Disclaimer: I do not own Kendall Knight, Mrs. Knight, or any of the colleges used in this story.
Kendall groaned in frustration as he tore open yet another letter. He scanned through the letter, leg twitching and beads of sweat building on his hairline.
"Who qualify academically, we regret that your application for admission was not approved." He grunted as he tossed the letter aside and leaned back in his seat.
Well, that made 6 rejections- out of the 8 colleges he applied to.
His counselor had suggested he expand into many colleges, but Kendall being his normal stubborn self did the opposite. After 6 letters rejecting him, the thought of what he would do if he got into no college was now weighing heavily on his mind. Stanford, UConn, Duke, BU, NYU and Notre Dame down; UCLA and Arizona State left.
He didn't mind either or. It's not like he really has the option of being picky now. Both schools were geographically located in places with year-round warm weather.
Weather was a big decision factor in his application process. He hated the artic-like city he'd been calling home for nearly six years. Vancouver, Canada- the city he was forced into living. Kendall's mother, Jennifer, up-rooted both her children from their cozy Sherwood, Minnesota home after getting an "irresistible" job offer when Kendall was just 12 years old.
He was now 18 years old and applying for college. He wouldn't be going to college with his best friends like he'd always planned.
Since diapers he'd had a tight knit friendship with Logan Mitchell, the brains of the group, Carlos Garcia, the daredevil, James Diamond, the "pretty" boy, and he himself, Kendall Knight, the leader. Logan would now be moving up-state to go to some expensive medical school, Carlos would be attending police training to follow in his fathers' footsteps and becoming the town's chief officer, and James would be moving to Los Angeles to chase his dream of becoming famous, a dream the rest of the boys would taunt him for.
The corners of Kendall's lips turned up into a sly grin as he reminisced in memories of his three former best friends. They'd all played hockey together since pee-wee league.
Hockey had always been Kendall's favorite sport, in fact, his career goal was to play for center for the Minnesota Wild or the Maple Leaves, he wouldn't mind playing for them. Flashbacks of broken bones, fights on the ice, and victory dinners faded as he picked up the next envelope.
Arizona State. He inhaled sharply before tearing the seal and scanning through the letter. He crumpled the paper in his fist as he stare at the last envelope that lay propped against his keyboard, his nerves now getting the best of him. "Fiat Lux" was printed in a cursive font across the top left hand corner of the small white rectangle. He scoffed, picking up the envelope in his now shaking hands.
"I can be a hockey player without a degree, who even needs one." He mumbled as he pulled the folded letter from the envelope.
"I could always go in the army." He pursed his lips, nodding his head slightly at the thought.
He took yet another deep breath as he read through the letter. It was as if a thousand small insects had busted from their cocoons, and were now fluttering about in his stomach and up his throat as he whipped the page back and forth through the air, bolting from his room and down the stairs, nearly tripping over his own feet. His face was flushed, dimples dented in his cheeks, and a wide smile painted across his features. Acceptance. His whole world was spinning as he made his way to the kitchen counter, leaning against it for support as he panted, and still waving the letter through the air he called for the attention of the tall, slim woman who stood washing dishes. She turned at the sound of her wooden stool hitting the floor, Kendall strung out above it.
"Accepted, I'm-I'm in." He exclaimed, still trying to catch his breath. He wasn't going to lie; he was relieved at the fact that he wouldn't have to worry about a plan b.
"UCLA, that's pretty far Kenny." She spoke, her voice quivering slightly.
"It's not like I'm not going to visit." He argued gently, putting the stool in its proper position and taking a seat on it.
She sighed heavily, turning back to her dishes.
"Couldn't you go somewhere a bit closer? There are plenty of local colleges that have excellent hockey programs."
"Mom, this isn't even about hockey. I need to get out of here, this city; it's not where I'm meant to be. You gotta let me fly from the nest." He knitted his eyebrows at his last statement, questioning now why he even let the words even spill from his lips. He sounded like some character out of a cheesy lifetime movie.
"That's much easier said than done, Kendall." She slammed a plastic bowl into the strainer and turned her attention back to her son.
"Come on mom, let's not be dramatic."
