Amy carried her lunch tray towards Linda's and Laney's table, feeling drained. On top of not getting much sleep in bed with Susan last night, the adrenaline that had carried her through the morning had deserted her. She wished she could go back to her room for a nap, but she had a class at 1:00.

Both Linda and Laney were smiling expectantly as Amy pulled out a chair and sat. Linda spoke first. "So? How'd it go?"

Amy smiled and sighed, feeling her exhaustion still more once she was off her feet. "She was great. I know she would have wished she could have lasted longer, but it was pretty understandable that she didn't. She's the lucky one. At least she gets to rest now."

Laney looked at her sympathetically. "Long night, huh?"

Amy nodded. "I'll sleep about ten hours and get over it... oh, shit." She frowned. "I have to figure out whose room to live in." She had understood that from the start, but had pushed it out of her mind with all the hubbub of Susan's sendoff.

Linda cleared her throat. "We were meaning to talk to you about that..."

Amy looked up, realizing what Linda was going to say. "We can't do that. They wouldn't let us."

Laney shook her head. "No, it's okay, we checked. There's no rule that says a First Year can't share a room with Second Years. The question got all the way up to the dean, and he said it's okay."

Amy's eyes lit up. "That'd be..." She stopped, as her mind spun, conflicting thoughts flashing through it.

Linda squinted at her. "Amy? You'd want to, right?"

Amy sighed and rested her chin in her hands. "I'd love to live with you guys more than anything. Except..."

Linda bit her lip. She and Laney sat silently, waiting. They could see the fight going on inside Amy, and sensed it was the wrong time to push her.

Amy groaned and shook her head. "Okay, listen. I love both of you. You're the best friends I've ever had. But... I know I need to live with other girls in my own class."

Laney shook her head, puzzled. "What difference does it make?"

Amy's eyebrows knit as she tried to put it in words. "I... well, I'm glad you know me well enough that this won't offend you, because it won't surprise you. You're both really important to me, but nothing's more important than being the best Hanging Girl I can be. And I learn more by being with First Years. They're studying the same material I am, and... it's like we all need each other. I understood a lot of that science stuff better by helping Susan with it -- it was really cool the way a lot of it straightened out in my head because I was trying to explain it to her! I wouldn't have that if I was with you. You see what I'm saying, right?"

Both girls looked at Amy in silence, and finally nodded. Linda said, "But you'll still come and see us and spend the night sometimes?"

Amy laughed. "Maybe you don't know me, if you had to ask."

Laney held up her hand suddenly and held her head still, her nostrils flaring. She smiled. "Smell that?"

Amy sniffed. "It does smell like girlmeat, but isn't it too soon? Hardly seems like they've had time."

Linda shook her head. "Remember the kitchen staff has a lot of experience, and a bunch of people working. It doesn't take them long to gut and stuff one of the girls. That's your roommate slow-roasting in there."

Amy sighed. "I wish you guys could come."

Linda shrugged. "If there's any leftovers, we might get some. Probably not, though, with your class still being so big. Save us a couple of bites if you get full."

Amy nodded. "I'll have them box up a few slices or something. I probably have some privileges, with her being my roommate."

Laney grinned. "Okay. So tell us all about the demo."

Amy sat a moment, deciding where to begin. "Have you ever seen the play..."

Amy quickly gathered her notes at the end of her afternoon class, intending to stop Jackie on her way out, and looked up in surprise to see Jackie and Erin standing by her desk. Jackie spoke first. "Have you found anybody to room with yet?"

Amy laughed. "Maybe I have. If you were about to invite me."

Jackie laughed with her. "Yeah, I was talking with Erin. We'd love to have you."

Amy grinned. "Well, that was easy. Let's go talk to Gail and Bridget."

The dorm sisters weren't in, when Amy and the other girls arrived at their room -- the note on their door said they were at the kitchen to help with preparations for Susan's banquet. Amy shrugged. "I need to get some studying done, and start getting my stuff together to move it. Let's try them again after dinner."

