Adena took a deep breath. Then another. Then one more for good luck.

"Adena!" Tanis snapped. "Just do it!"

"You just do it!" She snapped back, fully aware that she was making little sense.

"I wanted to just do it twenty minutes ago!" Tanis reminded her.

"Okay. I'm ready." She took another deep breath, but paused, "Do you think we should wait for everyone else?"

"Adena!"

"Fine!"

The two girls were sitting on their respective beds, each with her own pile of identical envelopes. After all their hard work, college acceptance letters had finally arrived.

And upon grabbing the intimidating pile from the mailbox, Adena considered that maybe she should've spent more time studying and less time chasing boys.

It was senior year. Surely the university administrators would understand.

"Adena," Tanis coaxed her along, noticing she'd become sidetracked once again.

"Okay," she breathed deeply. "Which one should I open first?"

"Well, that's your first choice?"

"Victoria. You?"

"Boston." The girls smiled sadly at each other.

"Okay, ready?" Adena asked.

"Yes!" Tanis nearly shouted at her, tired of her stalling.

"Alright. On the count of three…"

"You okay, Cam?" Cameron paused in his rigorous training on the backcourt at the sound of Cody's voice.

"Yeah, why?" He asked, panting slightly.

"Well, we haven't seen you around very much lately," she explained as she sat on the bleachers, patting the spot beside her.

"Practicing," he explained with a chuckle, sitting next to her.

Cody nodded, "Have you gotten your letters yet?"

"Yeah."

"And…?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter," he explained with a shrug, "my dad's not paying. I need to focus on this tennis scholarship."

"Oh," she nodded.

"What about you?" He asked, sounding decidedly more cheerful. "I'm sure you got in everywhere you applied," he teased lightly.

"I haven't checked yet," she told him, smiling, "I'm still waiting for a few more to come, and then Nate and I are going to find out together."

"Well, I hope you guys get to go where you want," he said, letting out a resigned sigh and getting up to continue his practice.

"You, too, Cam," he smiled at her once more before turning back to his training.

"Adena, it's okay," Tanis said gently as the two walked down the hall towards the Open.

"I know," she said, though she looked disappointed.

"You got into U BC!" Tanis pointed out. "That was your second choice!"

"I know…"

"And they said right there in the letter that they had way too many applicants," Tanis tried again, "so it's not really your fault."

"I know," Adena said again, attempting a smile, "it's okay, really Tanis. I'll get over it."

"Getting into your second choice is not that bad," Tanis offered.

"Easy for you to say! You get to go where you want!" Adena snapped.

"It's not that bad, Adena!" Tanis was losing her patience. "It's not like you didn't get into any of them!"

"Look, Tanis, I just…wanna be alone, okay?" Adena said, not waiting for a reply as she turned and headed toward the nearest door.

"What are you doing out here?" Adena asked as she approached the backcourt, seeing Cameron hitting a ball against the wall.

"What are you doing out here?" He countered.

She paused a moment, "I didn't get into the place I wanted."

"That's rough," he sat next to her on the bleachers, much as he had with Cody. "You okay?"

"Yeah…I mean, I am," she shook her head and let out a small chuckle, trying to appear nonchalant. "It's not even a big deal. I got into my second choice." She paused, her expression dropping, "It just…kind of sucks, you know? And Tanis is trying to help, but…"

"She doesn't get it?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "What about you?" She looked up at him kindly, knowing the situation he was in.

"I got into a few places," he told her, "most of the ones I applied for."

"That's good, Cameron!"

"Yeah, it's just the funds I have to worry about…"

"You'll get the scholarship, Cameron," she assured him, as if reading his mind. "You're too good not to."

"Well, thanks," he looked as if he didn't believe her.

"Hey," she said after a moment, "want some company? We could rally for a bit…"

"You don't have your racquet with you," he pointed out, smiling.

"I'll just grab an old one from the storage shed," she shrugged, making her way over. "Come on, Cam!"

"Alright, alright," he followed her, smiling as she skipped toward the shed.

"Hi, Tanis," Cody greeted her friend as Tanis took a seat next to her on the couch. She put down the magazine she'd been flipping through. "How'd it go?"

"How'd what go?"

"Tanis," Cody chided, rolling her eyes.

"I got into Boston," Tanis informed her friend happily, smiling proudly.

"That's great!" Cody hugged her friend tightly. "But…?" She asked, pulling back and noticing her worried expression.

"Adena didn't get into where she wanted," she said. She continued quickly at her friend's concerned look, "She got into all the other places she wanted. Just not U VIC."

"Well, that's still fine," Cody said. "Is she okay?"

"She's kind of disappointed…"

"She's Adena. She'll bounce back," Cody smiled. Tanis nodded, laughing.

"Only two months left…" she said somberly a moment later, glancing around the Open.

"More like a month and a half," Cody added.

"Can you believe it? Pretty soon we'll be free," Tanis laughed.

"Yeah," Cody joined in. "No Bates, no Wiley, no tennis freaks," she stuck her tongue out. The two girls sat in silence for a few moments.

"Want to play cards?"

"Sure."

This was on the short side. But it's something. I've decided college acceptances/rejections are going to be handled in 2 or 3 different chapters.

A big thank you to Sectumsempra, who went through and reviewed every chapter, AND checked out my site. Of course you can use my icons for MSN :) And OTP is 'one true pairing'. Like, the pairing you like the most.

And because people have started asking again, this story is NOT going to end up being Cody/Squib. I love them, I run a site, and I have lots of other fics with them together (that I really need to update), but this is my Cody/Nate story. I really hope that's not enough to scare anyone away.

I REALLY wanted to call this one 'Everyone's A Little Bit Racist', but there's really no way to write a relevant chapter without offending a whole lot of people…

So if you're still around, review!