Daph sighed. “I’m just glad you’re going to Homegoing with me tomorrow,” she said, tossing Jaya a grateful look. “I wouldn’t have the courage to face them otherwise.”

Jaya forced a smile, even though the thought of Homegoing made her want to curl up into a ball. “Of course.”

“You’re going to descend with me, right?” Daph continued. “Down the stairs? Rahul’s going to be waiting for me at the bottom. You can descend even if you don’t have a partner.”

It was a St. Rosetta’s Homegoing tradition that one of the dates would wait in the grand foyer downstairs while the other descended with great ceremony from the staircase (if you didn’t have a date, you could pair up with a friend and you still got to choose whether you wanted to be a descender or a waiter). In straight relationships, it was mostly guys who waited in the foyer and girls who did the descending, but not always.

Jaya made a face. She hadn’t asked anyone to escort her to Homegoing; not going with Grey would be painful enough without having the added burden of having to entertain a date. “I wasn’t planning on it…” But seeing Daph’s crestfallen expression, knowing that her friend needed to pretend that everything was special and magical even if she and Alaric weren’t together anymore, she acquiesced. “Oh, all right.”

Daph’s eyes shone, and she looked genuinely happy again. “Thanks, Jaya. You’re a good friend.”

“Yes, she is.” Leo glanced over at Jaya, his eyes going wide. “Merde! Your pendant. Almost all of the stones are gone!”

Jaya forced a smile and caressed the rose that had been steadily losing its petals. “Yeah, I know. It’s, erm, old.”

Three more rubies remained. Jaya knew what Grey would say if he were here—one for each day until his eighteenth birthday. She looked out across the dining hall to the big windows on the far end and wondered what he was thinking, what he was feeling right then.

“You look beautiful.” Penelope’s voice held a hushed reverence as she took in Jaya’s outfit.

The next evening, with finals and exams and studying behind them, they were all getting dressed for the final bash of the semester—the Homegoing dance. Although she could barely muster enough energy to get dressed, Jaya smiled affectionately at all the girls clustered in her room. It warmed her heart to see them happy.