Cody Myers did not like packing. Especially packing for university. Especially when packing for university had seemed so very far away until two days ago.

Prom.

That was pretty much it. Prom and then they were gone.

She'd be Nate's date, of course (even that failed to make her giggle). Squib would probably hit on everything that moved. Rick would hit on…her. Tanis and Adena would rip up the floor. And, she thought, Cameron may even join in; he'd been in a much better mood since he'd received the scholarship.

She sighed, folding up another pair of jeans and looking at her quickly emptying closet.

Cody Myers did not like packing.

"…You haven't gotten a dress?" Adena stared at her friend across the table, mouth hanging open and eyes wide.

"Well, no…" Cody said meekly; she'd been too busy packing.

"Why is it such a big deal?" Squib asked, ever oblivious.

"What's the- how can- she did- Tanis!"

"I have to side with Adena on this one," Tanis nodded, apparently able to understand what has just come out of Adena's mouth.

"What's the big deal?" Cody shrugged, helping herself to some of Adena's toast. "I'll do it this week. It'll take, like…20 minutes."

"Oh my- Tanis!" Adena turned command over to Tanis, apparently unable to think coherently.

"Dress shopping take a lot of time, Cody," Tanis explained patiently, "it's not like normal shopping. It's more like an art, really."

"Which is why," Adena spoke again, "we're taking you. Today."

"But-,"

"No, Cody! This is the last Saturday before prom. We're. Going. Into. Town."

"…Okay," Cody said meekly, rising from the table as Adena grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the cafeteria with Tanis following behind closely.

"So…" Nate said after a few moments of silence.

"Erm…" Cameron offered. Squib sighed.

"Yeah…"

"Cody, think hard! What colour is Nate's shirt?"

Cody sighed, "I still don't know, Adena…"

"Well, it has to match!"

"I don't care if it matches! And Nate sure doesn't!"

"Well, I do," Adena said sharply, throwing another dress over the door to Cody.

"Adena, this is way too pink and way too puffy!" Came her voice.

"Try. It. On."

"How about this one?" Tanis came around the corner with a long, slim green dress with a thin white ribbon around the middle.

"That's more like it," Cody said when she threw it over, emerging shortly after to examine herself in the mirror.

"Oh, Cody, it's so pretty!"

"You think?"

"Totally," Tanis said enthusiastically.

"I just hope it matches…" Adena mumbled.

Cody rolled her eyes, heading back into the dressing room, "I'm sure it will be fine, Adena. His shirt's probably white anyways."

"I can't believe," Adena moved on, "that after all this, you're the only one with a prom date."

"…Thanks?"

"I just mean," she laughed, "that I always figured we'd be forcing guys into it and you'd be sitting in a dark room, rejecting the whole idea."

"Yeah, well…" Cody shrugged. "You two could have gotten dates."

"We talked about it," Tanis told her.

"About Cameron?" Cody asked suddenly, surprised.

"Oh, gosh no," Adena laughed, "that kind of…"

"…fizzled out," Tanis finished for her.

"Yeah. But we decided we'd rather spend prom with you guys than some random we barely know."

"Aww," Cody smiled, "that's so sweet."

"Shut up and come pick out some shoes," Adena rolled her eyes and grabbed Cody by the hand as she exited the dressing room.

"Do you know what the guys are doing?" Tanis asked.

"Well, Nate's going with me-,"

"Duh."

"I think Cameron opted to go stag."

"And Squib?"

"Squib probably tried asking every girl in the school and was then forced to go stag," she laughed.

"You're going stag?"

"Yep."

"…You got turned down by every girl you asked, didn't you?"

"…Maybe."

"Nice," Nate laughed. The three boys were sitting in Cameron and Squib's room, playing a rather violent video game.

"Dude, you just chopped my head off!" Cameron exclaimed.

"…So?" Nate asked.

"I'm on your team!"

"…Oh. Sorry."

