Ah, to be 17 again... right now you're at that age where you probably want to be older. You might desire the "freedom" of being older, out on your own, etc. At one point, we all felt that way. Truth is, now most of us wish that we could go back in time, and actually enjoy those moments of youth.
That's not to say that life sucks when you get older, but it does become different. As humans, we always want what we can't have. When we're young, we want to be older.. when we're older, we want to be young (and wish we would've appreciated our youth).
Appreciate each and every day of your youth, and make memories with your friends. At some point in time, be it college or other factors, those friends may not be around you anymore. Making those memories now, will give you things to recall for a lifetime.
EDIT: My God... have I really been here 10 years?! Now I feel older than when I started writing my reply.