Chatoyant College

Edie spent most of the rest of the day studying. Dawn, when she came in to do the readings for magic class with Corrie, seemed surprised that they hadn't asked her to come to breakfast with them, but Corrie explained that Naomi had said she was on the phone, so they didn't want to interrupt her. Other than that, she seemed to act perfectly normal, like it was any other day. Edie wondered if she didn't want them to know it was her birthday. Well, even if that was the case, it was too late. They had their plan in place. Rico had even promised to find the restaurant and make reservations.

Sunday, September 14

Edie was dreaming that she was sitting in front of a campfire, her face being warmed by the flames. Then the fire turned into the sun instead, streaming down from the forest ceiling. Eventually, she realized that it was only halfway a dream, and what was actually happening was that the sun was coming in her window and hitting her face. Then she woke up with a start, afraid she'd overslept. A glance at her desk, however, reminded her that it was Sunday.

Derwen didn't exactly fit in well with Karen's family, but much like Karen herself, they accepted her anyway. They didn't seem to think it was too strange that she insisted on using plastic utensils or that she avoided salt. Karen's mother invited her to help in the kitchen, so they could get everything right. Derwen found herself enjoying that quite a bit. Though she had to be careful around all the pots and utensils, she was interested to see the cooking processes, especially making the macaroni and cheese.

"Can we talk about something else now?" Edie asked, her face bright red.

"Of course," said Corrie with a laugh. "What did you and Leila get up to today? Nothing so scandalous, I imagine."

"No, no." Edie shook her head quickly. Dawn gave her a comforting squeeze on the shoulder before reaching for more popcorn. "We hung out in the forest," Edie continued, "then with her friends in the theater. It was fun."

"The forest?" Dawn asked, with a handful of popcorn halfway to her mouth. "Are you sure that was safe?"

When they returned to the dorm, Dawn smelled something familiar and tasty. It was coming from the kitchen in the common room. Someone was cooking popcorn. In fact, if that sound was right, they were shaking it out at that moment into a bowl, making the smell spread even faster. While the others walked toward the stairs, she stuck her head in the common room to see who was making the popcorn. It was Corrie. Just as Dawn was about to call to her, she looked up from the bowl. "Hi, Dawn!" she called, grinning. "Did you follow the smell?"

Derwen was laying back on her dorm bed, reading, the window open to let in fresh air and the occasional snowflake, when her roommate, Karen, came in. Karen tossed her backpack on her bed, put her hands to the zipper on her heavy winter coat, glanced at the window, and let her hands drop.

"Holly, you are a wonderful roommate, but some of your habits I will never get used to," Karen said.

Derwen looked up from her book. "You know I hate how stuffy it gets in here."

"I notice," Dawn said to Naomi, "that you do not actually have a fish dish in front of you."

Naomi wrinkled her nose. "The only option was that weird quiche. Even I can't handle that for the sake of grossing you out."

"I didn't notice it, but a fish quiche does sound pretty bizarre."

Rico nodded in agreement. "The only things that should be in quiche besides eggs and cheese are vegetables. I actually considered getting that quiche because I really love quiche, but I decided it wasn't worth the risk of horror."

It was hard not to think of it as the last Hanukkah. True, whatever college Edith ended up going to, she would probably have a winter break that sent her home in time for at least part of Hanukkah, but she probably wouldn't have a full Hanukkah with her family in the next four years. Anyway, everything was going to change after this year. Even if there had been a college close to her house, she wouldn't have applied there. She wanted to get far away. At least far away enough that no one could expect her to make a day trip home.

The air was already cooler when they stepped outside; Dawn was doubly glad she'd put on her socks and sneakers now. She was still comfortable in her T-shirt, but it was probably going to be a colder day tomorrow. The trees had already started to say it, and now the temperature was confirming it: fall was on its way.

She realized as they walked toward the dining hall that she hadn't exactly made the widest survey of her friends possible. "I should have asked Roe or Annie if they wanted to come," she said. "Oh well. Maybe they're already there and we can join them."

The sun was starting to set by the time Dawn and Rico returned to campus, a line of orange fading into pink fading into purple above the trees on the western end of campus. She'd offered to take him out for dinner in town, but he'd refused, saying he didn't want to waste her hard-earned library money on food when they could eat for free on campus. Before going to the dining hall, though, they stopped back at Gilkey. Dawn wanted to change her shoes and they wanted to invite their friends along with them.