**Hey, everyone. The next chapter is ready. I hope you'll enjoy reading it. Please ignore if there are any mistakes in the college application and timing process. I actually don't really know how and when the applications are made and if any of what I wrote is realistic at all. I wrote it so it works with the story, so please ignore if it should be completely different from what it would be like in real life. After all this is a fictional story. Also, I can't believe this story has gotten so long already. I'm very close to 250 pages in my word document. Crazy!

So here goes Chapter 28. Enjoy.

Chapter 28: College admissions

As they had agreed they spend a part of the next day looking for colleges that offered courses they were interested in and soon had a long list of colleges and majors they could choose.

"Hey. Do you want a coffee? I could really use a break." Alex asked.

"Coffee sounds amazing. Yes, please." Piper smiled and put down her pen.

"Are you girls successful?" Diane asked when they came into the kitchen.

"I think so. I've got a long list of where I could go…" Piper started.

"Me too." Alex added.

"And do you want to apply at all of them?" Diane asked further.

"I don't think so. I guess I'll make a ranking of where I'd like to go most and then apply at the top… I don't know what would be a good number?! 5? 10?" Piper shrugged her shoulders.

"Well maybe we could compare our lists first? See where they offer something for both of us?" Alex suggested.

"Sure." Piper replied.

"What? Is that not on your priority list? I really would like to you know see each other regularly which isn't going to happen if we end up at other ends of the country?!" Alex asked a little taken aback by Pipers short reply.

"Woah. What makes you think that I'd want that? Alex, I want us to be close and it would be tremendously great if we got to go to the same college. I mean we could even live together. That would be amazing. I just don't want to get my hopes up too high that it'll work out like that, you know?" Piper explained feeling a little offended by Alex thinking she didn't want them to be near each other.

"Girls. Don't make a problem where there is none yet. I'm positive you'll find something that'll you'll both be okay with." Diane tried to calm the situation a little.

"Yeah, I just… I'm scared that … we'll end up somewhere completely different and I don't know if I can do that… Being so far away from you for so long." Alex quietly admitted.

"Don't worry, Al. We'll find colleges that are close or maybe we're so lucky to study at the same college. And if not we'll find a solution too." Piper told her and hugged her tightly.

Diane quietly watched their conversation and interaction and admired how open and mature they were. She remembered how she was at that age and how she would have reacted in a situation like that and it was far from this conversation. They all had a cup of coffee together and ate some cookies and the conversation turned to other topics.

XXXXX

The next weeks went by and they came to a decision. They had made their list and compared where they wanted to apply. Both planned to send applications to about ten colleges. Five of them were on both lists and five on each list that weren't on the others list. When they had send all their applications they were partly relieved, that they were through with applying but also anxious for when they'd have their replies and if they were positive or not. Now they'd just have to wait.

Two weeks after they had send all their applications they sat together with a couple of their friends. As so often recently the topic they were talking about was their plan for the future and where they'd like to study. Nicky was getting a little annoyed as she still had a year left before any of that was even relevant for her but she was busy with Lorna and their current fight. They had hit a rather rough patch recently and seemed to have trouble and fights on a regular basis.

"So what would your top choice be out of all the colleges you applied at?" Polly asked Piper.

"Well first on my list is Smith actually. If I'd get a positive answer I'd be thrilled." Piper answered honestly.

"What about you Alex?" Polly turned her attention to Alex.

"Well… My number one is Trinity in Washington, but second is Smith and I'd rather go there if we both got in." Alex replied.

"Did you apply at Trinity?" Polly turned to Piper.

"No. I didn't." Piper told her.

"What if you don't get accepted at the same college?" Polly wanted to know.

"We'll figure something out." Piper looked at Alex and gave her an encouraging look.

"I'm sure we will." Alex shortly gave back.

The following week Piper, Alex and Nicky sat in the cafeteria of their school and had lunch. Both Alex and Piper felt that Nicky was in a foul mood. Her usual very talkative and bubbly self was gone and she just sat there completely silent.

"Do you want to tell us what's going on?" Alex asked her.

"Me? Nothing is going on." Nicky shortly said and returned her attention to poking around in her lunch.

"Sure. And I recently developed a crush on Mr. Dreamy over there." Alex said sarcastically and pointed towards Rick Paulson who was crowded by a group of girls as usual. Piper couldn't help but laugh.

