Disclaimer: This is really just taking up space, but since I don't wanna get sued...

A/N: Once again, I apologize for the break. I was grounded and unable to use the computer due to my not calling my parents from my friend's house on time. So, isn't it just amazing how I've been able to come up with Author's Notes for every chapter in one way or another? {Crickets chirp} OK, be that way then. Anyways, thanks to Mrs. Rhett Butler for reviewing.

(Side note to Mrs. Rhett Butler: I'd Mary-Sue myself into a fanfic with Peter myself, but...{See first 9 chapters}. {Laughs} Kidding, kidding. Would it be a Maroon 5 songfic? Just wondering...I really liked the other ones. Love the band. Well, then, you need to get him a girl! I mean, if Dr. Macy can get dates occasionally, then Peter sure as hell could. {Laughs} Could a collaboration be in the works? Anyways, about the Woody/Jordan thing: maybe, maybe not. Depends on how evil I feel. A magician never reveals his or her secrets.)

Chapter Ten: A Leap of Faith

Time went by fast for Amanda. She was always either out with her friends at the Sunset, hanging out with her dad and Jordan, at the Pogue waitressing (a second job that she had gratefully accepted when it was offered by Jordan), out somewhere with Peter, or skulking around the morgue helping Nigel get bugs out of the computer system; and before she knew it, a month had gone by, and her graduation day was swiftly approaching.

With the help of her father and Jordan, Amanda had filled out pages upon pages of college applications, and had sent them out, waiting for responses. Amanda said that she was "stupid to think any Ivy League school would take her, what with the way her grades had been earlier on in school," but her father had told her "sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith and see where it gets you." Amanda noticed that the majority of the time he told her that, he would throw a sideways glance at Jordan and grin.

So when the first few letters saying "thanks, but no thanks" came in, yeah, Amanda was disappointed, but she wasn't crushed. She knew that one of them would accept her. So what if Penn State, Edinboro, Pitt, and USC said no? The others might say yes. But when the letter came from Yale, Amanda went into her room and hung a "Do Not Disturb" sign-made for her by her little sister Jessie-and stayed there for hours. When, out of concern for his daughter, Woody cracked the door open to see what she was doing, he was relieved to discover she was on the phone ranting with Lexi instead of crying.

It went on like that for a while, until one day in late April, Amanda came home to find an envelope from Boston College on the kitchen counter. She picked it up, and immediately noticed it was bigger than the others she had previously received. Many, many thoughts flashed through her mind, the least of which was, "Damn, this is a big rejection notice." She finally decided to run to her room and call someone with the news.

"Hello?"

"Jill, it's Amanda. I have some really big news!"

"You're pregnant."

"No."

"You and Peter went to Vegas and you're calling from an Elvis chapel."

Amanda laughed. Jill always came up with weird guesses whenever someone told her they had big news. "No, I'm not in Vegas at an Elvis chapel."

"You ran home to Wisconsin with Connor, leaving broken hearts behind."

"Jill, attempt to be serious."

"OK then." There was a pause, and then Jill said, "I give up. Tell me."

"I got an envelope from Boston College today, and it's a big one."

"Ooh! That IS big news! Way better than running off to Vegas."

"I just had to tell somebody! My dad's not home yet, Peter and Jordan are at work, as are Lexi and Becka; and Lucy and Connor are god knows where with the rest of us! And I knew you would be at home, so I called you!"

"You made the right decision Amanda. Well, call me back when you open it. I gotta know!"

"Thanks!"

Amanda hung up her phone and sat quietly. Then she got up and screamed "YES!" a few times before settling down to wait for her dad to come home.

Woody closed the door to the apartment behind him. As soon as the door clicked, he heard the sound of feet running at a high speed. He turned to look in the direction of the kitchen, and sure enough, in slid a breathless, shoeless Amanda.

"What's got you all excited?" Woody asked with a grin as he walked to the kitchen island that doubled as a barrier between the kitchen and the living room.

"This," Amanda said, holding up the envelope. "It came today."

"Did you open it yet?" Woody asked, now as excited as his daughter.

"Not yet," Amanda said. "Was waiting till you got here."

"Well open it!" Woody shouted excitedly. "I'm here now!"

Amanda ripped open the envelope and pulled out the first thing she felt: a letter. She looked at the letter, and her eyes widened as she read it.

"Well?" Woody asked. "What does it say?"

Amanda looked from the letter, to her father, then back to the letter. Then she screamed joyously: "I GOT IN!!!!!" She ran around the island to show her father the letter.

Woody took the letter out of Amanda's hands and read it. Sure enough, it said that she had been accepted for the fall semester at Boston College. He put the letter down on the island counter and hugged Amanda. "Congratulations! We have to celebrate."

"What are we gonna do?" Amanda asked.

"You want to tell everyone else, don't you?" Woody asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Amanda knew instantly what her father was thinking. "I'll go get changed," she said before running back to her room.

"So, what's the big news?" Lily asked Amanda. They were all assembled at the Pogue, waiting to hear Amanda's news. Amanda had called Peter on his cell phone at the morgue, and asked him to spread the word to the others, and it had worked.

"Well, a few of you know that I've been waiting on answers from some colleges I applied to, especially Boston College."

"Your first choice, if I'm not mistaken," Devon said.

"You are not mistaken," Amanda said. "Anyways, I got an envelope from them today, and..."

"AND?!?!?!?" everyone but Amanda and Woody shouted.

Amanda grinned slowly and said, "I got in."

Cheers erupted from the group at the bar, all for Amanda. There were congratulations and hugs all around, and she even got a quick kiss from Peter. Jordan started up the new sound system, which immediately played the theme from the movie "St. Elmo's Fire," one of Amanda's favorite songs. "Drinks all around!" Woody shouted. "I'm buying!" While the others were crowding around the bar to get in drink orders, Amanda snuck outside the bar, closely followed by Peter.

"I did it! I can't believe it!" Amanda screamed into the night. She turned around to face Peter and ran to him. He caught her in his arms and kissed her, a more passionate kiss than the one he had given her inside. Amanda broke away first and said, "Whoa. Where'd that come from?"

"I don't know," Peter said. "It just felt right. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to ask you something. Well, ask you one thing and tell you the other."

"Ask and tell away."

"OK, first, the question. Are we counting the 3 months that we spent talking on the phone every day as dating? Or are they just kinda there?"

Amanda thought about that for a moment, and then finally said "I think they can count."

"OK, then, they count. So we've officially been together 4 months."

"As of right now." Amanda said with a grin. "So, what was that other thing you wanted to tell me?"

"This is pretty important," Peter said slowly "I've been waiting to say this for a while, but I wasn't sure how you'd react. So, I'm just gonna take a huge leap of faith here, and hope to God that you won't laugh."

"I promise you, I won't laugh," Amanda said.

"OK then," Peter said. He noticed that it had started to rain, and that they were going to get wet, but he figured it was now or never. He took a deep breath in and said, "Amanda, I love you."

Amanda looked at Peter in shock for a moment, as if she couldn't believe what she had heard. Slowly then, she took a leap of her own, and kissed him the way he had kissed her moments earlier.

When she pulled away, Peter asked, "Should I take that to mean you love me too?" Amanda smiled and nodded, then rested her head on his shoulder. They stood like that for a while, and then Devon came out of the doors and said, "You guys might want to get in here. Woody says he has an announcement of his own to make."

As Amanda and Peter walked hand-in-hand into the club, Amanda thought, "Looks like Dad's gonna take his own leap of faith tonight."