"You have to promise to visit for every holiday. Even the small ones; like my birthday, and Katie's, even Sissy's."
"Yeah, sure." He kept his attention on his old worn out vans that covered his feet as he spoke.
"Kendall Donald Knight, you look at me, and promise."
Surveying the room, Kendall stood. "Mom, there's no camera crew here, so you can cut it out with that classic over-protective mother role." Jennifer had always wanted to be in movies, TV, commercials, anything. He swore she began playing out perfect melodramatic movie scenes after discovering the lifetime and hallmark movies.
She rested her hands on her hips, lips set in a slight pout as he made his way back upstairs.
It was now the summer before college began. Kendall was already settled into his own off-campus apartment. He'd thought about living in a dorm, but decided on an apartment. He enjoyed having his own space and not having to shower with a bunch of other random guys.
The sun settled on his skin as he sat relaxed on his porch watching the people below. Los Angeles was a busy city and he got his kicks out of watching some of the characters of the city walk down the street. He'd seen some pretty strange people in his 18 years of living, but it wasn't until he moved out here that he saw these strangely unique beings. It was like this city was full of misfits, the famous, and the dreamers. What would he consider himself out of those categories? He wasn't exactly a misfits and definitely not famous. Kendall, a dreamer? He was amused at the thought. Never was he the one to dream much, he was more of a realist. Yeah, he'd dreamt of becoming some big hockey player by the end of high school, yet here he was in sunny, smoggy, Los Angeles scrolling through the UCLA freshman forum page.
There was no harm in adding some of his future classmates online and getting to know them a bit before the year begun, right?
Storm, Shade, Hope; he laughed at some of the names as he surfed the page. He froze up his eyes scanned across a familiar name. Veronica Burke.
Memories burst through the gates of his mind, flooding in like the surge of a storm.
The image of her chestnut hair, faint freckles, and band t-shirts was displayed in his mind as he typed her name into the facebook search bar. He clicked on the top result, Ronni Burke. They shared 119 mutual friends, so it had to be her.
The profile picture bemused him though. In the image stood a thin, strawberry blonde girl, and a second curvy, raven-haired girl stood beside her, arm slung around the blonde's waist, a red cup in her opposite hand. There had to be a mistake. Had it really been that long since he's seen his childhood friend?
Veronica Lee Burke. Veronica had been Kendall's best friend, of female status that is. The two met in 1st grade and soon became inseparable until Kendall's departure. She was his first kiss, his first girlfriend, which is only if you could consider someone you shared crayons and milk with, your girlfriend. She had been distraught when she received Kendall's news that he would be leaving her. It wasn't that she had no friends, just not many. She was quite shy, mostly kept to herself. She had but one other friend, Baylor, who had moved to California to pursue her dreams of acting at the mere age of 10. For the next two years Veronica was attached to Kendall's hip, not that he minded.
He clicked the image and was brought to an album full of pictures of the new mysterious Ronni. She had grown into such a beautiful girl. Her now dark hair contrasted with her icy blue orbs and olive skin tone. He flicked through each image like a slideshow, the photos serving as a timeline of her growth; a backwards timeline that is. He was sure that he'd found the right Veronica as he reached the last picture. A more familiar looking version of his former friend sat against a beige brick wall, her naturally wavy hair falling like ribbons around her face, which was lit up with her original 100 watt smile. He requested her friendship and began tapping his fingers impatiently as he awaited he response.
"Maybe she's out enjoying her summer in L.A, Knight, not sitting on facebook like you." He grumbled to himself as he closed his macbook, setting it on the table beside him. A small bing rang out from the closed device; he recognized it as the facebook chat alert. He opened the laptop giddily as he hoped it was Veronica.
Ashley Clayton was the name displayed on the minimized message, not who he expected. He rolled his eyes as he opened the instant message. It's not that he didn't like Ashley, but she didn't seem to take the hint that he didn't have an interest in dating her, or participating in the long distance relationship she offered. He hit the enter button after typing a reply.
His eyes quickly flashed to the small globe lit at the top of the open page. 1 new notification. He clicked the notification, reading it slowly over and over again.
"Ronni Burke has accepted your friend request."