Three years later
Anakin walks in the hallways of his family's private wing and his mind goes back to the report he got this morning at school. He feels quite pleased with his latest report as it shows good grades. He knows that this will help him to get into a good university when he graduates next year. He is currently in his junior year and that means that he is already busy with looking at universities. You have to start early as at the beginning of your senior year you have to apply and for some, you have to take tests during the vacation. This makes it vital that you start early with making a list of prospective universities. Anakin has such a list in his room. The list contains universities that offer programs which interest him. At the same time, he is also looking at the programs to see which one he will likely be wanting to study. Next week he will be going with his father to visit some of them so that he can evaluate them. It is possible as he has a break next week and during the next break, they will be visiting the others. His father told him that last month when they were discussing everyone's plans for the breaks. He looks forward to the visits and as he promised his father that he would be getting good grades if they would be visiting them he decides to walk to his father to give the report to him. That way his father will know that he has kept his word.
A few minutes later, Anakin comes upon his father's office door and knock once. He knows that he is too old to just barge into the room. After receiving an answer he walks into the room and sees his father bent over his desk reading something. He walks up to the desk and calls his father's attention to him. When Qui-gon hears his son's voice he looks up surprised.
"Anakin, I didn't expect you. Can I help you with anything?" Qui-go asks.
"Maybe, I received my report this morning and wanted to show it to you. I can leave it here if you don't have time to read it right now." Anakin says and looks at his father. He hopes that his father will be able to look at it now so that he will know his father's thoughts and doesn't have to wait until supper to hear his father's thoughts about it.
"I can look at it right now, Anakin." Qui-gon tells his son with a smile on his face. He is amused that Anakin would be showing his report to him straight out of school. This gives him the impression that Anakin wants him to know that he has kept his word. Not that he has ever doubted the fact that his son would be able to keep it. Taking the report form his son, Qui-gon takes a look at it. He can see that Anakin only has high grades on this report. This also doesn't surprise him. He knows that his son has a bright mind and can learn really good.
During the time his father takes to read his report Anakin thinks back on his school years. He has been able to make a really strong group of friends. Together they have gone through quite some adventures because of his public life. That they didn't try to gain something from it convinced him that they are his real friends. In the time since they have done nothing that would change his mind. Thinking about his classes he is glad that he doesn't have one of his lesser classes. That is what he calls those few classes on which he didn't get good grades on. If he is being honest with himself than he had to admit that he barely got passing grades. But as that were not really important classes he wasn't too upset by his low grades. Also, he was quite relieved when his father and Tahl didn't make a fuss of the low grades he got. They understood that these classes didn't fit him and told him that they were happy that he got the passing grades he needed. The thing they didn't want was for him to have to redo a year or change school. Thus that he got passing grades was accepted. Still, they made him promise not to slack off in his other classes. That is something which he had already promised to himself and he told them so. When his father finishes reading the report and speaks up Anakin is pulled from his recollecting.
"This is a good report, Anakin. Just as all the others you received during the last years have been." Qui-gon says once he has finished reading the report. He makes sure not to mention the low grades Anakin got in the classes that didn't fit him and he had to follow a few years back. Right now he can tell that the classes either fit Anakin or deeply interest him. That explains the grades his son got in his report.
"Thank you father." Anakin says with pride in his voice. He is glad that his father thought it a good report. Alright, considering his grades he hadn't expected any other response from his father. He takes the report back when his father holds it out for him. Then he turns to leave but is stopped by his father's voice.
"You know that we will be leaving to visit some of the universities that you are interested in this evening at eleven, do you?" Qui-gon asks. He does this to confirm that his son has the right time in mind for their flight. He wouldn't be surprised if he had the time wrong in his mind considering how busy his son has been during the last few weeks.
"Yes, father. I know that we will leave at eleven to go to the airport." Anakin says before he says goodbye to his father and walks back to his room. He is fully aware that they will be followed by the press the minute they leave for the airport. He knows that there are always a few photographers lying in waiting near the palace gate. Thus he hopes that they won't discover where they are going so that he can get to know the universities they will be visiting without the interference of the press. That would make it really difficult to make his opinion and see most of the university. If they discover it then they will be watching him but also that the universities they will be visiting will know about it. Currently, they only know him as the son of a rich family and not as the crown prince of Naboo. If they know then he is sure that the dean of the universities will be giving them a private tour and he won't be able to talk to the students he wants. That would result in him being unable to form a good picture of the school and which he wants to avoid at all cost. All because of how the press acts around his family. That Anakin is so aware of how the press acts towards his family is the result of the public appearances he had in the last few years. His appearances have slowly increased so as to ease him into his future public duties. Now that he is seventeen, he knows that he has to also appear at events that are late in the evening. Luckily he doesn't have to do that a lot during his school weeks for which is incredibly happy.
Just then Anakin walks into his room and towards his desk to go over his agenda so that he knows what he has to do before they leave. He sees that he one of the things he put on his to-do list is choosing his classes for next year. Alright, he actually has a few more months to do so but to avoid having to do it again last minute he put it early in his agenda. Thus he spends the remainder of the time left before supper on choosing his classes for senior year. He can do so as he barely has any homework left. The homework he had left he already finished during one of the free hours of school. After supper, he packs his bags and watches a few shows online until it is time to leave for the airport.
