Chapter 1

Freddie sat at the dining room table flipping through yesterday's mail. It hadn't been in the lobby box when he'd gotten home after school, but his mother had brought it in when she'd gotten home from her shift at the hospital. She'd gotten home late and hadn't opened any of the envelopes. Freddie found a letter from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology addressed to him, and instinctively quickly shoved it in his pocket when he heard his mother entering the room.

Marissa started picking up around the dining room and kitchen, preparing for the new day. Freddie's eyes tracked her movement between rooms. He got up from the table and started collecting his things. Marissa took note of Freddie then, and stopped to watch him pick his books up from the table.

"Oh, my baby bird is growing up and leaving the nest!" Marissa exclaimed with a hint of sadness as she pulled Freddie close to envelope him in her arms.

"Mom, I'm graduating from high school," Freddie said, trying to extricate himself from Marissa's motherly vice-like grip. "I'm just going to college. I'm not getting married."

"But, you might meet the woman you're going to marry in college," she retorted. "Freddie, promise me you'll be careful."

"Mom!"

"Oh, I watch the Lifespan Movie Channel, young man. I know about boys becoming fathers. Underage Drinking. Drugs! Ohhhh, I think I'll have to draw up some new contracts for you to sign." Having said that, Marissa left the room headed for the bathroom, muttering something unintelligible, but what Freddie suspected was some kind of legalese defining the limitations of his actions while away at college.

Freddie finished collecting his schoolwork. He checked his Pear Phone battery-life, and removed the letter from his pocket, replacing it with his phone. He fingered the edge while reading the return address from Cambridge, Massachusetts on the envelope. He hesitated for only a moment longer when his eyes fell upon his own name at the center, then ran his index finger under the envelope's flap. Careful not to cut his finger on the paper, he opened the envelope and pulled out its contents. Freddie looked around the apartment and listened for his mother, but only heard the running water from the bathroom. Looking at the letter, he started to read.

We regret to inform you that all freshmen housing has been filled. Filled. Filled? All freshmen housing. No vacancies. Freddie read the sentence over and over, each time desperately willing the meaning of the words to change. They didn't, and indeed, there was 'regret'. There was no way his mom was going to let him go to school in Boston with no place to live. He tucked the letter back in its envelope, and placed the envelope in his backpack.

He left a Post-it for his mom on the fridge, while she was in the shower, telling her he'd decided to walk to Ridgeway. He rode the elevator down the eight floors, sulking all the way. There was a brief moment, when out of habit, he'd almost called out to Carly and Spencer for a ride as they drove out of the Bushwell garage, but he caught himself, and hid behind the dumpster until they'd turned the corner out of sight. He needed to think about his situation. Alone.

No freshmen housing meant he'd have to find a place off-campus. An apartment. In a strange city. A real apartment with rent. Utilities. Groceries. Laundry…possibly somewhere a few blocks away….Coin-operated. His mom wouldn't go for that. He shook his head to clear it, as he made his way to school. Freddie's hand wouldn't rest on the strap of his backpack. He kept fiddling with it, adjusting it. It felt heavier than usual. The extra burden of the letter wearing him down.

Freddie spent most of the way in to school in a fog. He couldn't see a way out of this. Even if his mom let him go, how was he going to pay for an apartment in Boston on his own? He could get a part-time job, maybe an internship. He could get a roommate. It would be weird living with a stranger, but he supposed he could get used to it. The thought suddenly occurred to him that maybe he wasn't the only Ridgeway senior going to college in Boston. He'd have to research that. Maybe he wasn't the only one he knew who got that letter.

Freddie walked to school with a renewed sense of purpose. If there was another Ridgeway student, hopefully someone he was fairly familiar with, who was going to Boston and could room with him, everything would be perfect. When he finally reached his destination, he pushed through the doors of the high school with determination, and made a bee-line for his locker. He glanced to his left to see if Carly or Sam were at their lockers. Fortunately, they weren't. He quickly swapped books from his backpack with some from his locker, and continued towards his first class.

Hurriedly, he maneuvered himself through the hallway. Up ahead, two doors down from Ms. Briggs' English class, he caught sight of her long black hair. She was chatting with a couple of other girls against her locker. Perfect. Freddie, fueled by anticipation, sped up to catch her before the first bell. He kept his eyes on her, watched her animatedly throw her head back in laughter, presumably at some anecdote her friend was telling about her weekend.

"Kathy! Hey," Freddie called out to her, short of breath, "Kathy. Just the girl I was looking for…."