Jeremy Heere nervously twisted his hands around his backpack straps. The college campus in front of him looked a lot more intimidating than the website had made it out to be. Guys somehow twice his size walked across the central plaza with stunning girls on their arm, or equally as impressing guys. No one met his nervous gaze. They went on with conversations ending in laughter or smiles; carefree to the world around them. It was almost reminiscent of highschool, which made him want to shudder.

Jeremy chose to look down at his phone. Why had he gotten here so early? He should have carpooled with Michael and Rich, rather than taken the bus so he could say goodbye to his girlfriend, Christine, before she left for her own school.

Christine had been accepted to some fancy performing arts school while Jeremy went to some regular school for basic degrees to say he was there... How impressive... She had a real catch, didn't she?

"Jeremy!"

Relief flooded Jeremy as he spun around to find the owner of the voice that had called his name. Before Jeremy had even spotted him, he knew he'd see Michael's eager grin awaiting him. That gesture of affection was such a relief compared to how ignored he had been.

"Michael!" Jeremy exclaimed, hurrying over to his friend. "I was worried you wouldn't show."

Michael rolled his eyes, moving his head just enough with the motion to catch the sun's reflection on his glasses. "I wouldn't miss this for the world!" He reached out, draping his arm across Jeremy's shoulders. "What did I tell you in high school? This is where we finally get cool! For real, together this time, okay?" He laughed, squeezing Jeremy's shoulders in a hug.

"Right, like I really want to focus on cool after that fiasco..." Jeremy trailed off with a nervous laugh. Sure, he and Michael had ended up besting the squip, the small quantum computer that had implanted in his brain, but its effects still lingered. Sometimes, when falling into old habits, he would feel electrical zaps as if the squip was still scolding him. He kept his worries quiet, however. He didn't need his girlfriend, or Michael, worrying about something they had hopefully defeated... "Where's Rich? Didn't he ride up with you?" Jeremy asked, hoping to switch the subject of conversation.

Michael took the bait. "Yea! He's grabbing our room assignments while I grabbed you!" Michael nodded his head towards a tall building to their left. "Let's go meet back up with him. How was the bus ride?"

Michael retracted his arm from around Jeremy, taking the previous relief it had given him with it. He shook it off, however, happily following his friend across this new campus.

"It was okay. I think I sat next to a barf stained seat. No one would sit there, though, so that's a plus?"

"Limiting your human contact?"

"No!" Jeremy exclaimed, possibly a bit too defensively. He could already feel his cheeks heating up with embarrassment. "I just... I caught an late bus to say goodbye to Christine."

Michael let out a soft laugh. "What a good boyfriend you are." His tone lacked the same emotion from their earlier conversation, causing a silence to settle between them.

"Do you remember our backpacks in high school?" Jeremy asked as he nervously twisted the straps of his current one in his hands again.

"Jer, that was, like, two months ago."

Jeremy shrugged, "You-you know what I mean..."

Michael stopped mid stride. He waited for Jeremy to halt from curiosity before spinning around to reveal the faded riend across his backpack.

"Are you that cheap that you're still using it?" Jeremy laughed, shaking his head.

"Have you moved on so much as to not?" Michael inquired as he spun back around, "I know high school blew, but there were some decent things about it."

"Like what?" Jeremy asked, his tone making it come out harsher than he intended.

Michael frowned. He didn't respond to Jeremy, instead shrugging and moving forward.

Jeremy bit the inside of his lip as he followed. He didn't like thinking about his high school experience after they had graduated. The squip had successfully helped ruin the few fond memories that were supposed to come out of it. Even though its reign had only lasted a few months, it had somehow tainted memories it wasn't even a part of. Even some of his recent memories with Christine seemed to glitch with the tiny computer's agenda.

He sighed, looking down at the cement of the path they took towards the dorms. College will be different; it had to be. There was more freedom, more expression, and new memories to be made.

"Yo! Mikey and Jerry!"

Jeremy looked up as Rich came hurrying towards them. Rich wore a long sleeved turtle neck, covering a majority of the burns that now permanently decorated his body. When he had been released from the hospital, he had been a bit self conscious of them, especially considering the situation and how hard it was to explain, but he had slowly grown to accept them. Jeremy could only guess that he wanted to avoid the questions that usually came with the markings during registration.

"Hey, best bi!" Michael held up a hand, getting Rich to jump for the high five. "What's the room situation?"

