“But most of them are festering on both entry points,” said Danny, “so I think Wheeler might be close to the truth.”

“If they ever get too bad,” said Sin, “I go through the gate that leads here and then I’m fine.”

“So you walked up here?” asked Wheeler. “On purpose?”

“Those of us who want to live past forty-five seek opportunities for exercise,” said Sin.

“And those of us hoping to reproduce someday don’t punch holes in ourselves like spiral notebook paper,” said Xena.

“Bitch,” muttered Sin.

“So the end of junior year means the end of civility,” said Danny. “Duly noted.”

“You don’t have to worry about it,” said Wheeler.

“Worry about what?”

“Senior year, graduation, college, what you’re going to do for a living,” said Wheeler.

“There aren’t a lot of job openings for gatemages,” said Danny. “Especially the ones who’ve lost their gates.”

“You say you lost them,” said Hal, “but from what I can see, you and Pat both gate wherever you want.”

“We all took the PSAT this year,” said Wheeler, “and they say that’s a pretty good indicator of college aptitude. So even though I’m preternaturally intelligent and sexily tech-savvy, I’m probably not going to college.”

“That’s just dumb,” said Danny. “I remember your score and there are thousands of colleges that would take you.”

“I have to get into a no-tuition school,” said Wheeler, “or one where I can live at home, because no way can my parents or me earn enough to cover tuition and room and board.”

“He rejects Dabney S. Lancaster Community College,” said Laurette, “because they don’t meet his lofty standards.”

“I’m poor,” said Wheeler, “but that doesn’t mean I should waste my brain going to a school that anybody can get into.”

“A snob who looks down on everything that he can afford,” said Hal. “It’s a catch-22.”

“It’s preventable self-destruction,” said Pat. “If you hadn’t goofed off you’d have the grades to get a scholarship to UVA. And you probably could get into Washington and Lee.”

“Bunch of snobs,” said Wheeler.

“They have an eighteen percent acceptance rate,” said Sin. Apparently she felt a need to explain how she knew. “I had dreams.”

“What about you, Danny?” asked Xena. “You could get into any college, but why bother?”

“I can physically get into any college, but if I want a degree, I don’t have anybody prepared to pay my tuition at Harvard.”

“Harvard has a six percent acceptance rate,” said Xena, “and no, I never thought I could go there.”

“You have to have, like, a four point oh,” said Laurette, “a perfect SAT, and either a Nobel Prize or a letter of recommendation from a President.”

“Only if it’s a Democratic President,” said Wheeler. “A Bush letter will keep you out. Even at Yale.”

“Poor Republican Wheeler.”

“I’m really a Libertarian,” said Wheeler.