There aren’t going to be family mealtimes, or family movie nights, or family walks anymore. Now, I’m gonna be doing all that stuff with a group of strangers. Are they strangers who’ll end up feeling like family soon? Will I wish I didn’t have to leave by the time term’s over? Or am I going to be counting down the days until I can escape this place, and the people in it?

I try to remind myself that I already have a good reason to believe it’ll be okay. I know Molly now. And a bunch of my classmates’ last names, to boot.

I’m going to be fine.

Just breathe.

As we walk, Dennis makes a huge deal out of the size of the school. He goes on and on about the turrets and arches on the main building, and the ivy snaking over the windows of the residential halls, and the gray-brick masonry he explains was only used during a certain time period. I ask if he’s sure he doesn’t want to move into my dorm room with Mom, and they laugh, but it’s only sort of a joke.

The wheels of my suitcase scrape over the uneven cobblestone path as we wind through the grounds toward my hall. Dozens of girls and their parents are darting all around us like squirrels setting up for winter, lugging suitcases and decorations, blankets and bags. You wouldn’t think I’d even get noticed in all the chaos, but, oh, they notice me. Over and over again a student or parent will catch sight of me, scan my clothes and my hair and my face and decide that I haven’t made the cut. Then their noses wrinkle, and they raise their eyebrows, and move on with what they were doing without even nodding at me.

Okay, this is what I’d worried Bramppath would be like. If this was my first time seeing any of the students, I probably would’ve made a beeline back to the car and shut myself in the back seat until Mom and Dennis agreed to take me back home.

The fifth-year girls all live in the same building: Dewitt, named after some teacher. Hellene told us in the tour but it was right around the time I was entering full panic mode, so I don’t remember all the details. It’s one of the most centrally located buildings, smack in front of a sprawling marble fountain. The more senior you are, the closer you live to the main entrance, which leaves us with the second-best real estate.