The memory is so clear in my head that I can still hear her voice, and I realize a moment later when a tray slaps down next to Shannon that I am literally hearing her voice. “Hey. What’s with the spreadsheet?”

Gia may be a little flighty, but she is a master organizer. She turns her laptop to Jasmine so she can see the page with all eight of her chosen colleges listed. “This is where I’m applying,” she says, “and here are deadline dates, which schools use the common app, and—well, stuff like that.”

She swivels her computer back around, but not before Jasmine catches a glimpse of the last column. “What’s DFBC?”

We try really, really hard not to laugh into our food as Gia blushes. “It’s, um, Distance from Boston College. That’s where Tommy’s going. Everyone in his family has gone there for three generations.”

Jasmine catches her jaw drop quickly, but I don’t miss it, and I’m pretty sure Gia doesn’t either. “Oh, that’s, uh … thorough planning.”

“There are a lot of good schools in Boston,” Gia says quickly, dragging her fork around her Cobb salad. “It’s not like I’d be following him there or anything. I’d be lucky to go to BC, or BU, or Tufts, and Shannon’s applying to Harvard and Brown, so she might even be close by.”

Clearly, Gia’s been practicing her justifications on her parents, who think it’s absurd that she wants to go to Boston when she could go to school fifteen minutes away at SUNY Purchase.

My mom says I’m free to go wherever as long as it won’t put me in debt for the rest of my life. And since my dad said he’ll pay for state school, I’ve kinda dragged my feet on looking anywhere else. I can’t imagine what would be worth taking out loans for if I don’t have to. Anyway, I want to major in English, and all schools have English majors, right? So, whatever.

“Where are you applying?” Gia asks her, and I know there’s a vague response coming. Jasmine never really wanted to talk about college, said it was too big a decision to leave subject to other people’s opinions.

But there’s no hesitation when Jasmine says, “I’m pretty set on NYU, especially since my mom is moving to Jersey. But I’ve also been thinking about getting off the East Coast entirely, maybe applying somewhere in Colorado or California. Photography’s a big hobby of mine and I’m definitely planning to study it more in school, so it’d be cool to get some new surroundings.”