College was my light at the end of the tunnel. It was the place I was going to be the person I couldn’t be at Winchester. I was going to thrive. I was going to sleep with boys who could reference Edward de Vere and hang out with girls who wore their feminism like a badge of honor. My parents are making me feel as if, between high school and Harvard, I’m the common denominator. I will remain invisible.

“We can’t have you drop out of Harvard because you miss your best friend. Not to mention, you won’t be getting into any college if you’re doing drugs with Gabriela every weekend.”

Neda lets out a giggle. “What do you guys think people do in college? They get drunk and do drugs. You’re acting like you’re fresh off the boat from Tehran.”

I wonder how my parents would react if I announced that it was their edibles that Gabriela and I took that night. My dad grew up in a house where his parents smoked opium recreationally, which, according to him, was a normal occurrence among Iranian immigrants of a certain age—but the casual drug use still left him scarred. And while opium is definitely not the same as weed, he prefers that we think the only emotional Novocain he needs in life is the occasional vodka martini and McConnell’s peppermint stick ice cream. Which, to be fair, is highly addictive. Luckily, cooler heads prevail, and I decide that accusing my parents of peddling drugs to minors won’t elicit much sympathy for my cause. I aim for another tack.

“I just find it ironic that you guys tell me I need to branch out and meet other people. But, like, how am I supposed to do that when we’re in lockdown?”

“The internet,” my mom replies.

“You want me to make friends with a teenage girl on the internet who ends up being a middle-aged pedo?” I respond. “Would that make you feel better?”

Neda laughs, then moves to the empty seat next to me and swings her arm around my shoulders. The physical contact feels strangely foreign, and I let myself revel in it as she passionately defends me. This isn’t Iran. It’s America, she says. I should be allowed to associate with whomever I want to associate with. I was an adult woman, and if I wanted to have only one friend for my whole life, then that was my right.