FRIDAY

Amy awoke, just gradually aware of the transition from sleeping to wakefulness, because she had been dreaming she was in her bed in the Cameron house, her home growing up, lying curled around Miranda's head. She realized, suddenly, she was now in her own bed in the Academy dorm, in that same fetal curl with Miranda cradled against her, and that quality of here-and-now that tells us when we are truly awake was operating now. It was an odd feeling, leaving a dream so near the reality of her existence, and the dream proved harder to shake off than one more outrageously unrealistic.

She felt an excitement tinged with sadness. Excitement, that she was beginning the last full day of her life, standing on the edge of fulfilling the goal that had driven her these last four years. Sadness in leaving the Academy, the scene of the happiest times of her life, the home of all of her dearest friends

She brought Miranda's head up to her face and kissed her lips. You're one of the loved ones I'll have to leave here, Amy thought to Miranda. But you'll be in the room of someone who treasures you as much as I do.

She showered, and examined her hair as she blow-dried it. She'd had the salon trim it last week -- it had reached an awkward length, a little shaggy to be a pixie-cut but still not long enough to style the way she would have liked, and time had run out to let it grow any longer. She'd thought about having it all in tight curls, but after looking at pictures she decided it just wasn't her. Still not quite long enough to part it effectively, she'd had them cut the front shorter, where it had crept a little too far down her forehead, and over her ears, where it had hung awkwardly, not long enough to cover them fully. She had left the back alone. It still came nowhere near her shoulders, but she had just recently begun feeling it brush the back of her neck when she turned her head. It's a lot less boyish now, she told herself. She nodded to herself, deciding against stopping in at the salon once more for an emergency adjustment.

She dressed in the outfit she'd picked out for her arrival at Benjamin's house. She had debated with herself whether to dress up at all, as opposed to simply wearing her Academy uniform. Miranda had arrived for Andrew's party in that incredibly hot golden outfit, though that was because she was arriving on the day of the party. In Amy's case her party was scheduled for tomorrow, so it wasn't necessary to be dressed for it yet. The consideration that decided her choice was that, like Miranda, Amy had been sold to someone she had not yet seen -- in Amy's case, Benjamin's son, Calvin. Amy wanted to make the best possible first impression on her new owner.

Now dressed, Amy examined herself critically in the mirror -- she had already done so the day she'd chosen this outfit, but was aware that it might look different to her in closer proximity to its public display.

The top was white cotton, with very short sleeves, ending just below her breasts so that her midriff was bare, formed of a see-through mesh that left her bare skin visible on the shoulders and upper chest, the mesh closing in to a solid white gradually as it approached her breasts, so that her areolae were invisible, though the shape of her nipples could be seen. Its back narrowed down between her shoulders to a band of fabric crossing her back about where a bra would be. She wore no bra with it, since it looked much better without one -- she was satisfied that, after years of body shaping, her breasts were sufficiently firm that she didn't need a bra. She liked the way it showed off her abs and her back. She'd spent several sessions in the tanning bed after choosing the top, so that her skin contrasted more with the white fabric.

Her skirt, medium brown, was very short, its lower seam uneven, coming up higher at the sides to show more of her legs. She wore lace panties of the same color, knowing they would be visible from certain vantage points when she bent over.

Toeless brown high heels, fastened by a strap around her ankle, completed the ensemble. She had considered calf-length high-heeled boots, but decided these shoes gave her a more mature look.

Looking more closely at her eyes, she decided to touch up her makeup. She was using slightly more black eyeliner than usual, and a slightly darker eye shadow. She smiled as it occurred to her that, without thinking about it, she was trying to make her eyes more dramatic in the way Runner's were. Finishing, she took in her whole face, trying to see herself as a stranger. An intelligent, sensual, desirable woman, she decided. As she had wanted.

