Adena sighed, flinging herself onto her bed, "I never knew picking colleges could be so hard!"

"Yeah," Tanis mumbled, not looking up from her magazine.

"If I have to hear that stupid councilor lecture me one more time…" she trailed off.

"Mmm hmm."

"Hey," Adena propped herself up onto her elbows, "what's up with you? You've been all weird lately."

"Have I?" Tanis asked unenthusiastically.

"Yeah, very."

"Oh," she shrugged, "well, sorry."

"So…there's nothing going on?" Adena asked.

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Ya-huh."

"Okay…" Adena said slowly, casting a suspicious glance at her friend.

"Hey, Cam," Cody greeted her friend, taking a seat beside him in the library.

"Hey there, Cody," the boy didn't look up from the many pamphlets strewn in front of him.

"Ah, I see they got you, too," she gestured to the papers in front of him.

"Yeah," Cameron sighed, "it's like the entire school has suddenly caught the college bug."

"Tell me about it," Cody chuckled, "my dad has been lecturing me all week."

"Well, I'm not sure if I'm even going…"

"To college?" Cody asked incredulously.

"Yeah…"

"Why not?"

"Well, my dad wants me to come work for him…you know, take over the company someday," he explained.

"Is that what you want?"

Cameron sighed, "I really couldn't tell you…"

"Game, set, match- Miss Capaduca!" The announcer called over the enthusiastic cheers of the crowd. Squib sighed, exhausted, and he sat down on the nearby bench.

"Nice try, Squib," the smaller girl mocked on her way past, "but you still can't beat me."

"Yeah, yeah," Squib mumbled.

"Hey, man," Nate approached.

"What do you want?" Squib asked irritably.

"Calm down, Squib, I'm just here to tell you to head over to Bates' office when you're finished. He wants to set up a meeting with the college councilor for you."

"Uh…yeah, okay, I'll be there," Squib answered, picking himself up off the bench and heading towards the locker room.

"Hey," Cody bounded up moments after Squib had walked away, "what's wrong with Squib?"

Nate turned around to face her, "Oh, he lost to Sunny."

"Ah," Cody nodded, "well, he's had a tough week…" the two started toward the main building.

"So, you had your meeting with the councilor yet?" Nate asked.

"No, I'm going tomorrow," she told him, "you?"

"Not until Thursday, thank God."

"Oh, it won't be that bad," she promised.

"Easy for you to say. I have no clue what I want to do, or where I want to go."

"Well," Cody told him, "that's what the meeting's for."

"Hey, Cam," Adena caught up with him the next day.

"Oh, hey, Adena. What's up?"

"Have you noticed anything weird going on with Tanis lately?"

"Erm, no, not…not, uh, really," Cameron stuttered.

"Nothing?"

"Nope. I mean, I, uh, we, well, I haven't seen her for…a while. But, erm…no."

"…Are you sure?" Adena asked suspiciously.

"Yeah. Positive."

"Alright," Adena shrugged.

"Well, I gotta go to…practice!" Cameron was already running for the door, "See ya, Adena!"

"What's up with him?" Cody asked, sidling up to her friend.

"Couldn't tell ya," Adena admitted as the two began to walk. "Hey, have you seen Tanis lately?"

"No, not for a while," Cody told her. "Why?"

"She's been weird, too…"

"I'm sure it's just stress. College, and all."

"I guess," Adena sighed, and then turned to her friend, "So, how about you? How's your relationship?"

"Uh, good…" Cody said.

"But…?"

Cody sighed, "I'm worried about Squib. I mean, he tells me he's fine with it, but he's obviously not!"

"God, Cody, you can't let Squib ruin your relationship! He's gotta get over you sometime!"

"I know," Cody insisted, "but, I mean, he's, like, my best friend!"

"Yeah," Adena said, "and Nate's your boyfriend. Squib doesn't get to call the shots anymore."

Cody sighed, "I guess…"

It was odd, Nate realized, to be the one person not in an argument at cards for once. Well, he wasn't sure if Squib and Cody had been in a fight, as Squib's brooding was a usual occurrence, but he guessed from her stiff posture and the way she was sitting as far away from him as physically possible that something was going on.

And then there was Tanis, who refused to look at Adena or Cameron, Cameron, who refused to look at Tanis or Adena, and Adena, who was desperately trying to catch the eye of either one of her friends.

Cody was right. It was going to be a long year.

Okay, I'm not really sure what the point of this chapter was. To set things up, I suppose. Or the point of suddenly switching to Nate's POV at the end. Well, that was because I couldn't think of an ending…

Hehe, I told you the relevant chapter titles wouldn't last long!

And I apologize for the shortness. And the overuse of the phrase 'her friend'. But in my defence, most of this was written after chugging a glass of NeoCitran and, while that stuff is my elixir, it also puts you RIGHT to sleep.

Nova-Janna: Aw, sucks about the comps! The Rainy Day Challenge is basically a fic challenge where you have to include a rainy day, a rubber duck (at least one), and an empty bottle (at least one). Submissions are due September 30th, so hopefully you have time to write! Normal details apply. If you need them, they're at the LJ. Or I can email them to you (does your email work?). And yes, Candy and I have secrets. Lmao, I would be shocked if we didn't. But you've basically cracked the code, you may just not know it. And I don't need to hear Nate's voice. I just know. He's emo. He wears glasses. I'm gone.

Chelsea: I'm a cheater. I wrote a Halloween fic MONTHS ago (but as God is my witness, I shall restrain posting until Halloween!) and I needed costumes in that one. I just used my leftover ideas for this chapter.