Jackie nodded. "Sure. See you then."

Amy hadn't heard so much noise since coming to the Academy. Other than the demo, it was the first time since orientation that the whole First Year class had been gathered in one place, this time at rearranged tables at one end of the cafeteria, and there was none of the nervous, hushed atmosphere that characterized both the orientation session and the demo -- this was a big roomful of girls in high spirits.

The kitchen staff, dressed for the occasion in short dark dresses with lacy aprons, had brought out salads first, causing hardly a break in the conversations around the tables, but the whole group of students burst into applause as the platters of steaming girlmeat were brought out at last.

As Amy watched the nearest platter make its way from hand to hand down the table towards her, each girl jabbing a slice of Susan with a serving fork, she saw the head cook coming towards her, after Gail, sitting with Bridget at one end of the table, had pointed out Amy's location to her. The cook stopped behind Amy and smiled. "Amy?"

Amy looked back at her, puzzled. "Ummm, yeah." The platter was above her eye level, and she couldn't see what was on it.

With an elaborate gesture, the cook set the platter down next to Amy's plate. Stunned, Amy saw that it supported two entire breasts. She could tell they were Susan's, now browned with a hardened honey-glaze reflecting the room's lights. She whipped around to look at the cook again. "Is this... did Susan tell you to give me these?"

The cook nodded happily. "She left that request with your dorm sisters today, and they passed it along to us."

Amy looked back at the platter. A girl sometimes specified that a particular person should have both her breasts -- usually her husband, her wife, or a sister she was especially close to. That Susan would want Amy to have them was a significant honor. Amy knew Susan hadn't really got close to any of the other students. But still.

Bridget, by this time, had left her seat and walked down the table to stand beside the cook. She laughed, seeing the look on Amy's face. "Caught you a little by surprise, did it?"

Amy nodded wordlessly.

Bridget reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded note. "She asked us to give you this."

Amy unfolded and read the note. "Dear Amy: I know that you will always have me in your head, like you said, but I want to be in your body too. You've made my last night and last day soooo special, in a way I never imagined anyone could. I'm trusting them to make me taste really good *giggle* Thank you so much for everything. All my love, Susan."

Tears rolled down Amy's cheeks as she folded up the note and put it in her own pocket. She looked vaguely at Bridget and the cook. "Th-thank you."

Bridget smiled and patted Amy's shoulder, and both women went back to their places, Bridget at the table and the cook in the kitchen.

Amy brushed away the tears and picked up a knife and fork. She stopped, suddenly realizing all the girls at the table were staring at her. Across from her, Jackie smiled and said, "Love always tastes better when you're not expecting it, they say."

Amy gave her a shaky grin and sliced off a mouthful of breast meat.

After dinner, Amy, Jackie, and Erin went again down to Gail's and Bridget's room to get approval for the new rooming arrangements. Bridget had gone down to the gym for a workout, but Gail was in her room, studying the script for her hanging, which she hoped to perform in the near future. Gail simply ascertained that all three girls were happy with the arrangement, though it was hard to imagine why they'd be there if they weren't. As they turned to leave, there was a knock on the door. Amy, closest to the door, opened it, and was surprised to see Shawna, Megan's roommate, standing there in tears. Not so much surprised at the tears -- one might expect that from anyone who shared a room with Megan, and Shawna, who had struck Amy as being bubbly and upbeat when she first met her, had become steadily more withdrawn as the weeks went by -- but just by her presence. Amy looked at her sympathetically. "What's wrong, Shawna?" She could easily imagine.

Shawna sniffled out, "Is Gail or Bridget here? Oh, hi Gail," she went on, looking past Amy and the others. "Gail, is there any way to switch roommates?"

Gail answered, "Well, sure, if it's okay with everybody involved. What's wrong?"

Shawna sat on a nearby bed and started crying harder. "I... I just can't stay with Megan anymore. She makes me feel so... like I just can't do anything right." Her shoulders shook with sobs.

