Matt rushed down the stairs. Surely today was the day. It had to be there. There was no way they were going to make him wait any longer.
He charged out the door and down the driveway, running as fast as he could to the mailbox. He opened it up, and shouted out in joy. It was there. Amazing that one little envelope could hold all his hopes, dreams and fears. One little envelope, with the words “Massachusetts Institute of Technology” on it.
“You got one!?”
Matt looked up from his mail to see Katie standing by her own mailbox a few yards away.
“Yep. How about you?” Matt asked.
Katie opened the mailbox. “Oh my god! There’s one from Brown!”
“Wow… I don’t want to open mine.” Matt said.
“Me either.” Katie said.
“But we have to. Right?”
“You first.”
“No way.”
“Both at once then?”
Matt nodded in agreement.
“1…2…3!” The two counted together, before tearing the envelopes open. They both rushed to read what was inside, their eyes skimming over the letters, before looking back up at each other.
“ACCEPTED!”
<><><>
“Kev, there’s something in the mail here for you!” Kevin’s dad shouted up the stairs. “It’s from UC Irvine, I think it’s your scholarship information pack.”
“It’s about time. I was starting to think they gave it to someone else.” Kevin joked, as he wandered down the stairs. There wasn’t really much doubt at all as to where Kevin was going to college.
“You know, if you’d come to Berkeley with me, maybe I could convince your mother to move north, so I can spend more time at home.” His dad said.
“Dad, she likes her job, she doesn’t want to leave. Besides, I like it here in Newport, and Irvine is close enough to drive every day, I won’t have to move out.”
“I know. It just would have been good to have the best point guard in the state playing for me. We’d make the Final Four, the father and son team.”
“I’d rather not have to rely on my dad as coach though. I want to get there because I earned it. And by staying out of the Pacific 10, I don’t even have to put up with people always associating us. I can be my own person.”
“I understand son. What about Katie, is she going to UC Irvine too?”
“She applied, I don’t know if she’s been accepted or not.”
“She’s a smart girl, any school would want her.”
<><><>
“I got accepted by an Ivy League college! You don’t just turn that down.” Katie shouted.
“But what about us? We’ll be on opposite coasts.” Kevin argued.
“You’re saying you couldn’t have gotten a scholarship on the East Coast?” Katie asked.
“Of course I could have, but I took the people around me into consideration! I’m staying here.”
“You took everyone into consideration, did you? Except for me. I applied for all the UC campuses as fall-backs, but you knew as well as I did that Brown was always my first choice, but with you it was always about the University of California. At least there was a chance I’d be here with you. You were never going to be over there with me. Why should I give up my dream school so you can go to yours?”
“I never told you to give up your dream, but can’t you live it all out here? Can’t you stay here with me, go to UC Irvine, stay on the team with us, live with your dad. It’s just so much easier.”
“Kevin, I’ve wanted to go to Brown to study since I was a kid. That’s where my mom went. I grew up wanting to be just like her, all my life. I’m sorry, but I’m not giving up on that now. You know how hard I’ve worked to reach this point. All those nights studying. All the extra-curriculars. I’ve worked myself to breaking point. I can’t just throw it all away.”
“And the team? You’re just going to throw away what we’ve built? We rely on each other. We’re practically a family now. You’re just going to break it up, leave us here to pick up the pieces? You think Ally can handle losing her big sister after what she’s been through? You’re the only one who knows how to keep Mosley in line. And what about Matt?”
“What about Matt? He’s going to MIT. I’m not the only one leaving the team. The difference is, he’ll probably keep up the job in Boston, but I’m going to take some time off. And Ally has her real family, and the band, and the rest of the team. She’ll be fine without me. Fisher can keep a lid on Mosley, and honestly, if you couldn’t cope without me in a fight, we’d probably all be dead, because I’m usually the first one down.”
“You’re both leaving? I can’t believe this.”
“Matt is moving closer to his girlfriend. He was going to go to Stanford, he wanted to go there for years. It was an amazing school, and close to home. But he’s compromising. He’s travelling across a continent to be closer to the girl he loves.”
“And you’re travelling across a continent to get away from the guy you love.”
Katie took a step back, she looked like she’d been hit in the face. She opened her mouth, but all she could do was stammer.
“Look… That came out wrong… We could still be together. The long-distance relationship thing worked for Matt and Hannah this long, surely we can pull it off.” Kevin explained.
That brought Katie back. “Right up until he decided he needed someone, and decided that Tide was more convenient.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Matt has been sleeping with that tramp Tide from D13 for months. Matt was feeling down after the Assembly beat us, and she was there for him. I don’t know if he’s broken it off, but I think he’s going to MIT to get away, and to try to make up for it.”
“I didn’t see that coming.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“What’s the point? Every time one of us comes up with an argument, it gets countered. Neither of us is going to budge, I’m going to Irvine, you’re going to Brown. We’ve gotten to the point where we’re using our own arguments against ourselves. It’s crazy. Either we’re going to do the long-distance thing, or we’re going to break up. Those are our options.”
“I don’t want to make the decision now… Can we figure it out later?”
“Yes babe, we’ve got all summer. I’m not going anywhere.”

Sweat poured down Matt’s face, as he struggled to lift the weight pushing down across his chest.
“No man, I’m done.” He breathed. Kevin grabbed the bar and lifted it up onto the rack one-handed.
