Gretchen was sitting in her room Sunday evening, working on her calculus homework that wasn't due until that Wednesday, when there was a knock on her door. A second later Spinelli entered.

"Hey," Gretchen smiled.

"Hey," Spinelli replied. "Your mom let me in. What're you doing?"

"Homework," Gretchen answered. "And then I was thinking I would start looking into some scholarships."

"Gretch, you need to chill," Spinelli smiled, rolling her eyes. "But, um, I-I actually came over here to talk to you about college…"

"What's up?" Gretchen asked.

"Well, you're like an expert on every college," Spinelli said. "So I was wondering…have you heard anything about NYU?"

"New York University?" Gretchen said. "It's a great school. It always ranks pretty high in terms of academics, and it has an excellent study abroad program."

"What about it's law department?" Spinelli asked.

"One of the best in the country," Gretchen replied. "Why?"

"Well, I-I was sort of thinking of applying there," Spinelli admitted. "I know before I kept saying I wanted to study art, but I've been thinking about it for awhile now, and I'm actually getting really interested in all this legal junk. It's pretty cool."

"I didn't know that," Gretchen grinned. "You should try out for the debate team! We're having try-outs next week."

"Eh, maybe," Spinelli shrugged.

"Wait, so are you saying you want to apply to NYU?" Gretchen asked.

"I downloaded the application from the website last night," Spinelli said softly.

"Well that's great then," Gretchen said. "Make sure you tell T.J. to do that too. They're due in just a couple of months."

"About that…" Spinelli said. "I haven't told him about this yet."

"Really?" Gretchen frowned. "But I thought you guys had this whole big plan to apply to all the same colleges and go where you get into together."

"I know," Spinelli sighed. "But-Okay, this is going to sound horrible, but I-maybe it isn't such a good idea for us to go to the same college."

"Aren't things good between you?" Gretchen asked.

"Yeah! Things are great," Spinelli nodded. "That's the thing. We're so happy together right now…what if we go to college next year and things fall apart between us."

"You really think that would happen?" Gretchen questioned.

"Think about it," Spinelli said. "If me and T.J. go off to the same college, it's gonna be just us. None of you guys around! We'll literally be spending all our time together; 24/7!"

"Oh," Gretchen said understandingly.

"I mean, I love T.J.," Spinelli said. "But come on, I don't want to spend every waking second of my college life with him! I want to have at least a little time to myself. I'd rather us have to deal with a long distance relationship and look forward to seeing each other when we get a chance to then spending so much time together at school that we start to get annoyed with each other."

"But Spin," Gretchen reasoned. "You and T.J. have been together three years here. You see him almost every day, you live down the street from him. You really think it will be that different from how it is now?"

"I told you, here T.J. and I have you guys," Spinelli said. "At school, we hang out with you guys. After school, we hang out with you guys. Sure, we have our 'alone time' together and stuff, but we don't have to rely on only each other for, you know, socialization. He hangs out with Vince and the guys some weekends, and we do our things."

"You guys will make your own friends too," Gretchen told her.

"Will we?" Spinelli said. "People don't try and make friends with couples, Gretch. Couples try and make friends with couples. We'll have all couple friends and have to go on double dates and sit around talking about how much we all just love each other! I'm getting sick just thinking about it!"

"Okay, now you're overreacting," Gretchen said. "But…I do get not wanting to be forced to go to a certain college just because T.J.'s going. You should go where you want to go."

"Thanks," Spinelli sighed.

"But you have to talk to T.J. about it," Gretchen said.

"Ugh, do I really?" Spinelli moaned.

"Well I think he'll probably figure something's up if he's sitting in a dorm at University of Arkansas and you're thousands of miles away in New York," Gretchen pointed out.

"But he'll be so sad," Spinelli muttered.

"He'll understand," Gretchen said. "He loves you and wants you go be happy."

…..

Gus nervously climbed downstairs. His father was hanging up his jacket by the front door.

"Hi dad," Gus said, his heart pounding out of his chest.

"Evening, son," his dad replied. "Alice?" he called out to Gus's mother. "Is dinner ready? I'm starved."

"It's on the table," his mom replied, poking her head out of the kitchen. "I'll be in there in just a second."

"What a day," Gus's father sighed, taking his seat at the head of the table. Then he chuckled. "Of course, soon you'll be seeing for yourself just how demanding the life of an army man can be."

"Um, right," Gus said as he watched his dad piled mashed potatoes onto his plate. "About that, dad. I sort of wanted to talk to you about that."

"I know what this is about," Gus's dad nodded, pouring gravy onto his plate.

"You-You do?" Gus frowned.

"Of course, went through the same thing when I was your age," he said as his wife joined them at the table. "You can't decide if you want to go to boot camp on the east coast or the west coast."

"Oh," Gus said, his hopes falling. "That's-That's not exactly-"

"Personally, I'd vote for the west coast," his dad continued. "Much better commanders. However you need to make the decision on your own. It's your life after all."

"Um, hold onto that thought," Gus said slowly. He glanced over at his mom, who was looking down at her plate. Gus suspected that she knew about his hesitance to go into the army and she, like him, knew there would be a blowout.

"How would you feel," Gus started, feeling as if he were just about to poke a sleeping bull in the eye. "If I, you know, didn't go into the army?"

Gus's dad frowned. "Why wouldn't you want to go into the army?"

"Well because I just sort of-"

"Do you want to go into the Navy instead?" he demanded. "The Air Force? Oh, Gus, the Griswalds have always been army men!"

"Dad, I don't want to go into the Navy or Air Force!" Gus said quickly.

"Well then for Pete's sake, Gus, don't scare an old man like that," his dad said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I-I don't want to go into the army either," Gus added quietly.

His father looked up from cutting his chicken. "Excuse me?"

"I don't want to go into the army, dad," he said again.

His father looked as though someone had just slapped him across the face.

"I want to go to college, dad," Gus continued. "I want to study architecture. I already sent in applications for University of Arkansas, Penn State-"

"And where's the pride in that?" his dad said harshly, slamming his fork down. "Huh?"

"Chet, please," his mom said softly. "Let's all just calm down and-"

"Do you think when I took you to tour all those army camps when you were a kid, that I was doing it for fun?" Chet exploded, ignoring his wife. "I've built your life for the army ever since you were a boy!"

"Well I never asked you to do that!" Gus said hotly, getting to his feet. "Did you ever ask me if I wanted to go into the army, dad? Did you? No! You didn't! You just assumed I would follow in your footsteps! But I want to have my own life, dad! I want to go to college and become and architect, and I'm going to do it! With or without your support!"

Gus's father stared at him for a moment, before, pushing his chair back and getting it up. "Then you'll be doing it without it," he said coldly, and headed out of the room.

"Chet! Wait! Don't do this!" his mother pleaded, but a second later, her and Gus heard the front door slam closed, and his car engine roared to life.