The ACT was already $60, $85 if she took the essay, which she was probably going to have to do if she wanted to apply to the schools that she wanted to get into.
온라인카지노주소 college applications were about $40-$50. And now it wasn't the worst thing for Collins to go to one to complete her general credits and save a least a little bit of money, it just wasn't ideal. If she went to a community college, Collins knew that deep down, there was a chance that she would end up settling. She would take whatever job she could get in the 2-3 years of education, just to start making money instead of pursuing her original goal and then she'd spend the rest of her life trying to convince herself that she made the right decision to suppress the regret. 
So of course, she needed options if she intended on attending a four-year university. Preferably, a place that she wouldn't hate her life at. There was only one school that had been on Collins's mind since she started looking into her future. Duke University was her top pick; it was fairly close to home, they had a great medical program, and she would be way up there on the road to success if she were to be accepted. 
The application fee was $85, but the tuition was the real kicker. Not to mention room and board? The costs racked up in debts that it was almost laughable from how out of depth it was from Collins's finances. Maybe if Charlie knew about it he would be more understanding. Even with scholarships, they were out of their league. 
Until Charlie came to terms with that notion, Collins was just going to have to keep up with their routine. While Charlie went to work to handle fishing hooks and crab traps, Collins was left to the books. That was the way things were so that was how it would continue to be-- at least until she convinced him otherwise. Due diligence, that was Collins's approach to things.
It was a quiet ride on the way to the library for Collins and Charlie. And it usually was since the wind always made it hard to hear each other, especially when Collins had a helmet on, but the silence was particularly loud that day. The fact that she knew it was because Charlie was in no mood for conversation made her feel a bit more uneasy. When Charlie was in a bad mood, it was like the world turned grayer, laughter went quiet, and spirits fell harder. It just wasn't the same when he wasn't his usual upbeat self. 
As Charlie slowed his motorcycle down to a halt in front of the library steps, Collins slid off and handed him the helmet. "See you in a couple hours, try to work quick in case Agatha decides to visit early." 
 She never liked to leave things tense between them, it gave her an uncomfortable feeling that didn't go away until it was resolved and she knew that Charlie probably wasn't going to work as well either with weighing matters on his mind. Charlie nodded with his lips pressed tightly, before the engine rumbled and he was riding off down to the fishing docks. Collins watched him until he disappeared into nothing but a speck in the far distance, before she turned to walk up the row of steps into Kildare's public library.
There were very few places where Collins felt safe. Life on the cut wasn't always very assuring of her safety, like seriously, they had a neighbor on one side that had been convicted of several violent crimes that had put his victims in wheelchairs, and on another side, they had a registered sex offender who claimed that he'd only been caught in a car with his girlfriend by a night watchman but he had children's toys on his porch with no kids. Needless to say, that even at home, Collins didn't feel like those thin walls protected her from the dangers lurking outside.
However, for a place that smelled like mildew and could use some serious renovations to update their facilities that'd been established in the near 1920s, Kildare's library was pretty up there in places where she felt out of harm's way. She liked sitting in between the book stacks and spending the day studying a good book. She'd read some of her favorites in just one day during those times, and she'd been content. The building acted as a sort of escape for Collins because one of her favorite things about it was the quiet.