Biting her lip, she picked up the new slave choker. The medium-brown fabric -- she had chosen the skirt to match it -- displayed the words, stitched in flowing white script, "AMY -- Property of Calvin S. Smith." Amy stared at it for a full minute. Quivering slightly, she fastened it around her neck, symbolically letting go of the Academy. The Academy no longer owned her. Her sale having gone through a few weeks ago, her master was now a young man, very close to her own age, a recent university graduate, about whom she knew nothing else other than his relationship to Benjamin. She closed her eyes and let out a breath, calming her shivers. He's Benjamin's son, she reminded herself again. What more do I need to know?

Her thoughts turned to a less visible feature of the choker. Embedded within the fabric was the electronic monitor that would signal when Amy's heart ceased functioning. Donning the choker was the first real step of Amy's final journey. She reached up and touched it, stroking it for a time. Then it was time, she knew, to go on with her preparations for departure.

Amy was able to pack her overnight bag quickly through years of experience -- including an outfit identical to the one she was wearing now. Little else was left in the room. She had already given away her favorite party outfits to some other girls her size, given most of her other clothes, except for those too worn to bother with, back to the student store, returned her books to the bookstore, collected huge piles of class notebooks and left them with Melissa for Runner's use. Melissa had insisted Amy should not disrupt her mental focus on her upcoming hanging with efforts to make sure the room was completely emptied and clean -- Melissa would do that herself on her return from Amy's hanging.

Amy nevertheless looked around and found a few discardable odds and ends and dropped them in the trash can, and left some clothes she decided against packing stacked neatly on the bed.

As her final act of packing, she withdrew the only remaining item in a dresser drawer, an envelope she needed to fulfill a promise made long ago. She had saved it for last because, even more than the choker, it signified that she was on her way to her final show. She placed the envelope carefully in a side pocket of her bag and zipped the pocket closed.

She stood now in the middle of the room, not to decide whether anything more needed to be done but simply to take a last look around. She hadn't lived in this particular room very long, but it represented all of the dorm rooms she had lived in during her time here, rooms shared with Susan, with Megan, with Shawna, with Melissa and Jana, with Runner.

Nodding to herself at last, and feeling an eagerness to start on her one last adventure that conquered her reluctance to leave a place of comfort behind, she picked up her bag, cradled Miranda in the crook of the same arm, opened the door, and closed it behind her in the hallway.

As soon as Amy knocked, Melissa opened the door and grinned at her. "I heard footsteps coming, and I figured it was you."

Behind Melissa stood Runner, her face alight. Amy was relieved that Runner was in much better spirits than when she'd left her. "Amy! I was just thinking about riding in a car. We'll go in one, right? I've only been in a car that one time, and then I just didn't know what was going on."

Amy laughed. "Hold on just a minute, Runner. I need to do something first." She set her bag down and carefully shifted her grip on Miranda, holding her out to Melissa, face first. "Melissa, I kind of gave Miranda to you once before, when my life here got so rudely interrupted. But obviously, you should have her." She hesitated, then giggled. "I was about to say something really stupid about taking good care of her. But anyway, your sister belongs to you now."

Melissa bit her lip, smiling as she fought off tears. She reached for Miranda and pulled her sister's head against her chest, her eyes closed, rubbing her cheek against the top of Miranda's head. "Thank you so much, Amy. I'm so glad we got to be such close friends that you didn't have to think twice about this." She wiped the side of her hand against her eye and turned, taking Miranda to the space she'd cleared on the shelf over the bed.

Amy saw three more overnight bags, similar to her own, lined up next to the bed. Melissa had told Amy she'd help Runner with her packing.

Amy turned to Runner, smiling. "So how was your night?"

"Oh, it was nice. They knew I was really sad, so they hugged me between them in bed all night. I felt better when I woke up."

