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They were gathered around a conference table in a high-rise, eight e of sixty-five, all of them wealthy beyond measure And they were here, in the middle of Manhattan, to decide my fate

I was not quite sixteen and only one h school My parents, philosophy professors, had been offered a two-year-long acadeht—two years out of the country, which only reallyin the United States

They’d passed along that little nugget one Saturday in June I’d been preparing to head to my best friend Ashley’s house when my parents came into my room and sat down on my bed

“Lily,” Mom said, “we need to talk”

I don’t think I’ood happens when someone starts a speech like that

My first thought was that so horrible had happened to Ashley Turned out she was fine; the trauma hit a little closer to home My parents told ram, and that the chance to work in Ger opportunity for them

Then they got quiet and exchanged one of those long, ful looks that really didn’t bode well forme to Germany with them, that they’d be busy while they were there, and that they wanted oing to a great college here So they’d decided that while they were away, I’d be staying in the States

I was equal parts bummed and thrilled Bummed, of course, because they’d be an ocean ahile I passed all the bigPumpkins track ever released

Thrilled, because I figured I’d get to stay with Ashley and her parents

Unfortunately, I was only right about the first part

My parents had decided it would be best forschool stuck in the amore, hborhood, with my friends and the people and places I knew

I protested with every argument I could think of

Flash forward teeks and 240 miles to the conference table where I sat in a button-up cardigan and pencil skirt I’d never have worn under normal circumstances, the members of the Board of Trustees of St Sophia’s School for Girls staring back at irl anted to walk their hallowed halls—after all, heaven forbid they let in a girl who didn’t meet their standards But that they traveled to New York to see me seemed a little out of the ordinary

“I hope you’re aware,” said one of thelasses, “that St Sophia’s is a fa and storied history in Chicago, and the Ivy Leagues recruit from its halls”