Room 307, Friday Morning

[dollpocalypse]

The reason it had taken Topher so long to leave was because he just wasn't a hundred percent sure of where he was going after this. His parents wanted him to travel, but Topher just wanted to play video games and nap between now and Stanford's September 15 start date. So it had taken him some time to sort that out with his parents (video games won).

It definitely had not been because he was sentimental about packing up his room. No sirree. Topher was just fine packing up all the spare dice, leftover paintball guns, bits of old explosives and his futuristic desk-thing on his own, and throwing away things like preteen girl shoes and old Christmas presents was even easier. He was fine. Really.

It was just -- three years in one place was a long time for a just-turned-18-year-old. He wondered if he'd ever come back here.

Comments

[selfhelphero]

Billy was trying not to be sentimental too. He had everything packed up, and he could either sit around and play on his phone, or hang out with Topher and try not to get sappy. "Hey. Need any help?" he said lingering at the door.

[dollpocalypse]

"If you don't mind magicking my bags to the portal on the causeway?" Topher suggested cheekily. "Carrying stuff is for people without witch boyfriends."

[selfhelphero]

"I totally could, if you really wanted me to," Billy said. "Did you have to pack a lot more stuff than you expected? I kind of don't know where it all came from."

[dollpocalypse]

"Yeah, I guess three years of living in one place adds up," Topher assessed, eyeing his duffel bags. "Turns out I have all these souvenirs from trips and stuff, plus that holo-desk thing Peter gave me, plus the robot dog and the console I bought for the common room that I kind of want to take to college..."

He shrugged. "I need to stop buying stuff."

[selfhelphero]

"Well, you'll just have to see how much space you have at school. You might need to fill it more," Billy said. "This is kind of exciting and terrifying at the same time."

[dollpocalypse]

"I dunno," Topher said, "I'm pretty sure dorm rooms don't get any bigger than these. You know, when I asked on the Class of 2018 Reddit thread if Stanford dorms have individual bathrooms, people called me a troll."

Not that he wasn't a troll, but the point was that he had not been trolling at the time.

"How are you on space and stuff? Got room in your bedroom for all this?"

[selfhelphero]

"I've got a lot of stuff going home to my parents. I think I'm going to have to travel lightly," Billy said. "You know, I almost can't believe we got here. It seems weird to have been looking so forward to this, and have the day actually be here."

[justbeingbay]

Bay hadn't really left her bed much since she got back from Los Angeles, so she was around as Topher packed. "Heading out, huh?"

She -- well, she sounded broken up, but it wasn't abut Topher leaving. She was pretty much fine with that one.

[dollpocalypse]

"Pretty much," he said. "You're sticking around for the summer? Or, wait. Did you graduate?"

Some valedictorian he was.

[justbeingbay]

"Yes, I graduated," Bay said, sounding vaguely offended. "Did you seriously already forget? Graduation was like a week ago."

"Either way," she added, "I'm staying. At least until July."