Melissa rejoined the group after having a few words with Miranda. Amy looked at her curiously. "You do know it's not today, right?" While Jana and Runner were dressed casually, in white Academy t-shirts and colored shorts, with standard sneakers on their feet, Melissa was in the executioner's outfit she had picked out -- tight black t-shirt with a plunging neckline that showed plenty of cleavage, full-length black leather pants, and black high-heeled boots. A black choker would have been an ideal addition, but as a Second Year, Melissa hadn't yet earned the right to wear a choker, so her metal collar would have to do.

Melissa laughed and nodded. "Of course I know. But I remember you said Miranda's roommate Beth was in character the whole time at Miranda's hanging. I'm going to wear these too." She pulled dark eyeshades, with black frames, out of her pocket and put them on. "How do I look?"

Amy smiled. "Totally professional. It's a good thing you're going to kill me tomorrow, because otherwise you'd be looking for somebody else to kill." Actually, Amy suspected Melissa's role would be limited to setting the noose in place, then giving the signal at the end of the hanging that Amy was dead. It all depended on what sort of script Calvin wanted to follow, but Amy suspected he most likely would want to pull the lever himself.

Amy turned back to Runner. "You under..."

Runner interrupted her. "Yes, I know why you didn't want me to be your executioner. This is my first off-campus hanging show, and you don't want me to get..." Amy could tell she was searching her ever-expanding vocabulary for the right word. "...distracted. You want me to be watching everything that happens."

Amy nodded slowly. "Right." I should, Amy told herself, be used to this by now. It's not like I can't read minds myself. I understand how it's done, and I've been learning how for four years. But I still can't do it like Runner does.

If the occasion ever arose when Amy had to hide something from Runner, she was daily less confident that she ever could. Of the many reasons Amy was glad her hanging was coming tomorrow, that was one of them -- it made it unlikely she'd ever be in that situation.

The speaker in the room crackled, and said in the voice of Angie, one of the dorm sisters for the Second Years, "Can I have everybody's attention..." Amy had time to wonder why so many of the world's announcements began that way, as if people would otherwise fail to notice an amplified, disembodied voice suddenly springing up in their environment. Angie went on, "All ten o'clock and eleven o'clock classes are cancelled, for today only. All students please assemble now in the party pavilion."

Amy blinked. "I don't know if we have time for whatever that's about..." She stopped when she saw Melissa's face.

"Uhhh... Amy?" Melissa was grinning. "That doesn't really apply to us. They can't exactly... start without us."

Amy stared at her for several seconds, and at last said, "Ah. Okay."

Jana looked at the clock. "We have time for breakfast. I'm starved!"

Runner nodded. "Me too."

It seemed very odd in the cafeteria. The serving lines were open, the food was hot or cold as appropriate, but no other students were there. Normally there would be several girls having late breakfasts at this time. Amy felt as though the world had been suddenly depopulated in the last few minutes, except for herself and her friends.

As they ate, Runner suddenly asked, "Amy, are there princesses in real life? I just read another story with a princess in it, but I never hear about them for real."

Amy blinked, smiling, wondering where the question had come from. Probably, she decided, with Amy's hanging so close, Runner's thoughts turned to the standard hanging scripts that Amy had described to her, including the Princess scene used for Miranda's hanging. The current question hadn't come up then, probably because Runner hadn't yet been aware of the absence of princesses in the day-to-day world. "There were princesses for real, and kings and queens, a long time ago, but we do things different now. Now we have elections, where everybody writes down who the leaders should be, and whoever the most people want becomes the leader. And we have different words for what we call them. Like the leader of the city is called the mayor..."

Runner frowned. "I knew about elections from TV. If they didn't choose kings that way, then how did they get to be king?"

As they all continued eating, Amy tried to explain the system of power, back as far as tribal days. As she spoke, she watched Runner, noticing that Runner's table manners no longer distinguished her in any way from any other girl in... well, thought Amy, I've been calling it "my world," but it's very much Runner's world now too. Nothing about Runner at this moment suggested she'd lived her entire life, until just months ago, in a culture where girls just grabbed food and ate it with their hands.

