gets sick easily and ends up in the hospital. Don't blame my mother for everything under the sun."

However, Mariana Cid, she did feel guilty about it. When she returned home the previous afternoon, her mother noticed that she had been crying and asked her why. She then told her mother what had happened at school.

After that, her mother left her, but she had no idea that her mother had gone to see Amaranta Cid's grandmother, much less that she had caused her such discomfort as to send her to the hospital.

"Mariana, hasn't your mother always been proud of you, bragging about how well you do in school? When the time comes, don't forget to invite your mother to come watch you do the bunny hop in front of everyone!" the school!!, she will be infinitely proud to see you make a fool of yourself in front of the entire school" -

Amaranta sentenced bluntly, having made her brutal little speech, Amaranta Cid returned to her own desk.

Keeping her head very low, her tears fell, drop after drop, from her eyes.

In her previous life, her college graduation certificate had literally been paid for by the Santamarina family. Since she didn't pass any subjects, they simply bought her certificate from any university, paying for her to be promoted.

Then, when she became Oscar Roing's wife, and not wanting to be an embarrassment to her husband, she had hired a foreign language teacher to teach her English and several other languages, as well as teachers to train her in other languages. Topics.

Thinking back, at this age in her previous life, she was simply a pretty face with no knowledge or ability. In short, she is a completely stupid and naive small-town girl.

Like a beautiful empty head full of a

go. With an empty head and subject to ridicule.

No wonder no one had believed him when that incident occurred!

Wiping away her tears, Amaranta Cid held her head high and opened her textbook to study.

Besides English, she felt completely lost in all of her subjects. Everything was like reading in Chinese to her.

With only three short months until the college entrance exams, he had to stand up and work very hard to give it a serious chance, to get good grades in the college entrance exams and be in a position to control his own destiny. .

Staying standing and strong is the most important thing at this moment, she cannot afford to fall and not get up, time is pressing for her right now, nothing and no one can stop her from changing things, so as not to repeat the mistakes made in her life. Past life, no more unnecessary help from the Santamarina family, no more trusting Óscar Roing, no more believing that they support her in exchange for nothing, it is exclusively her and no one else.

Amaranta Cid began her arduous journey of preparation for the university entrance exams, sleeping only four hours each day.

She spent all her time memorizing her books, even during meals, when she went to the bathroom, and while she walked.

Her homeroom teacher, seeing how hard she was working, went out of her way to make sure she was well-supported.

But Amaranta's grandmother's collapse hung over her head like dark, ominous clouds that refused to disperse; it always made her chest squeeze just imagining her grandmother, back in the hospital, collapsing.

After some thought, Amaranta decided that first she had to earn some money to send her grandmother for a medical check-up at the hospital in the city of Granada. However, how was she going to make money? Was the crux of the matter.

How could she earn money and, at the same time, ensure that her studies were not affected? It was very complicated considering how little she could do in the small town where she was located right now.

"Amaranta, why is it that since your last bet with Mariana you have suddenly become someone who loves to study?" the boy who sat next to her in the classroom asked her why couldn't he remember his name?

Sitting next to a flower bed on the school grounds, Ella Amaranta held a half-eaten red apple in her hand, balancing a Chemistry lesson guide on her lap.

"I want to be a good granddaughter, of whom my grandmother is proud. I don't want her to have to worry about me in her advanced age, but rather to be of help to her, to be the one who takes care of her in her last years and doesn't have to work more, to take care of me." She responded with such confidence that the boy was stunned by such a statement.

Amaranta looked at Carlos Sánchez, who was dressed in his school uniform and looked impeccable.

She vaguely remembered that Carlos had studied at a private university.

After he started working, someone played matchmaker, which resulted in him marrying a local public official.

Life after marriage was not ideal, as Carlos Sánchez was often mocked by the family of his public servant wife for having a better job than him.

In a particularly violent incident, Carlos Sánchez ended up dying at the hands of his in-laws.