"Sorry to hear that. Piper, if you need a shoulder I'll be right here, okay?" Nicky returned just as sarcastic.

"Thanks, but not necessary I think." she chuckled.

"So? You want to talk about it?" Alex tried again.

"Urgh, it's so frustrating. I mean, you know, Lorna and I had a bit of trouble recently. And yesterday she came over and she broke up with me." Nicky eventually explained.

"Oh shit. That sucks. I'm sorry to hear that." Alex said sincerely feeling sad for her friend.

"You know, Nicky if you need a shoulder…" Piper replied and Nicky couldn't help but smirk.

"Thanks. I'll see you guys, time to go." Nicky replied as the school bell rang.

"See ya." both Piper and Alex replied.

"Wait Pipes." Alex held her back before they went to their respective classrooms.

"Al, we're gonna be late." Piper complained.

"Just a sec. Meet me at the picnic table after this lesson, okay?" Alex quickly said.

"Okay. See you then." Piper agreed and they both hurried to their classrooms.

When Piper walked to the table as previously agreed she already saw Alex sitting there.

"What is all this about?" she asked curiously.

"I got an idea." Alex replied and told her what she had in mind. Just as the bell rang for the last lesson of the day Piper agreed and they went back. Later that day they both walked to Nicky's house with filled bags to execute Alex's idea. They rang the bell and looked into a surprised face when Nicky answered the door.

"What are you guys doing here?" she wanted to know.

"We brought sweets and ice cream and some movies. Girls night!" Alex said as cheerful as she could without feeling too stupid.

"Woah. Yes." Nicky visibly cheered up.

"We thought you need a little distraction and someone to cheer you up." Piper told her.

"You're incredible. Thanks." Nicky was touched.

"Anytime." they said in unison and giggled.

"How do you feel?" Alex cautiously asked.

"Pretty crappy. I don't really understand why she did this… She said she met this guy… Christopher or something like this... and she wanted to try 'a real relationship'. Wasn't that what we had? A real relationship?" Nicky turned to Alex confused.

"Woah. Of course you were. I'm sorry that she didn't see it that way. But maybe she didn't mean it like that?!" Alex tried.

"Urgh. Who knows?!" Nicky said sounding like she was resigning to find a sense behind what Lorna had said. "Now what did you bring?"

They went inside and started one of the movies in Nicky's room. Piper and Alex had thought of many things, they had brought the all-time-heartbreak-curer icecream and Nicky's favorite sweets and sodas. They watched another movie after that first one. Then it was eventually time for Alex and Piper to go home.

"Thank you again. I needed that. An evening with the girls. It made me feel so much better already." Nicky said sincerely.

"Don't mention it. You'd do the same thing for us. Even though I hope you won't ever have to." Alex played it down.

"I hope so too. Like where am I supposed to go first? Don't make me choose." Nicky chuckled.

"We'll try our best." Piper laughed. "Bye then. Text me or Alex if you need anything."

"I will. Bye." Nicky waved them goodbye and closed the door.

"Oh man. Break ups suck." Piper said lost in thought.

"Yeah. But hey, nothing we'll have to face soon." Alex said.

"Soon? I hope never. But I feel kinda sad for Nicky. I thought she and Lorna were pretty good together." Piper replied.

"Never? I like that thought. Although I find it kinda scary to think, you know, think of the future too much. That means so many decisions... " Alex started.

"Decisions we'll have to make when we're at the point where they are necessary. We don't have to decide most things yet. Like if we want kids and if so how. That has time for another few years until we are ready. Don't get too far ahead with your thinking yet." Piper reasoned.

"I know. But don't you think that everything is going to change? With college and all those things that are so unpredictable." Alex said.

"I do think that many things are going to change. That's the point of growing up." Piper chuckled. "But does that have to be a bad thing? Wouldn't it be boring if everything stayed the same? And more so, wouldn't it be boring if everything was predictable? Not knowing is the thrill that makes all that's going to happen so exciting, don't you think?"

"Well, I know there are a few things I don't want to change. But no, I don't think that change in general is a bad thing. Sometimes it just scares me a little." Alex admitted.

"It doesn't mean that everything is going to be different, I'm afraid though it'll be a lot that changes. But what won't change is that I will be there with you as much as I can, I will always love you like no one else and I will give everything to be with you." Piper said and as she stopped walking she pulled Alex into her giving her a sincere and reassuring look. Alex smiled widely. Not that she needed the reassurance, but it felt good. She knew Piper would be there for her, just as she'd be there for her and they'd be together as much as they could.