By the time Amy was finished with an explanation that seemed to satisfy Runner, they had all finished eating. My very last meal in the Academy cafeteria, Amy told herself. How many does that make, she wondered. Not quite four years... about fourteen hundred days... four thousand meals here?? Can it possibly be that many? Amy shook her head to clear it. No thought about her leaving the Academy had staggered her quite as much as that one.

When they returned to Melissa's and Jana's room to pick up their bags, Melissa, trying unsuccessfully to stifle a smile, said, "What do you say we leave by way of the party pavilion?"

Amy picked up her own bag, laughing. "Just a passing thought, was it?"

Melissa nodded. "No special reason."

Amy, holding her bag, turned in a slow circle, looking around the room she had spent more nights in than the one she and Runner had shared. I've got to stop my mind taking this sentimental farewell tour, she told herself. It's slowing everything down, and I want to get to my hanging. But somehow it was hard to make herself leave the room. At last she took a deep breath, and grinned. "Okay, party pavilion it is."

Amy could, to no surprise, hear the commotion before even entering the corridor that led to the party pavilion entrance. It gave her a deja vu feeling, her goodbye party having been here just last weekend.

Melissa, Jana and Runner entered first, and the room instantly grew hushed. Amy grinned and shook her head. Here I go again, she told herself.

She entered the doorway and stopped, expecting a sudden outburst from the gathered students. Instead, the silence continued for several seconds, interrupted by a single female voice -- Amy couldn't tell whose -- calling out clearly, "One, two, three." An instant after "three," every girl in the room shouted in synchrony, "GOOD LUCK, AMY!!!" The organized chant was followed by laughter from various places around the room, and, at last, the applause.

Amy saw that there were two rope lines forming a corridor from the student area door, through which she had just entered, to the public door on the other side of the room. Students were lined up in ranks outside the rope lines. Obviously there was no intent of repeating the endless hugging session of her party, or making her stop to give a speech. The girls were only there to watch her and deliver a group expression of their feelings for her as she passed through.

Melissa and the others had stopped during Amy's entrance, but Melissa now turned and beckoned Amy on. Amy followed, both embarrassed and very touched to be the focus of the scene. She'd only seen this once before, for Linda's exit, and then it was only because all of the students were pretending to be watching a movie star leaving. Amy wasn't convinced her Academy career was really that distinguished, certainly not in the way Megan's was. Most likely, Amy decided, it was because she'd only so recently returned, and been given a second chance to achieve the goal of her existence, after she'd thought it was out of reach forever. All of the students, she knew, understood how much that meant to her.

Amy didn't believe the girls expected her to greet them individually, but she did make an effort to smile and wave at the ones she felt closest to, especially any she had spent the night with. With her other hand she brushed tears away.

Her smile broadened when she heard Puppy's bark, and spotted her near the rope, her leash held firmly by Taylor, who was kneeling next to her and applauding, then giggling as Puppy licked her face.

Holly and Haley, holding hands, were up next to the rope about halfway along. Amy had resolved not to stop, but found she couldn't pass by the red-headed sisters without one more hug. As she squeezed each one, Amy whispered in the ear of one, and then the other, "You guys are going to do shows they'll always remember." As Amy broke off the second hug, wiped another tear away and picked up her bag again, she heard both girls shout, to be heard over the applause around them, "Thank you, Amy." It was as synchronized as the group shout-out had been moments earlier, but Amy hadn't seen any signs of them coordinating it.

Vonda Bennett, the assistant dean, unlocked the exit door and opened it. She smiled at Amy. "With some girls, when I first interview them, I feel for certain I'll see this day come for them. You're one of those girls, Amy, and I'm so proud of you."

Amy hugged her tightly, her tears flowing non-stop now. "Thank you. You just don't know how proud I am to represent the Academy."

