9 College

The next year and a half passed in a blur. After several near-death experiences in his dad's truck, Justin got his driver's license.

His freelance business expanded to the point that he had enough money in his savings account to start investing in a few promising start ups and hire a few other people to help with the project load coming through his website.

His parents still didn't have a clue. They may have helped him set up the bank account but they never monitored it.

Whenever he wasn't working, he was studying. His grades needed to be high enough to get into any university in California because he didn't know where Emily wanted to go. She had confided to RoboCat that she still wasn't sure herself.

He took AP classes and, unfortunately, had to join a club because his mom said it would look good on college applications. He already had his own successful business! He had nearly gotten his associate degree in computer science at the community college! Why on earth did he still need to join stupid clubs and deal with people?!

But his mother insisted so he ended up joining Academic Decathlon. It wasn't so bad. Turned out, a few of his old robotics club buddies had joined Decathlon because they needed a new club. It was kind of nice catching up with them.

It was application time. Everyone he knew was submitting applications left and right, frantically trying to edit their admissions essays so they seemed like the best choice. And Emily still hadn't told him where she wanted to go.

The deadlines for most of the schools were only few weeks away. Feeling desperate, Justin did a bad thing. He hacked Emily's email.

He didn't look at anything other than where she had submitted her applications but he still felt horrible about it. He was only in her account for about seven minutes but those seven minutes nearly gave him a heart attack, feeling like he was going to get caught and go to jail for peeking at someone's emails. Once he logged off, he heaved a sigh of relief. Never again.

Emily had submitted applications to schools up and down the coast. Stanford, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Pepperdine…these were all hard schools to get into.

Justin knew she was witty but he had never realized how academically smart she was before. No wonder they hadn't had any classes together in high school.

She was taking all the smart-kid classes while he hadn't cared much for school before realizing he needed to step up his game to be able to go to college with her.

A few months later when acceptance and rejection letters came out, Justin's parents were shocked to find out that he had gotten into every school he had applied for.

They immediately started bragging to all of their friends—Justin had gotten into STANFORD! But he put off accepting any offers until he knew where Emily was going.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, she posted a picture of herself beaming while wearing a UCLA sweatshirt. She had been accepted into their film and television program and was moving back to California in the summer.

His parents were devastated. "Why would you pick UCLA over Stanford?" they kept asking him.

He kept brushing them off saying things like how they didn't have the exact major he wanted, it was too cold up there, and there was more to do around L.A. Eventually they let it go. UCLA was still a good school.

Graduation couldn't come quickly enough after that. Justin was practically counting the days before he could see Emily again.

The only things he would miss about this place were his parents and Cookie but he would still see them a few times a year on holidays.

His cousins came down for graduation. After the ceremony as everyone stood around taking pictures in their caps and gowns, Samantha pulled him aside.

"Tell me the truth. Why did you turn down Stanford?"

Justin frowned. "Who told you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You think my mom could keep something like that to herself? Don't give me the same dumb reasons you gave your parents. I want to know—is it about her?"

Samantha knew Emily moved away because the next time she came to visit after meeting her, she wanted to drag her hopeless cousin over to the ice cream shop and try to make them talk for real but Emily was already gone.

"How did you—"

"So it is!" Samantha shrieked. "Justin, you idiot, you turned down such a good school for a girl?!"

"Not so loud," he shushed her desperately.

If his parents knew the truth, they would have his brain checked for damage. They didn't think he even liked girls. Or anything, really.

"I can't believe you," she sighed helplessly. "What are you going to do now? UCLA is a big place."

"I—"

Actually, Justin hadn't thought of that. How many thousands of people went to UCLA? Internally groaning, he realized he would probably have to do some hacking again.

"I'll figure something out."

"If you need any help, I know way more about girls than you do," Samantha offered. "You know my number."

"I might just have to take you up on that."

"Of course you will. I'm a genius," she preened, making both of them laugh. "Anyway, congrats. The first one of us to graduate high school."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get all sentimental on me," he said while cuffing her on the shoulder. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Justin! Sam! Come take pictures with us!" Justin's mom called.

"Coming!" they yelled in sync before rejoining the rest of their family.

Classes didn't start until September but Justin wasn't willing to wait that long. According to InstaFace, Emily was moving in July to get settled and find a job.

Once July rolled around, he hacked the student records to find out where she lived and make sure he lived in the same apartment complex. The school was so big that was probably his only chance to see her.

Did he feel like a total creep for doing so? Yes. But he felt like there weren't any other options.

What else was he supposed to do, aimlessly wander around Los Angeles in the hopes they might run into each other?

His parents helped him move, surprised he wanted to live in an apartment that had roommates. Thankfully, he had his own room. Knowing his temperament, he probably wouldn't survive otherwise.

His room didn't contain much aside from the multi-monitor computer on his desk that he had built himself and his clothes.

"Here, dear," his mother said, pulling out a large frame with slots for multiple pictures. "To make it more homey in here."

The frame had six pictures in it: one of his parents, one of the whole family when they went to the beach, two where his cousins were making weird faces, one of Cookie asleep on his keyboard, and one he didn't know had been taken, where Cookie was sitting on his face as he slept.

For some reason, Justin choked up seeing the pictures. His parents might have never understood their antisocial son but they still loved him. He hugged them both.

"Thanks, Mom. I'll see you at Thanksgiving, okay?"

Nodding tearily, his parents gave him one more hug a piece before heading out the door. Justin sighed. He would miss them more than he originally thought.

Once Justin finished unpacking, he realized there was no food in the house and went to go grocery shopping. On his way down the stairs to the parking lot (he ended up buying a car over the summer, telling his parents he had taken out a loan even though he paid in cash), he tripped and ended up crashing into someone who was carrying a basket full of clothes, causing them to fly everywhere and knocking the person to the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" Justin responded reflexively. "Here, let me help y—"

It was Emily. She hadn't changed much in the nearly two years it had been since he had seen her. Her curly hair was chopped to her shoulders, much shorter than he had ever seen it, but her brightly colored outfit was just like he remembered.

"Geez, watch where you're going," she grumbled before looking up at him in surprise. "Do I know you?"

It would be so easy to say yes. But Justin panicked. "Nope, I just moved in today."

"Weird, you look so familiar…Sorry for the attitude, it's been one of those days." She brushed herself off and started picking up her scattered clothes.

"Here, let me help you," Justin tried to insist but she wasn't having it.

"Thanks but I've got it."

Justin bit his lip. "Are you sure?"

She relaxed. "Yeah. You can make it up to me later."

"I'm about to go grocery shopping, do you want anything?" he offered. "Snacks? Apology pizza?"

Emily laughed. "Apology pizza sounds good. I haven't eaten yet."

He smiled in relief. "Okay, I'll be right back!"

Eager to make up for his blunder, he dashed down the stairs before remembering something crucial. His face was bright red.

"Um…I don't know which apartment is yours."

"302," she said simply. "See you later, Pizza Boy."

"Justin…my name is Justin…" he trailed off quietly.

It was too late. Emily was gone. Cursing himself, he kicked a rock in the parking lot. He was such an idiot.