"Not that I ever doubted it, but it's good to hear that. I love you, Pipes." Alex said.

"I love you too." Piper returned and Alex pulled her in for a very emotional kiss.

XXXXX

Soon it was January and they got the first replies from the colleges they had applied at. They both had promised each other to open every letter together which sometimes was a hard thing as they didn't have time to see each other every afternoon after school due to the finals that were only a couple of months away. Their teachers obviously thought they'd need some extra challenge and preparation and gave them a lot of homework to do and many essays to write. Especially when Piper received a letter from Smith she was tempted to open it right there and then. But she also didn't want to let Alex down and disappoint her, so she left it on the pile with the rest of the letters.

On saturday they finally had the time to meet and open their letters together.

"Gosh, I'm so excited." Piper squealed. Alex laughed as she saw her girlfriend so thrilled and excited.

"So…. where do we start?" Alex asked looking at the six letters, three for each of them.

"Where did you get letters back from?" Piper asked. "I got one from Smith, yay, I hope it's positive, then one from San Francisco and the last one is the New York one."

"Well let's see… Boston, Chicago and Orlando." Alex looked at the envelopes. "Why did you get one from Smith and I didn't? We both applied at the same time?" she asked surprised.

"Who knows, maybe yours will come soon and there is just a delay in the delivery." Piper tried to reason. "Can I start first? It was so hard to wait until today…"

Alex laughed. "Yes. Sure you can." Piper ripped the envelope open and started reading. Alex was watching her facial expression tensely. It went from concentrated reading to a big smile.

"I got in!" Piper shouted excitedly.

"Congratulations, babe. I knew you would." Alex was happy for her. She knew that it had been Pipers dream to get into Smith from when the first started talking about it.

"Thank you. Oh I'm so happy." Piper still smiled widely.

They opened the other envelopes and read the results. Piper had another positive reply by the City College San Francisco but didn't get into the City College New York. Alex got a positive answer from the Colleges in Boston and Chicago.

"That is good news isn't it?" Piper was still very excited.

"Yeah, let's wait for the rest and then we'll see how far we'll be apart." Alex said.

"Hey, even if you don't get a positive answer from Smith or you wanted to go somewhere else then that'd be okay too. We will make it work. Maybe you could choose the one in Boston that's not too far… I think." Piper quickly got her phone out and looked something up. "Yeah, it's like a two hour drive. That's not too bad, is it?"

"No. But it'd be much nicer…" "if we could live together and go to the same college, I know." Piper ended her sentence. "But there is no final decision yet. You don't have a reply from Smith yet and we don't know about the rest."

"It kinda looks like your decision is made." Alex returned.

"I'd really like to go to Smith yes. But I also would like to be with you more then just every weekend or every other weekend or so. I'm sure we'll find a solution either way okay? So could you not mope about it and just be happy that we have some positive replies already?" Piper cupped the sides of Alex's face and made her look her in the eyes.

"Yes, I can do that." Alex said cheering up a little.

The time flew by and during the next weeks a few more replies from the colleges arrived for Piper and Alex. Piper received two more admissions from UCLA and the college in Seattle while Alex got positive replies from the colleges in Washington and Atlanta. Soon the had a reply from all colleges they had applied at, except Alex still waited for a letter or literally any reaction from Smith.

"Looks like our best options are Smith and Boston." Alex said after they had an overview over all admissions and rejections. "Like you said, it's only about two hours and literally the closest option we have."

"But didn't you say you prefered Washington over Boston?" Piper asked her.

"I know. I think they got a great program but Boston's isn't so ba either. And if it means that we're closer then I'll go there." Alex said.

"I appreciate that, Alex. And believe me, I want to have you near me as much as I can. But I don't want you to give up on getting the education you want." Piper argued.

"Washington is like 6 hours away. How would we do this?!" Alex questioned.

"We'll find a way. I just don't want you to regret not going to the college you wanted to. So please think about it and if you think Washington is the better choice then go there. We'll figure out how we can still see each other. We can call each other and video chat and it won't be easy but please think it through before you choose. If I remember correctly Washington was on the 1st place in your ranking and Boston further down. Six or seven?" Piper looked at her seriously. She meant every word. Yes she hated the thought of Alex being so far away from her but she also didn't want her to turn down the opportunity to get the best education she could.