Ms. Bennett, releasing Amy, held her at arms' length for a moment. "I can tell, Amy. The very best of luck to you."

Amy thanked her, and followed Runner out the door as Melissa and Jana held it for her, hopelessly brushing tears away, trying to collect herself as she took in a great lungful of fresh outdoor air. At the curb, Bill was standing by the open doors of the Academy limo -- definitely one of ours, Amy thought to herself, able from where she stood to see Karl in the driver's seat. Getting the girls from building to car was something the bodyguards took a great deal more care with these days.

All four girls tossed their bags in the open trunk -- Runner last, following the example of the others in a brief interruption of her wide-eyed survey of their surroundings -- and Amy entered the first open door, leading Runner by the hand to follow her in, while Melissa and Jana took the seat behind.

Amy pulled a tissue from her bag and dabbed at her face, then reached for her make-up kit to do a quick restoration. As she finished, the limo pulled away from the curb. Amy turned in her seat to watch the Academy grow smaller in her field of vision. Melissa and Jana remained silent while Amy watched, and even Runner was quiet. For now.

Runner's questions were of a different nature from those of her previous car ride, though flowing just as fast and with an equal level of excitement. In that first ride, she'd been confronted with a whirl of impressions all completely alien to her. Today, she was trying to coordinate visual stimuli within the framework of the world she'd been mentally constructing. "Is that a park, where people go to relax and play? Oh, there's a food... grocery store. 'Benson's,' I heard that name in commercials... That's a school, right? I think it must be an elementary school. They wouldn't have swings for older kids. Amy, what's that building?" Pointing at a high-rise.

Amy looked for a sign at the entrance, but saw nothing identifying it. "I think it's offices where people work. Probably a lot of different companies use parts of the building. Like one company might use all of the offices on the fifth floor."

"You're not sure, though?"

Amy smiled. "No one person knows all of the buildings in the city, Runner. Not even the mayor. It's just way too big, with too many different things in it."

"Can we see the university from here? Where Doctor Chase works? In the Sociology Department?" Runner was still seeing the professor twice weekly, describing life in the Island pens to her, while barraging the woman with her own questions.

Amy shook her head, and pointed past Runner through the right-hand window. "It's over that way, about five miles."

Runner swung around in her seat. "Melissa, when you hang, could you do it closer to the university? Maybe we could go by it on the way."

Melissa laughed. "I'll try, Runner."

Runner suddenly pointed past Amy. "Oh! I heard of that. It's a girlmeat steakhouse...."

After about thirty minutes, the limo had entered an upscale residential neighborhood, its winding streets heavily shaded with overhanging trees. Runner goggled at the current sights as she had all of the previous ones. "Rich people must live here. Right?"

Amy smiled. "Pretty rich, yeah." The residences here seemed, if anything, larger than the Cameron house, which was in a different part of town.

Amy felt a rush of adrenaline as the limo turned into a driveway interrupted by a heavy gate. I'm here! she told herself. I'm seeing the place where I'll do my show! Karl stopped the limo beside a speaker and identified their party as being "from the Hanging Academy," upon which the gate swung open, and Karl proceeded down a long, landscaped drive.

The car stopped at last at the head of a circular drive, and Bill got out to open the second door, then the third, on the passenger side. Runner looked at Amy uncertainly, and Amy gestured back to go ahead and exit the car. Jana and Melissa were already slipping out of the other door. As Amy slid across the seat towards the door, she was overcome by a vivid memory of her first sight of Miranda, in all her golden glory, emerging into the sunlight in front of the Cameron house. I think, said Amy to herself, that may have been the first moment when I told myself, unconsciously, that I was going to do the same thing someday.

Melissa took the lead, going up the steps, as she and Jana looked around nearly as wide-eyed as Runner at the beauty and elegance of the grounds in front of the house, and the house itself, its porch covered by an overhang supported by white columns. It was Melissa who rang the doorbell. Bill and Karl were gathering bags from the trunk of the limo.

