“Good. I don’t care to mention her, either, and I won’t. I’m an only child now.”
“Very wise,” he said. “You’re a lot stronger than you think, Kaylee. I’m sure you’ll be a great help to some of the other girls besides your roommate.”
I looked down and shook my head. “How did this happen? In hours, it all turned around so that I’m the normal one here.”
“You always were,” he said, and hugged me. “You were always the normal one, Kaylee.”
He kissed me, and we walked back to Eleanor Cook Hall holding hands as if we never walked together without doing so. We paused at the parking lot.
“So I guess I’ll just take off,” he said. “Girls don’t want fathers hanging around. I feel confident you’re in a good place with good people, and I’ll impress that fact on your mother.”
“Okay, Daddy.” My voice sounded so young, so helpless. I hated it.
“Hey, hey, you’re going to be fine, honey, fine.”
I nodded.
“I’ll call you, or you call me whenever you feel like it, no matter what time of day or night,” he said. “I’ll stop by to see your mother as soon as I get back and give her a report. She’ll come around. You’ll see.” He hugged and kissed me again.
I stood there and watched him go to his car, get in, back up, and start out. He paused and opened his window.
“You’re never alone, Kaylee, never,” he said, and then he drove off. I stood there until he was gone.
Finally, out of his sight, I started to cry.
Then I saw Claudia with her father at his car. He was lecturing her forcefully about something, perhaps telling her this was her last chance. The whole time, she had her head down. When he stopped, she kept her head down. He gave her a quick, mechanical hug during which she remained stiff, her arms extended downward, her hands like claws, and then he got into his car and drove off without waving to her or anything.
She turned and saw me. She looked surprised to see me waiting for her when she stepped forward.
“How does it compare?” I asked her.
“What?”
“Littlefield, our orientation with the principal, any of it, to your other private schools.”
She shrugged. “I don’t think I ever noticed,” she said, and walked faster, like someone who didn’t care to walk together.
I kept up with her, and we entered the dorm. Mrs. Rosewell was waiting for us.
“Right this way, girls,” she said, and led us to her office. She had a small desk, but she had us sit on the settee and then pulled a chair up to face us.
“I want you both to feel comfortable here at Cook Hall, but I want you to treat the building with respect and at least as well as you would treat your own home. It is, after all, your home away from home,” she added, smiling.
She reached over to her desk and picked up copies of the rules that were posted on our bulletin board.
“Let us begin to read them together,” she said, handing us each a copy. She read the rules as I imagined Moses read the Ten Commandments to his people. She emphasized no alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes dramatically but seemed self-conscious when she read the rule forbidding any boys in our rooms.
“Okay,” she said. “We’ve done what we’re supposed to. I have no doubt you two will be ideal residents. If either of you has any problems, no matter what, you should know my door is always open. I wish you both luck.” She stood.
We thanked her and went to our room. The moment we arrived, Marcy popped out of hers and threw herself onto my bed.
“First impressions of Mrs. Thatcher,” she declared, and pointed to me.
“That’s loading the question,” I replied. “If you call her that, you’ll influence our opinions.”
“What?” She widened her smile. “Are you going to be a lawyer?”
“Maybe,” I said. “I’m right, right, Claudia?” I asked as she continued to organize her things.