After the death of Carlos Sánchez, his family made a big fuss, and the incident exploded, and he became the talk of the town and reached the city of Granada.

In the end, his wife's family paid Carlos Sánchez's family a large sum of money.

Carlos's family used the money to renovate a three-story house for his younger brother, buy him a car, and arrange for him to get married.

His family continued to live happily and harmoniously, and the sad story of his deceased son seemed to have been intentionally forgotten.

"My mother says, what's the point of studying so hard? A girl will eventually get married once she's twenty!" Carlos announced, objecting to working too hard for exams.

Silently, Amaranta felt sorry for Carlos Sánchez and resolved to help change his destiny too, she would not let him die in a way as foolish as he died, she would not allow him to get married in this lost town.

"Carlos, maybe your mother is right. All women will eventually get married, but think about it. If you go to college, as a woman, you could marry someone who has a degree. If you are just a high school graduate, or high school, "What kind of man can you marry? People say that for a woman, marriage is like being born again. What woman doesn't want to be able to marry well?"

However, Carlos didn't seem to understand what Amaranta was trying to say.

"But just because I want to marry well doesn't mean I can really do it, right?"

"However, why not? Carlos, think about it. What if you could earn ten thousand a month? Would you be willing to marry someone who only earned a thousand a month? If you made ten thousand, you could marry a woman who earned ten thousand... We don't have to look too far to see this. Just look around us. She is the kind of woman every man dreams of.

Take a look at who she's married to: someone in the Capital City who owns a house and drives her own car. And she, too, has been transferred to work in the country's capital... If you are happy with the way things are, you can't see the light through eyes that don't want to open. Think about it. Do you see any good women around you?"

Deeply thoughtful, Carlos Sánchez seemed to have understood her. Amaranta Cid did not interrupt Carlos Sánchez in her thoughts. Instead, she felt sympathy for him. She had been given the chance to start over, but Carlos Sánchez had not had a second chance, she had a present and a now in his own hands...

If only she could somehow give Carlos a hand, she would be doing a good deed and building his treasure trove of blessings.

Amaranta Cid had originally planned to return to the classroom, but halfway there she stopped, having decided that she should have a backup plan.

What should she do if she did not do as well as she expected on the college entrance exams? Ella Amaranta recalled that some art academies did not have exceptionally high entrance scores for cultural subjects.

So she should definitely try to sit for the entrance exams for art academies.

Standing in front of the door to the teacher's office, Amaranta gave a quick knock on the door, to which someone responded, "Come in!"

"Mr. Rodriguez, I have a question."

Amaranta looked respectfully at his classroom teacher, Mr. Rodríguez.

Nodding, Mr. Rodríguez asked, "Amaranta Cid, what is it?"

"Sir, I wanted to ask if I could apply to Capital University and Capital Film Academy at the same time?"

While Mr. Rodríguez contemplated her question and did not respond, Amaranta continued: -"Mr. Rodríguez, as you know, I realized my mistake too late, and although I have been working very hard, I am not sure that I will reach the Capital city's main university. So, I'm thinking, would it be possible for me to apply to sit for the Film Academy entrance exams in the city of LA?"

The High School in the town of Deifon, Amaranta's alma mater, was just a small school located in a small, old town. And the teachers there were definitely not as knowledgeable or worldly as those in the city. In fact, his teacher had never even heard of the LA Film Academy. I had many doubts about how I should proceed in this case, what were the steps to follow for Amaranta to enroll in that academy or if she could even aspire to appear at said school, with her limited experience in the field of art. film.

"Amaranta, you are right to worry. Of course, you can apply to take the entrance exams for the Film Academy if you wish. But to be sure that you can be an applicant for a call to this academy, let's do this. What "How about I call the Department of Education later to find out if they know what to do and how to apply?"

This is how Amaranta Cid was waiting for an accurate response from Mr. Rodríguez, to have a second option if she could enter the main University of the great capital city...

THE DREAMED CITY.