“You said no powers.” Matt complained, as he regained his breath.
“I wasn’t using my powers. You’re just a wuss.” Kevin teased.
“Yet you continue to try to get me to work out.” Matt said.
“I figure eventually I’ll make a real man out of you.” Kevin replied.
“I thought you’d given up on that.” Matt said.
“No, you gave up on it.” Kevin argued.
“And you let me. So what’s this really about? Why did you want me here?”
“Straight to the point. You don’t screw around, do you?”
“Stop dodging the question.”
“See what I mean?”
“It’s about Katie, isn’t it?”
Kevin sighed. “Yeah…”
“The party?”
“Yeah. Not just that party. Every party. She gets wasted. Every time. Not just regular wasted either. Frat boy wasted.”
“It’s a party. Isn’t that what people do at parties?”
“Sure, out in the kitchen or living room or backyard, but not alone in the bathroom, with a bottle of vodka they’ve snuck in.”
“Sounds to me like she just doesn’t want any of your drunk friends taking her vodka.”
“Don’t be an idiot. Stop making excuses, you know as well as I do that she’s got a problem.”
It was Matt’s turn to sigh. “I know. Just trying to cover for my best friend. You know how it is…”
“I know you’re thinking it’s just a phase, but that’s how these things start out.”
“It’s not just at parties.”
“What do you mean?”
“I meet her in the morning, she drives me to school. She used to pick me up at my door, but lately I’ve been having to go wake her up of a morning.”
“She studies pretty late, and works really hard. Are you sure she’s been drinking?”
“Headaches, can’t stand bright lights or loud noises. Sounds like a hangover to me.”
Kevin shook his head. “It’s worse than I thought.”
Matt sighed again. “I’ve tried to talk to her about it. She just argues and storms out every time.”
“What are we gonna do?”
“What can we do? If she doesn’t want help, we can’t help her.”
“We have to do something. How long before she hurts herself? Or someone else? She can’t use her powers when she’s been drinking. How long until she makes a mistake and costs us?”
“I don’t know. And that scares the crap out of me.” Matt admitted.
<><><>
Mosley’s motorbike screeched to a halt and his passenger leaped from the back, completing a hand-spring as she dismounted.
“THAT WAS AWESOME!” Ally shouted.
“I thought you’d like it.” Mosley said, as he climbed from his seat.
“We were like zoooom, and then it was like screeeeeeech and wow!” Ally continued, her hands whirling around in front of her, as she tried to recount the motorcycle journey.
Mosley just shook his head and smiled.
“Seriously, that was sooo cool!” Ally said.
“It’s good to see you all excited again kiddo, you had us scared for a while.” Mosley said.
Ally stopped suddenly. “I kinda scared myself.”
“You totally kicked Helix’s ass last time though.”
“I had to. He was going to do the same thing he did to me to Katie. I just kinda snapped, you know? And when we beat them, I kind of faced my fears, and I guess I just realised I didn’t have to be worried about him. He’s beatable.”
“It’s good to have you back. Between me and Fisher, there’s enough brooding going on around here.”
“Yeah, I can’t pull it off like you guys can. And you saw how yucky my black hair was.” Ally ran her fingers through her hair, it was pink this week, and smiled. “Not to mention my outfits. I’m glad I got over that phase.”
Mosley rolled his eyes and ruffled Ally’s hair.
“I hate it when you guys do that.”
<><><>
“I can’t believe how much better the shopping is here!” Katie said, as she stepped out onto the street, bags from a dozen different stores in her hands.
“If there’s one thing New York can do, it’s shopping.” Hannah laughed, following her out, carrying almost as many bags herself.
“How’s the coffee here?” Katie asked, jerking her head towards the Starbucks across the street.
“It’s Starbucks, it’s the same everywhere.” Hannah replied.
“True.” Katie darted across the road, weaving between the afternoon traffic, which was, as usual, at a standstill.
“Anyone would think you were a born New Yorker, it took Matt months to get into the whole ‘crossing whenever the hell you want’ thing.” Hannah was hot on her heels.
“Matt’s never been one for breaking rules, he was probably worried about getting caught for jaywalking.” Katie laughed.
The girls ordered their coffee, and sat down at a table, their shopping in a pile around them.
“Speaking of Matt… Has he seemed… weird to you at all lately?” Hannah asked.
“No, not really. Why?” Katie replied.
“I’m not sure… He’s been kind of distant lately. I mean, he still visits, but he doesn’t call me as often. Has he been busy lately?”
“Well, we’ve been getting hit with a whole bunch of homework and stuff, and he’s got all his appearance contracts and whatever to fulfil. We’re back at the top, and there’s a lot of work that goes along with it.” ’Not to mention that skank he’s seeing on the side.’ Katie added silently.
“Tell me about it. I think I’ve been on TV more this month than all three Kardashians combined. Maybe our schedules just don’t line up like they used to…” Hannah said.
“That must be it.”
“Mmm…”
“Anyway, how’s the new job?”
Hannah brightened a little. “It’s great. It’s like everything Matt told me about you guys, only cranked up to eleven.”
“Sounds awesome. How are the others?”
“Everyone has been great. Except Jasmine of course, she’s still a bitch.”
“Yeah, that seems to be genetic. It comes with the blue eyes and water powers.”
“Really? Matt seems to like Adrienne…”