The next morning Anakin and his father arrive at the airport in Arizona. From there they will be going to the University of Coruscant and afterward to a few other universities in Arizona. All of these are the ones that Anakin considers applying for during his senior year. As Anakin walks down the stairs he can see a non-descriptive car waiting at the bottom with one similar car before it and one behind it. He is happy to not see the flags of Naboo on it. That will ensure that no one will be able to recognize them just from the car. The only people that would be able to recognize them would have to know and see them. Anakin deems these chances slim and thus is happy to be able to get to know the university as a normal person. After a one hour drive, they arrive at the university and go to the place where they are to wait for the tour to begin. As they approach the place Anakin can hear other teenagers and parents talking. Smiling at his father he says.
"We are not the only ones to have this tour today."
"I know. As you said that you wanted to get a tour like a normal person I made the arrangements for us to join this group." Qui-gon tells his son. They soon join the others and then they have to wait for just a few minutes before the tour starts. They are let around the campus as the tour leader tells them about the things they see. In the end, they are let into a lecture room where they get a presentation about the university. Anakin is really happy with this presentation as it gives him some more information he needs to be able to make his choice. This lasts for about thirty minutes and then they are told that they are able to talk to advisors from the different departments. Anakin makes great use of this opportunity. He talks to the advisors from the departments in whose major he is interested in. From them, he gets some great advice. Also, he talks to the current students to learn what they would advise him.
Five hours after arriving, Anakin and his father leave the University of Coruscant and go to the next university that is on their visiting list. Along the ride, Anakin and his father talk about what they learned at Stanford.
"How did you like it at the University of Coruscant?" Qui-gon asks his son. He found that the school had a nice atmosphere for Anakin's tastes.
"I liked it. The atmosphere is really what I like and the teachers are really helpful. I know that it will be challenging for me if I go here to school. But there is also having a good supportive environment. I know that this would be what I would prefer. Still, as we haven't visited the others yet I won't say that the University of Coruscant is my favorite. That is something which I can only do once we have visited all the universities that I'm considering." Anakin tells his father.
They then make their way to the next university on their list. The process there is similar to how everything went at the University of Coruscant. In the evening Anakin writes the pros and cons of each university down. Tomorrow they will be leaving for Massachusetts to visit Harvard among others. He visits Harvard it only at Padmé's request. She always tells him what a good school Harvard is. From her words, Anakin gets the impression that she really would like for him to go to school here also. Anakin himself isn't quite sure if he will be going there. He has heard things from Padmé that make him doubt the wisdom of him going to study there. Besides the choice for a university Anakin also knows that he has to give his father his final decision about his choice between first going to a university or fist entering military service when their scouting trip is over. When he talked with his father about this trip he managed to convince his father that he hasn't made his choice yet. He told his father that he has to make his choice for university this year as it will be impossible to visit any university next year or later should he enter military service first. This his father could understand and thus agreed to wait for Anakin's decision on what he will be doing first.
The next day of scouting goes quite similar to the previous ones with the exception of them flying back home in the evening and not staying in a hotel. Because of this visit, Anakin feels that he can make a better choice between the universities they visited during the last few days. Also, he has to tell his father during the flight back what his decision is. Before telling his father about the decision he made, Anakin takes a deep breath.
"Father?" Anakin says to get his father's attention.
"Yes, Anakin. What is it?" Qui-gon asks even though he is sure about what will be coming next. He has an opinion about what his son's choice will be but stays silent. He knows that it is up to his son to inform him of his decision. Anakin is old enough that it wouldn't do for him to press his son to talk. Still, there are times when he feels that pressing Anakin to talk is just what he needs to do. This all makes it really difficult for him.
"I would like to study at a university first before I enter the military. Is that alright?" Anakin asks nervously. He hopes that his father agrees to it as he isn't looking forward to first entering the military and then going to a university. It would make studying for him all the more difficult as Anakin knows that he has a routine right now. Should he have to enter the military first then he will have lost the routine once he goes to a university and he will have to rebuild it. He knows that this will influence his grades and it is something he wants to avoid at all cost if he can.
"That is your decision, Anakin. I'm just glad you told me so that I can make plans with your military trainers in time for your military training." Qui-gon tells his son. Anakin's words just confirmed his suspicion. Also, it will make planning his son's military training all the more easy as he has plenty of time to plan it with the military trainers.
"Well, now you will have a few years to make those plans." Anakin says. He doesn't know how long it takes to make such plans and also unaware that he told his father just what he was thinking about.
"That is right." Qui-gon answers smilingly. Then he goes back to his correspondence which he hasn't spent too much time on during the last few days. He is well aware that he will have a bulk of work before him and intends to finish as much as he can. That will ensure that he doesn't have too much catching up to do during next week. When father and son arrive back home in Naboo Qui-gon is almost done with the correspondence he started on.