A pretty slavegirl, about thirty, with short dark hair, dressed in a businesslike way in a white buttoned shirt with sleeves rolled up, and black feminine-cut pants, her collar a gleaming silvery band of metal, opened the door. Looking at Melissa, she smiled and asked uncertainly, "Amy?"

Behind Melissa, Amy raised her hand and smiled. "I'm Amy."

The girl directed her smile at Amy and stepped back. "I'm Matty. If you'll come in, Mr. Smith will greet you in just a minute." She looked down the steps and called to Karl and Bill, "Do you need me to get anything?" Karl shook his head.

Benjamin now emerged from an adjoining room. "Amy! Very nice to see you."

Amy held out her arms and gave him a warm hug, then backed away to do the introductions. "I believe you know Jana. You met her once last year."

Benjamin grinned and took Jana's offered hand in both of his. "I did indeed. Very nice seeing you again."

Jana smiled back. "You have a really nice house, Benjamin."

Benjamin thanked her, and Amy gestured to Melissa. "This is Melissa. You haven't been with her yet, but you I think you remember her sister Miranda."

Benjamin gaped in delight. "Miranda! Yes, I remember Miranda quite well. Really delightful girl. I'm sure you're the same."

Melissa shook hands with him. "I try, sir."

"Benjamin, please."

"Benjamin."

Benjamin turned to Runner. "And you would be Runner. Amy pointed you out to me at a party some time back."

Runner gave Amy an uncertain look, and held out her hand to be shaken as the others had, able to muster a generic greeting, "It's nice to meet you... Benjamin."

Benjamin stood back and rubbed his hands. Looking at Amy's friends, he said, "Now, if the three of you will follow Matty, she can take you out to the guesthouse, where there's some lunch waiting. And..." He suddenly struck the heel of his palm against his forehead. "I knew I'd forget something. I don't suppose any of you brought swimsuits? For the pool?"

Melissa looked amused. "Uhhh... no."

Amy interpreted Melissa's look. "If it's okay with you, Benjamin, they don't really need the suits." Even without Melissa's vote, Amy knew Runner would be fine without a suit.

Benjamin raised his eyebrows, and murmured, "Just so, just so. Well, it's certainly okay with me. The pool area is entirely private."

Near a door leading farther into the house, Matty said, "If you'd follow me, please." She backed through the door, with Melissa and Jana trailing her, and, after receiving Amy's nod, Runner followed them.

Benjamin looked at the men. "Oh, you two gentlemen as well. The bags will be fine in the guesthouse."

Amy pointed at her own bag. "Just leave that one." Bill nodded, and he and Karl followed the others with the remaining bags.

Benjamin smiled at Amy. "And now, if you'll follow me, I'd like you to meet Calvin. Matty can get your bag later."

Amy felt a tremor rush through her, and swallowed hard. I'm sure he'll be nice, she told herself. She followed Benjamin into an enormous open area, with a skylight above and a fireplace along one wall, that Amy decided, based on the arrangement of couches, was the living room. At the opposite end, two curving stairways ran up to what were most likely bedrooms, and between them a door led into what seemed, based on visible shelves of books, to be a library. A young man emerged from that door, and stopped suddenly.

Amy froze, her jaw hanging open, her eyes wide. The young man seemed equally stunned.

The young man spoke first, in an awestruck voice. "Wow!"

Amy understood his astonishment. She was aware her body had changed considerably in the four years since he had seen her, and she was, in her choice of clothes, showing it to best advantage. She could easily read the appreciation in his stare.

He shook his head and smiled at last. "Hi, Amy. Your hair looks really cute like that."

After looking back at him for what seemed an eternity, Amy finally managed to croak, "Scott? What... what are you doing here?"

He grinned. "I live here."

"Where's... where's...where's Calvin?"