"Gosh, Bates," Squib piped up, "this is what reading all day does to you. You're not prepared for the real world."

"Yeah, because in the real world people run around in armor fighting evil, mutant zombies from the underworld and their army of fire-breathing ponies…"

"Stallions!" Squib defended, "For the last time! Not ponies! Stallions! Steeds!"

"Whatever, man," Nate shrugged, "all I know is the one I just stabbed was up to my hip and tried to nuzzle me before it attacked."

"I'm ignoring you," Squib said haughtily.

"I'm not the one who got turned down by every girl in the school…"

"Okay, first of all, I didn't ask every girl! Just a lot. And at least I tried. Cameron here didn't even put in an effort."

"Well, what's the point?" Cameron asked. "This is our last hoorah. I'd rather hang with you guys than anyone else."

"Do you see that?" Squib asked, looking to Nate. "Do you see what he's become?"

"Yeah, what happened to Cameron White- Ladies' man, man's man, man about town?"

"…Nate," Cameron said slowly, "have you been watching Down With Love again?"

Nate shrugged, "Cody likes Ewan McGregor."

"…Fair enough," Squib conceded.

"Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"You stabbed me again."

"…Sorry."

"I want to go home!" Cody whined, following Adena and Tanis down the street, "My feet hurt! My arms hurt! Everything hurts! All of me!"

"We're almost done, Cody," Adena said as she rolled her eyes, "we just need to find you a handbag."

"But I don't care about handbags!"

"Yes you do, you just don't know it yet."

"This will be quick," Tanis said in a more gentle voice, grabbing her arm and steering her into a store, "I promise."

"So," Cody said as she fingered the many handbags Adena passed to her, "have you guys started packing yet?"

"Ugh," Adena sighed, "don't talk to me about that."

"I keep putting it off," Tanis admitted, "It makes me depressed. Which makes no sense, considering we've been waiting three years to escape this place."

"I know, right?" Cody laughed. "My dad is suddenly getting all nostalgic. Last night, he pulled out baby pictures."

"Oh God!" Adena laughed. "It's just…" she sobered, "it's sad to think of packing up all my stuff. I've been in that dorm for three years. I shared that dorm with Meghan…"

"Yeah…" Tanis said softly, always feeling a bit awkward when the Top Guns reflected on the friends she never knew, as the girls stood in silence.

"Hey," Cody swatted Adena in the arm with a small, white purse, "she would've been on my side about this whole matching thing."

"Oh, shut up," Adena laughed, dragging her over to another display, "it's totally important."

"She never would have dragged me into three stores for a purse, either!"

"Okay, this has officially gotten old," Squib said, turning the game off.

"I think I broke my hand…" Nate mused, flexing his fingers tentatively.

"You've just gotta build up an immunity," Cameron told him.

"When are the girls gonna be back?" Nate sighed, throwing his head back against the bed he was siiting against.

"You've never seen Adena shop," Squib told him. "It could be days."

"Wonderful."

"So, now what?" Cameron asked.

"…We've got a racing game somewhere."

"Sounds good," Nate sat back up.

"I think I leant that one to Rick," Cameron said, rising to his feet.

"Aw, Rick? Seriously, Cameron?" Squib whined.

"Calm down, you baby. I'll go get it," Cameron rolled his eyes, moving to the door.

"Be sure to wipe it down…"

"So," Nate said after a moment, "decided where you're going yet?"

"No," Squib sighed, "not yet. Those deadlines are almost here, though…"

"You'll be okay," Nate shrugged, leaning back again with his eyes closed.

"I can't believe it's been a whole year…" Squib mused. "It went by really…fast."

"Yeah," Nate nodded. "It's crazy."

"Especially considering we spent most of it fighting."

"Hey, I like to think we've resolved our differences," Nate smirked.

"You wish, emo kid."

"At least I'm literate."

"Oh, is that what you call sitting alone and whining all day?"

Nate smiled softly, finally opening his eyes to face Squib, "It's been fun, Squib."