Amy sat beside Shawna on the bed and stroked her shoulder. "You just have to stop listening to her, Shawna. You know there's nothing wrong with you. It's just Megan being Megan. She makes everybody feel that way. You're just closer to the line of fire."

Shawna looked up at Amy, her eyes flashing. "I know! That's the problem I'm trying to fix! Let her shoot at somebody else for awhile!"

Gail cleared her throat. "Have you talked with Megan about this? Maybe she has some ideas about who she could... get along with better."

Shawna wailed, "She doesn't even know I'm here. And it's not like she'd tell me anything personal. Can't you just pick out somebody to stick her with?"

Gail shook her head sadly. "It can't work like that, Shawna. Everybody's already spent a month building a relationship with their roommates. We can't just step in and wreck that."

Shawna burst out furiously, "So I have to be wrecked then? She can just live by herself! I know she'd be happier without some idiot sharing her room!"

Gail said patiently, quietly, "It can't work like that either, dear. There's so much training all of you do in your rooms, and you have to have a partner for it. Only the dean could approve a girl living by herself, and I can't imagine him doing it." Amy had lived by herself in a room for a month, but she knew that was different -- she hadn't been a student yet, and wasn't even allowed to do the things for which a partner was needed.

Shawna let go of her hardest sobs yet. "I can't do it, I can't! Please!"

Amy, still rubbing Shawna's shoulder, looked up at Jackie and Erin. "Could we go out in the hallway for a sec?"

Both girls blinked at her. "Umm, sure."

Amy followed them out, closing the door, and said in a whisper, "I couldn't ask you in there, with Shawna sitting right there, but is there any chance you'd be willing to let her room with you awhile?"

Jackie looked back in puzzlement. "I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let four girls share a room, even if we wouldn't all drive each other nuts in a week in that tiny space..." She stopped as she saw Amy shaking her head. Jackie's jaw dropped. "No, Amy. Stop. You're thinking of doing something crazy. There's got to be another solution..."

"Jackie, Shawna needs out and Megan needs a roommate. And I need a roommate. This will fix everything."

Barely able to keep her voice down to a strangled squeak, Jackie burst out in astonishment, "Why would you even think of rooming with Megan??"

"Why would anybody, Jackie? But somebody has to."

"But why you??"

Amy couldn't believe the idea had come out of her mouth any more than anyone else could, but it somehow had a logic of its own. "I could learn so much from her..."

Jackie shook her head violently. "She'll beat you down like she has Shawna. You'll be back here crying in a month. A week!"

Before Amy could reply, they could all hear a fresh burst of sobs coming out through the door. Amy sighed and looked at Jackie again. "You can hear her, right? You can imagine how it's been for her. If they make her keep on sharing with Megan, she'll volunteer for the next demo, and solve her problem that way, but that still leaves Megan needing a roommate. Jackie, think of everybody we know..." Amy waved her arm back towards the First Year hallway. "Is there any other girl you can think of who's going to say, 'Oh, sure, I'll room with Megan'? You know it's me or it's nobody. And it has to be somebody."

"Amy, you don't have to sacrifice yourself just to solve an administrative problem. Let the dean figure out what to do!"

"Jackie -- I can learn from her." She turned to Erin, always the quieter of the two. "Erin, you might as well say what you think. I'm taking a poll to see if everybody thinks I'm nuts."

Erin bit her lip. She looked at the door, from which Shawna's sobs could still be heard. Obviously the girl's distress had gotten to her. "I guess... Well, I don't want to see you end up like Shawna, but..." She took Jackie's hand. "Jackie, I think Amy's a lot stronger than Shawna. She'll be okay. And if she's not, we can help her then, but Shawna needs help right now."

It was obviously hard for Jackie to give up the idea of having Amy in their room, but she'd come to appreciate Erin's sensitivity. And she had a good idea how stubborn Amy could be. She sighed. "Okay. I wasn't looking forward to having a basket case room with us, but I guess we can manage."

Amy snorted. "I'll get with you as soon as I'm another basket case. Let's tell Shawna and make at least one person happy." She opened the door.