Scott brought his hands up to his chest, cupped, fingers towards himself. "Calvin Scott Smith. I never really liked Calvin, so I stopped using it in junior high. Dad's the only person in the world who calls me Calvin now. Well, and Matty and Sharon, they call me Mister Calvin. Look, let's go into the library. We can talk."

Amy looked behind her. Benjamin had withdrawn, leaving her with... Calvin. She followed Scott into the library, looking around the room as he closed the door. Scott, she thought, it's Scott. Of all people in the world to end up hanging me.

As he started turning back towards her, she reached for his hand, moving towards him. Pressing against him, she slid her arms around him and kissed him.

FOUR YEARS AGO

She waited in line at the food court, to order a soft drink, and when she reached the front and gave her order, the boy in line behind her, about Amy's age or perhaps a little older, stepped up alongside her and said, "And I'll have a large Sip Fizz."

Amy spun her head quickly to look at him, wondering how anyone could be so rude, as the clerk asked, puzzled, "Is this together?" His memory seemed to be telling him they had arrived separately.

The boy smiled. "Yeah. I'm paying."

Amy suddenly realized what was going on, though nothing remotely like it had ever happened to her before. She examined him more closely. "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

As the clerk handed them their drinks, the boy passed some money across and said to Amy, "I've been trying to decide that. I think I've seen you around. You go to the university, right?"

She smiled. "Mistaken identity. I'm at the high school. I graduate next month, though."

He blinked, but smiled. "I guess I don't know you, then. But we could fix that."

Her heart was fluttering. The sudden attention was wonderful, and he was kind of cute, but there was one thought foremost in her mind. "Look, before we start anything, I should tell you I'm not available for anything long-term. I'm going to go to the Hanging Academy in the fall. So you know what that means, right?"

He sighed, and smiled. "Okay, that's useful to know. But you'd be free this Friday, right? We could go to a movie, and maybe go get a girlburger afterwards?"

She almost said yes, then hesitated. "I'd like that, except I've got this big thing coming this weekend. I'll have to... take a raincheck, if that's okay." She looked at him apologetically.

He smiled. "It is if the raincheck could be used the following week."

She grinned open-mouthed. It was so stunning, not just being asked for a date for the first time in her life, but him being so persistent about it.

What made up her mind was the thought that it would be really useful to have some sexual experience, if it came to that, before she started at the Academy. Miranda had said they would teach her a lot about it there, but she was willing to bet any amount that none of her classmates would be virgins. "Sure." She looked in her new purse, but found only the items she had come to the mall with, which didn't include a notepad. She turned to the clerk at the soft-drink counter. "Could you tear me a sheet off your order pad? And let me use your pencil a second?" She wrote down her phone number and signed it "Amy" underneath, and smiled as she handed it to the boy. "I'd usually be home after six."

The boy grinned and tucked it into his wallet. "Great. I'll call you soon, Amy. I'm Scott." He gave her a little wave as he turned away.

"Oh, thank you for the drink!" He looked back and held up both hands in a think-nothing-of-it gesture, and soon was lost in the crowd.

He reached out with fingers from both hands and pulled both corners of her mouth upward, making her giggle. "Don't give me that frown. The reason you have to go is... you're in the Academy!"

She pumped her arms in delight. "I know!!" She kissed him again, and stood up to round up her clothes.

He watched her from the bed, his head propped on his elbow-supported hand. "I know you can't even call me, because you can't talk to anybody on the outside. But I'll be imagining what you're doing while you're there, making new friends, practicing hanging... just being happy. I'm so glad you got that chance!"

Dressed now, she bent down and kissed him one more time. "And I'll always imagine you've found a way to be as happy as I am right now. I hope you do!" She straightened up, reaching behind her to open the door. She gestured with her hand. "Turn around and face the other way, okay?" She hurriedly brushed at her eye.

He did. When he turned back around a moment later, as he expected, she was gone.

She handed the phone to Ms. Bennett. "I'm ready."