Stephen rolled his eyes. “I bet my great-great-great-grandfather was an atheist too. I bet he was working the fields, worrying about massa, and thinking there was no way there’s a God because he let this happen.”

“Everything and nothing.” Ayanna finally answered the question.

Neither of the two of them seemed to know how to respond to that. Ayanna felt like her dorm room was exceptionally small. The love seat she had wedged in could barely hold both Jane and Stephen. The minifridge was stuffed now with iced tea and Gatorade. She could feel the box of Olivia’s things under the bed: her shin guards, her Bible, the pajamas, her stuffed bunny with the weird red eyes, nail polish, journals, a bonnet, and all the photos of them from over the years in a Ziploc baggie. Outside, it was one of those fall days when it looked as if at any moment the gray clouds would burst into a cold, loud rush. The wind was loud and filled with leaf fragments and plastic bags.

“Okay, let me try this again.” Jane clasped her hands together. “I think we should take a minute and meditate on what it means to ascend to a higher plane. Even if you don’t have a faith, there has to be a state of bliss or ease you would like to be in.”

“You would be great at selling people tummy teas and crystals,” Ayanna said. “Just use that tone and blink less.”

“I think that’s only a business for blond white ladies who think you can season things by throwing some figs in,” Stephen said.

“Come on,” Jane said.

“She’s got cult-leader charisma,” Stephen said. “We’re lucky she’s not evil.”

They both laughed while Jane waited for them to finish.

“Why do you want to do this?” Ayanna asked. She sat on her rug, wrapped her arms around her knees.

“This is what college is about.”

To Ayanna and Stephen, this seemed like an obvious and dumb lie, so they laughed harder. If they wanted to do college, they would go smoke a joint and watch a movie, they would go to the curated dance party across town and find someone to dance with and hopefully hook up with, they would watch couples fight at a frat party while bros yelled too loud about flip cup.