Rich whipped three sheets of paper from his sweater sleeve. "You two are roomies and I'm two doors down. The girl working the table also gave me her number." He wiggled his eyebrows as Michael took one of the papers from his hand.

"Player one and two are back in business!" Michael grinned as Rich passed Jeremy one of the remaining papers. "Let's go get our stuff from the car and settle in. I brought my Atari."

"Of course you did." Jeremy rolled his eyes, but he was extremely thankful for the room arrangements. He was happy to be with his best friend, rather than someone who he didn't know. He planned on meeting new people, he just didn't want to live with a new person.

He followed after Rich and Michael as they lead the way to the car, occasionally chiming into the conversation as they passed a nervous looking blond boy walking alongside a boy who was adjusting his glasses.

"C'mon, Evan, botany? Of all the things you could have a major in, you choose that?" The boy with glasses snorted with the shake of his head.

Evan gripped the hem of his shirt as he nodded. "I-it's what I know about, Jared. I'd rather try to avoid technology in my future, and that's about as far as you can get." He bit his lip after saying it, trying to avoid thinking about the events of his senior year. He was lucky Jared even talked to him anymore.

"I want to enhance my skills so that I can someday hack the pentagon before, hopefully, getting hired on instead of thrown in jail." Jared replied without missing a beat. He nudged Evan's arm, flashing a grin. "Have fun with boring trees while I live a life of excitement."

Evan forced a smile, but it faded as soon as Jared turned away. He had felt with enough excitement to last a lifetime. He just wanted a calm college experience before settling down somewhere that his past could be forgotten. He was lucky to even be here. He and his mother had saved up just enough to ship him off to school. Jared was attending the same school only until he could get a transfer to a school with a primarily tech based ciriculum. Although, Evan had the slightest feeling that Jared had taken another bribe from his parents to attend the same school for about a year.

"Evan? Are you still with me?"

Evan turned to his cousin with wide eyes. "What? No, sorry." Evan sped through his words, immediately biting his lip after.

Jared sighed. "I said, check out the girl at the booth." He repeated, nodding towards the freshman room assignment booth they were walking towards.

The girl was looking through a pile of papers, causing her short, dark hair to hide her face. She was wearing a deep purple jacket that showed off the curves of her body.

Evan quickly looked away, feeling self conscious just looking at her. He hadn't really been interested in anyone after Zoey. They still talked on occasion, but he doubted that they would ever get back together after what he did.

"Do you think she's single?" Jared asked as they drew closer to the booth.

Evan shrugged.

"Do you think I could have a shot?"

Evan shrugged again.

"You're a terrible wingman."

Evan nodded.

Evan and Jared stepped behind a girl getting helped at the booth run by the girl in the purple jacket. Evan looked down at the ground as they waited while Jared hummed and danced in place.

"Next!" The girl at the booth called out as she waved the girl in front of them away. She smiled at Evan and Jared, "What are your names?"

Jared took the reigns, introducing himself and attempting to flirt with the girl, who simply looked through her papers and handed one to him mid-flirt. She turned to Evan with the tilt of her head. "Your name?"

"Evan, uh, Evan Hansen." He smiled at her.

She laughed, going back to her stack of papers. "Well, Evan, Evan Hansen. Your roommate has already been through. I think you're going to have fun." She grinned as she pulled his paper from the stack and held it out to him.

Evan nervously took it. Did that mean Jared wasn't going to be his roommate? Oh, geez, this meant meeting someone new right off the bat...

"I'd have more fun if I knew your name." Jared interjected, leaning on  the table.

The girl rolled her eyes and looked down at her papers. "It's Veronica." She replied, casually, without looking up.

"I'll remember the name." Jared grinned.

Evan hooked his arm in Jared's, beginning to tug him away from the table. "T-thanks, Veronica."

Veronica looked up, flashing a smile. "Nice meeting you." She gave them a small wave before turning her attention to another student who stepped up to her table.

Jared spun himself around, unhooking himself from Evan's arm. He had a triumphant look on his face as he wiggled his eyebrows. "I think I made a good first impression."

Evan just shook his head. "Let's just get our things to the room, please..."

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A/N~ WOO I STARTED THAT FIC I'VE BEEN TEASING WHAAAT I'm excited for this aahhh I hope y'all will enjoy it <3

~Skittles Out~