"Yeah," Squib smiled back, "it has."

"We're done!" Cody yelled, stepping out into the windy street. "Done! DONE! DOOOONE!"

"You know," Tanis said, smirking at Adena, "maybe we should just pop into one more shoe store; you can never be too sure…"

"Don't even joke about that!" Cody shrieked.

"Oh, calm down, Cody. Yes, we're done," Adena stuck her tongue out.

"All we have to do is get through this prom-,"

"And not trip on the stage!" Adena added.

"-and we've made it."

"Hey," Cody said after a moment of silence, "come on, picture time!"

"You brought your camera dress shopping?" Adena asked incredulously as Cody pulled it out of her backpack.

"Are you honestly surprised?" Tanis laughed.

"Kay, come here," Cody ordered, trying in vain to brush her windblown hair out her face. "Say cheese!"

"So, did you guys solve the dress dilemma?" Cameron asked as he, Squib, and Nate (who was trying to massage the feeling back into his hand) found the girls walking down the hall.

"Eventually," Cody rolled her eyes.

"Let's go have lunch," Adena suggested, "we've just got to drop this stuff off in our dorm."

"But…it's Cody's," Squib pointed out.

"You think they're going to let me get dressed alone?" Cody asked as the group moved down the hall, rolling her eyes. "Apparently that's a crime, too."

"You know, I can hear you," Adena called back as she opened the door to her room, "and I think- Sunny?" The group froze in the doorway when they saw Sunny with a short, curly-haired, dark-skinned girl and a tall brunette.

"Now, this will be your dorm," she was saying. "You," she pointed to the brunette, "get this bed," she indicated Tanis', "and you," she pointed to the short girl, "get the other. Now, you two can fight sometimes, but you always get over it…"

"Sunny?" Tanis called.

"Oh, hey!" She said as she turned around to see the Top Guns.

"…What are you doing?"

"…Nothing."

"Can we go?" The tall girl asked in a small voice.

"Yeah, whatever," Sunny waved her hand dismissively.

Realization dawned on Cody's face as the two girls rushed past her, "Sunny…are you looking for our replacements?"

"No!"

"You totally are!" Adena grinned, pointing at her.

"Awww, Sunny!" Cameron said jokingly.

"You're gonna miss us!" Squib shouted.

"I am not, okay?" She snapped. "I'm just gonna need some more people to mock next year, that's all!" She said quickly, not meeting their eyes. "Now get out of my way," she pushed through them, "I've got a meeting with some kid who looks like Nate."

"Aww," Tanis said as they watched her walk down the hall, "she does have a soul."

"A kind of creepy one," Nate elaborated, "but a soul nonetheless."

Prom was slightly boring, as Cody had expected, and totally awesome, just as Adena had promised. Tanis managed to coerce Squib into some dancing, and Adena even got Cameron to dance with her once before he returned to standing by the punch and looking cool. And Nate's shirt was, in fact, white.

"I like this song," Adena smiled as she wrapped her arms around Cody's neck.

"People are staring at us, you freak," Cody laughed as the two slow danced.

"Shut up. You're my best friend. I don't care."

"…I went and said goodbye to them earlier," Cody said softly. "I kinda…I dunno. I wanted them to see me in my prom dress," she smiled sheepishly and looked down.

Adena nodded, "I think I'm gonna slip away after," she admitted. "He would've told you that you looked awesome," she told Cody, giggling softly, "and you're right- she would have been against the whole shopping thing."

Cody laughed, "Yeah…" She paused. "They would have looked really good. All dressed up and dancing together."

"Yeah. They would have."

Holy long chapter, Batman.

So, we found out what Sunny was up to. One more chapter! This is actually part one of the last chapter technically, but it was going to be waaaay too long. The song I used for it is really sad. Oh, and I did try to put dividers in the last chapter, but it wouldn't happen. Then I tried stars, but I guess those didn't show. So sorry if it was super confusing!

Review! It's your (second) last chance!