Let Us Be Seventeen (Jdronica)

College Will Be Paradise

August 12, 1990

Veronica's POV

I look at all my stuff. "You almost packed?" JD asks behind me. "Yeah." I sigh. He comes up behind me and turns me to face him. "It's going to be great." He assures me. "I know." I give him a half smile.

After I'm sick of packing, I pull out my diary. It's been a few days since I've written in it.

Dear Diary,

So JD and I move into college tomorrow. Heather told us to come over tonight and it's sad since that will be the last time I see her. At least, until Thanksgiving. Actually, we won't spend long apart. I got her paper to write since we won't have much contact in person. Though I'd say she'll be pretty occupied. Between school, cheerleading, and James, I doubt she write super often.

But like I'll have time either. College will be paradise for me. Even my roommate is great. Her name is Erika. She seemed like a sweetheart when we wrote to each other. JD's roommate is named Kyle. JD said he was nice too.

I'm still trying to pack. I'm stressing out. JD just told me "it's going to be great" and I said "I know" but I'm still worried. College is so much different from high school.

Well, I better finish packing before JD does it all for me and makes me feel bad.

Sincerely,

Veronica

I put my diary down and continue packing. Once I'm sure I have everything, I go downstairs. JD is on the phone. "Okay... bye." He hangs up. "Heather says we have to dress nice at her house." He tells me. "Why?" I ask. "I don't know. She said her dad expects it." He shrugs. "Okay..."

We walk up to Heather's. The place is dark. There's a sign on the door:

It's unlocked, just come in
-Heather

We walk inside to darkness. "What the hell?" I say. Suddenly the lights are on and people jump up. "Surprise!" Everyone yells. I flinch. Heather comes and hugs us. "What is this?" I ask. "Your going away party." She smiles. "Thank you." I hug her. Martha waves and I run over.

JD's POV

Veronica goes to talk to Martha and I'm left with Heather. We end up going to the patio. "So are you excited to be leaving for college tomorrow?" Heather asks. "I guess. Are you excited to be going in a few weeks?" She sighs, "I think I am?" She says more as a question.

"Well you'll have James." I say. "Yeah. He's a good guy." She sounds almost unsure. "What's wrong?" I ask. "It's just... when we started dating, I was still getting over my crush on you." She admits, looking down. "And?" She lifts her head. "I don't know if I am. Over it." She says. I don't know what to say to that. "Sorry." She looks down again. "It's okay. I'm not mad that you like me." I say, absentmindedly putting my hand on her knee. I see what I did and take it off.

"I just w-" I'm stopped by her lips slamming into mine. I pull away. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I just had all my old feelings coming up." She rants. "It's fine. It's really fine." I try to calm her down. "Hey, guys..." Veronica stands a few feet away. She clearly saw. "Veronica, I'm really sorry." Heather says, way too quiet for her to hear. "Heather I told you it's fine." I say. "Heather, can I talk to you?" Veronica asks. Heather looks up nervously. "O-Okay."

Veronica's POV

Heather and I go upstairs into her room. "Veronica, I am so sorry." Heather says. "Heather. I'm not mad." I tell her. "What?" I sit on her bed. "I know you like him romantically. But you know that he doesn't like you romantically." I say. She sighs and sits beside me. "I feel awful." She buries her face in her hands. "Don't." I assure her. "I completely ruined your going away party, didn't I?" She asks. "No." I shake my head. "Why did you want to talk?" She takes her hands away from her face. "I just wanted to talk without JD present. Because obviously he's going to say nothing happened. God knows he loves me too much for his own good."

"You're my best friend and I really don't want to hurt you." She says. "I know. And you haven't hurt me. To be honest, I feel like you're hurting James more." I tell her. "It was just all these old feelings for him that came up. I love James. I really do." She sighs. "Let him know that." I smile at her.

After the party is basically done, JD and I drive home. He was pretty quiet. It was obvious that he didn't mean for the kiss to happen so I wasn't that mad. "So what time do you want to leave tomorrow?" He asks me once we get into bed. "I'd say by five." I say. "Yeesh." He laughs. "Well that why we get there early." I set my clock.

The next morning we wake up and get ready. Jill helps us put stuff into our car and hers. We leave about ten minutes until five. I sleep for half the trip, then trade after we stop for food. We get there at about three. We get carts and put our stuff in them.

Once we're checked in, we go to my room to set up. The door is already open and Erika is facing the wall, putting up pictures on her wall. "Hey." I say. She turns around with a smile. "Veronica!" She jumps up and hugs me. She then looks at JD. "And you must be JD." She says. He nods. "Well nice to meet you." She grins. "And this is his mom, Jill." I point to Jill. "Hi." She waves. "I'm going to see my room while you start getting yours together." JD tells me. "Okay." I nod. "So we'll meet in an hour?" He asks. "Sounds good."

I put on my sheets make my bed. "So how is it in Ohio?" Erika asks me. "It's okay." I shrug. "That's it?" She laughs. "Well I had a crappy life there for quite some time." I say. "That makes sense." She sits to face me. "So how'd you meet your boyfriend? I'd like to know where to find a guy like that." She smiles. "He started at my school the first day of senior year. We just got it off." I tell her. "Wow. Where's he from?" She asks. "Where isn't he from?" I joke. "What?" She tilts her head slightly in confusion. "His dad worked for deconstruction company." I explain. "Worked?" She caught that little -ed I added without thinking about it. "He died shortly after they moved to Ohio." I say. "Aw." She frowns. "But he wasn't a really great guy so JD was t really that devastated." I add. "Oh."

"So what about you?" I change the subject. "What about me?" She asks. "You said you're from California?" I remember she said that in one of her letters. "Yeah. Moraga." She smiles. Something I noticed in her pictures she sent me was how huge her smile was and, by seeing her now, is. "That sounds nice. Do you guys get an actual winter there? I know Sherwood does." I ask. "No, more cool and wet." She shrugs. I nod.

After we decorate our dorm for an hour, I go over to JD's dorm. Him and his roommate are laughing. I knock on the door. JD opens it. "Hey." He lets me in. "Kyle, this is my girlfriend Veronica. Veronica this is Kyle." He introduces us. "Hi." I wave. "Hi." He waves back. He hasn't decorated too much. But he didn't want to decorate too much. He's a pretty simple person in terms of how his room looks. "So JD was just telling me about you." Kyle starts. "Really?" I look at JD, hoping he didn't say anything too embarrassing. "Yeah. You seem pretty cool. Hopefully I get to know you better down the line. Not just from him." He says. "Me too." I smirk.

"So where are you from?" I sit on JD's bed. "California." He tells me. "Oh. That's where my roommate is from. Where in California are you?" I ask. "Huntington Beach." He answers. I smile. "So how are you and Erika getting along?" JD asks. "Good. I'd say we'll get along well." I say. "Good." He puts his hand over mine.

I eventually go back to my dorm to finish getting set up. Erika is gone when I walk in. I put everything where I want it and meet up with JD for dinner. We eat and walk around campus for a while. Finally, we kiss goodnight. "Have a good night." He hugs me. "You too." I smile. I go back to my dorm and change. Erika is sitting in bed, reading. "Good night l." She tells me. "Good night." I say back. I climb into bed and close my eyes. At this rate, college will be paradise.