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I stared at the ceiling Tiny yellow-green dots eed frolow-in-the-dark stars, I assuirl Ase not to get huone--I counted the stars, tried to pick out constellations, and glanced at the clock a dozen ti to find a co to still even as I lay exhausted, trying to sleep

I must have drifted off, as I woke suddenly to a pitch-black roo of the hallway door That sound was i in the co knocked around and mumbled curses I threw off the covers and tiptoed to the door, then pressed my ear to the wood

"Da until her bedroolanced at the clock It was one fifteen in theWhen the common room was quiet, I put a hand to the doorknob, twisted it, and carefully pulled open the door The roolowed beneath Scout’s door

I frowned Where had she been until one fifteen in the ? Exercise seemed seriously unlikely at this point

That ain and went back to bed, staring at the star-spangled ceiling until sleep finally claimed me

3

My bedroom was cold and dark when the alarm--which I’d h to actually sit upright, I furumbled, but I didn’t think I was up for food I already had butterflies--the coirls Questionable high school cafeteria fare probably wasn’t going to help

After a htstand The red light on rabbed it, flipped it openand smiled

"SAFE & SOUND IN GERMANY," read the text froe from Dad, as well, a little less businesslike (which was pretty much hoorked with them): "HAVE A HOT DOG FOR US! LV U, LILS!"

I shtstand Then I threw off the covers and forced my feet to the floor, the stone cold even beneath socks I sturabbed my toiletries and a towel, already stacked on the bureau, prepped and ready for ural shower

When I opened my bedroom door, Scout, already in uniforh pair of fuzzy boots), sue "I’ll read about skinny chicks in Milan When you get back, we’ll go down to breakfast"

"Sure," I lanced back "Were you exercising until one fifteen this ers still pinched around the edge of a half-flipped page "I’, but if you’re asking if I was doing whatever I was doing until one fifteen, then yes"

I opened and closed my mouth as I tried to work out what she’d just said I settled on, "I see"

"Seriously," she said, "it’s important stuff"

"Important like what?"

"Important like, I really can’t talk about it"

The room was silent for a few seconds The set of her jaw and the stubbornness in her eyes said she wasn’t going to budge And since I was standing in front of her in pajamas with a fuzzy brain and teeth that desperately needed introducing to soo

"Okay," I said, and saw relief in her eyes I left her with the azine and headed for the bathroo to holdCall it too curious, too nosy But one day after o, she was the closest friend I had And I wasn’t about to lose her to whatever mess she was involved in

She was on the couch when I returned (), her legs beneath her, her gaze still on the azine on her lap

"FYI," she said, "if you don’t hurry, we’re going to be left with slurry" She looked up, her countenance solemn "Trust me on this--you don’t want slurry"

Fairly confident she was right--the nah--I dumped my toiletries in my room and slipped into today’s version of the unifor-sleeved button-up shirt and V-neck sweater A pair of ice blue boots that were shorter but equally as fuzzy as Scout’s

I stuffed books and some slender Korean notebooks I’d found in a Manhattan paper store (I had a thing for sweet office supplies) into rabbedthe key into the lock and turning it until it clicked

"You ready?" Scout asked, a pile of books in her arrinning back atthe key’s ribbon over , but one that looked to be the saothic architecture I assuether were added to assuage parents who didn’t want their baby girls wandering around outside in freezing Chicago winters The nuns, I guessed, had been a littleto brave the elelythe s The yard was tidy, inset ide, concrete paving stones, tufts of grass rising between them In the far corner sat a piece of what I assumed was industrial sculpture--a series of round metal bands set atop aperused the art, I turned back to the cafeteria itself The long rectangular rooular tables of pale wood andchairs; the tables were filled with the St Sophia’s army After ten years of public school diversity, it eird to see so irls in the same clothes But that sameness didn’t stifle the excite, probably excited to be back in school, to be reunited with friends and suitele," Scout whispered, and led ear--white ss, bacon, fruit, toast, and oatmeal These were not your mom’s surly lunch ladies--these folks suards, which were dotted with cards describing how organic or free- range or un-steroided their particular goods were Whole Foods must havewith nerves, I didn’t have anic or not, so I asked for toast and OJ, just enough to settle the butterflies When I’d grabbed my breakfast, I followed Scout to a table We took two eh to avoid the slurry?" I asked

Scout nibbled at a chunk of pineapple "Yes, thank God Slurry is the coet eaten early in the round--oatri"

"If you think that’s bad, wait until you see the stew," Scout said, nodding toward a chalkboardon the far end of the room "Stew" made a lot of appearances over the weekend

Scout raised her glass of orange juice toward the o ho?"

We turned our gazes to the end of the table Veronica stood there, blond hair in a co a load of books, Mary Katherine and Amie behind her Amie smiled at us Mary Katherine looked viciously bored