“You went bowling?” she cries. “In Oxford?”
“Why not?” He tips a bag of Walkers crisps into his mouth. “Have any ofyoubeen bowling in England?”
“No, because we’re in England,” Dev replies.
“Yeah, you’re all really living it up here—sitting in the school cafeteria eating nasty pizza.”
I almost argue, but I’m too happy for Huan to care if he lords it over the rest of us.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if I may have your attention.”
We all turn in unison toward the voice. The headmaster of Emberton, Mr. Odell, stands at the front of the cafeteria, still looking every inch a British gentleman despite the salad bar and trash cans next to him. This is the first time I’ve seen him since he welcomed us when we arrived.
When there’s perfect silence in the room, he begins again. “As you all must know, we’re over halfway through the semester and now Thanksgiving break is only a month away. In accordancewith the American holiday, we will be preparing a traditional dinner for those of you who aren’t flying home.”
At this, Huan rubs his stomach and mouths,Yum.
“It has also come to my attention that many of our high school students would like to travel over the long break. While we usually have a strict policy against minors traveling overnight, we are loosening that policy for the holiday.” The cafeteria goes from silent to boisterous in under a second. Everyone turns to their friends, whispering and high-fiving. Mr. Odell clears his throat and the room goes silent again.
“However, there will be strict rules that everyone must follow if they wish to travel. You will need to submit a proposal to me by the first week in November. If your trip is approved, you will need to purchase all flights, train tickets, and hotel rooms ahead of time and provide us with a complete itinerary, including travel times, confirmation emails, and phone numbers where you can be reached. I will also need written parental permission. Finally, during the trip, you must check in with the school at the beginning and end of each day you are gone.”
Abstractly, I’m aware that this is a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. (Nothing associated with Emberton comes without homework.) But I couldn’t care less. Soon I might be standing in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower... or the Colosseum... or maybe on the quiet canals of Amsterdam. If only Will could come too... My heart thumps at the thought. That would make the trip perfect.
If Mr. Odell says anything else, I can’t hear him. The noise of the cafeteria explodes like a sonic boom as everyone tries to talkover one another. Someone yellsred light districtandsmoke shopat the next table.
“Is anyone flying home?” Huan practically shouts at us.
I shake my head. Mom’s already made plans to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Aunt Aubrey, baking and shopping way too much.
“Okay.” Huan rubs his hands together. “Let’s get planning!”
After thirty minutes of debate, there still isn’t a clear decision. We’ve narrowed it down to France or Italy, but we decide to meet later to hash out the rest. All I want to do is get back to my computer and start Googling, but Huan catches up with me in the hall.
“So, do you think you’ll ask Will to come?” he asks in a low voice. “Frank will definitely want to when I tell him about this, but it might be awkward since he doesn’t know you guys well. But if Will comes too...”
“Look at you! First Oxford and now this trip.”
“You were right. How many times are we going to experience something like this?”
“Exactly!” I grab his arm and do a little shimmy. “You really think it’ll be okay? Omigod, this changes everything! Will and I actuallytravelingtogether!” My grin matches Huan’s. “But wait, do you think Dev and Sage will agree?”
Huan thinks for a moment. “I’m sure we can get them to, but they may not love the idea at first. Maybe we should get everyone together and bring it up then? They’ll be a lot less likely to argue against it if Frank and Will are sitting right in front of them.”
“That’s devious and I love it. So we get Frank and Will on board first, then Dev and Sage?”
“That’s the plan.”
We high-five and continue chatting the rest of the way back to his room, debating the relative merits of Paris vs. Rome. Dev is already there when we arrive, sitting in front of his computer. Three young faces are smashed together on his monitor. Oh god, I’m interrupting a Skype session with his family. I stop in the doorway, flustered, and take a step back. From the kids’ grins, though, it’s clear I’ve already been caught.
“Are you allowed to have girls in your room?” his brother asks. His face gets even bigger in the monitor as he leans forward to see me better.
Dev turns. “Oh, this is Ellie.”
“Ellie? I want to meet her!” says his youngest sister, Riya. “Tell her to come here.”
Dev motions me over with an apologetic expression on his face.
“How do they know who I am?” I whisper to him.