"Seven." Alex said very silently. "I know I should consider Washington - I mean yes, it's been my favourite - but I'm not sure if I can do that… Not seeing each other for long and a six hour drive is hardly what we can do every weekend. And I don't think that calling or even video calls are going to be enough…" Alex said. To be honest she was scared of them living apart for so long. They'd both make completely different experiences, meet different people, new people, maybe someone they'd be interested in romantically…

"Al, I know it's going to be challenging. But I believe in us. Don't you?" Piper got a little insecure.

"I do, Pipes. I'm doing all this because I want us to be together. But if you're at Smith and I'm in Washington… I'm scared that we'll move in different directions and note that it's not working anymore or we meet someone else… " Alex said.

"I see. But the same thing could happen if we're at the same college or just two hours away. And if that happens it's going to be painful. But we decide what we do and how we handle things." Piper replied. "I understand that studying at the same college will make it easier, because we can share things and experience all that together, which would be amazing. If there was that chance we could do that together I'd take it, even if it meant not going to Smith. But it seems we don't have that option."

"So you'd rather have me six hours away than two?!" Alex felt herself getting mad.

"That's not what I said and definitely not what I want. I just wanted you to think it through before you decide where you'll go." Piper argued back.

"I will. I don't know… I don't know if I can do this right now. I need to be alone." Alex said and got up and left before Piper could say something. It didn't feel right to leave like that but it was a bit too much. She didn't want to fight with Piper but the whole discussion upset her so she just needed to get out.

"What? You can't do what right now?" she heard Piper shouting towards her and the panicking tone in her voice made her heart break but she couldn't go back. She just went home and hid under the blanket and wept freely.

Piper got home and did about the same thing as Alex. She had no idea what Alex had meant by saying she couldn't do that right now… Do what? The discussion with her? Seeing her right now? Their relationship? Piper begged that this wasn't the first step of Alex breaking up with her. Because she didn't know if she could handle that. Piper tried to remember everything they had said and find if she had said something that implied she didn't see them working out or anything else that would make Alex doubt that she wanted them to be together. She didn't understand why Alex got so upset about the discussion and her asking to consider the college in Washington even if it was further away. It didn't mean that Piper wanted them far apart. She only wanted what was best for her girlfriend and her future and if Washington was the better option for her education she shouldn't throw away the opportunity. She knew that they both would have a hard time by being away from each other for most of the time but she sincerely believed they could make it work. But clearly Alex didn't think so or her doubts if they could were too big.

The next morning she barely got out of bed and gave calling in sick a very serious consideration. But eventually she decided against it and forced herself out of bed. She had no idea what was waiting for her that day and if Alex was going to talk to her. Thinking about the current situation between the two made her sad. She had no idea what that was right now… Was it just a disagreement they could settle or was this, to put it more dramatically, the beginning of the end? She really hoped they could settle this. They had never had a serious fight like this before. It made Piper really insecure on how to behave and what to do now… She needed to make a decision before she went to school and possibly ran into Alex on what to do. So for now she thought it might be the best, if also hard to do, to give Alex some time to think about everything and maybe then she could share with her what made her leave the day before.

XXXXX

"Oh heck, no." Nicky exclaimed as she entered the cafeteria during lunch break. As everyday she had been scanning the crowd for Piper and Alex and found them sitting on the opposite ends of the room. Obviously something was going on right now and as much as she wanted to know she didn't want to choose who to sit with because either way she'd hurt one of them by sitting with the other one. So she scanned the room again and joined Polly and her boyfriend who were sitting in the middle of the room.

"Hey, Polly. Can anyone tell me what happened to our two lovebirds?" she asked them and looked into a guessing expression on the face of her friend.

"No idea. We were still in the cue to get food when Piper was already sitting on that table there and Alex walked to the table over there. Piper looked like she was about to cry. So apparently nothing good." Polly quietly told her.

"Do you think they broke up?" Nicky asked cautiously. She really didn't want that to have happened.

"I don't know… Can you imagine? Why? I haven't heard that they ever had any trouble. I mean I was already a little jealous because I never noticed them having a fight or anything… And Piper never said anything about a disagreement or anything other than love, peace and harmony." Polly answered. "Gosh I hope they didn't."

"Neither do I." Nicky agreed.