At lunchtime Emily strolled across the thirteen acre Notre Dame Academy campus.

High on a hill above Silver Lake on Staten Island, the grounds offered a pretty view of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge glimpsed between the mansions surrounding it. The school itself was composed of a number of buildings, some of which were converted from stately old homes.

It feels more like a college campus than a high school...

That was the main reason Emily fell in love with NDA on a tour back in seventh grade. The moment she laid eyes on the property, she knew this was where she wanted to be. And a day like today, near the end of her sophomore year, reaffirmed that choice.

Spring is my favorite season... It's way too beautiful of a day to keep stressing out over this morning... Or about this weekend...

Emily ambled across the lush lawn in front of the library's Tudor-style building and admired the magenta azaleas, azure hydrangea and golden forsythia bushes that edged the property.

She weaved her way between small clusters of picnicking peers; some enjoying the sun while others lazed about in the shade offered by a few scattered old trees on the perimeter.

A car horn blast followed by a wolf-whistle interrupted her reverie and Emily turned her attention toward the street.

Occasionally, local high school boys cutting class or college guys home on break, liked to drive by and check out the view. They ignored the span of blue-grey bridge across the swiftly moving, white-capped water and instead craned their necks to hoot and catcall over the bushes at the girls.

Today, some of the seniors laughed and waved back at the boys.

Emily glanced around to see if any of the nuns, priests or lay teachers patrolled nearby. The adults often came past to chastise the girls that had rolled their skirts up too high or hand out detention slips to anyone that knotted a shirt to expose her midriff.

But this afternoon only her fellow students were in sight and she knew exactly where to find her friends amongst them.

They were settled in their usual spot beneath the boughs of the weeping willow. Jenny braided Evie's thick chestnut curls to help her escape the heat of the day. Across from them, Anna munched on her sandwich. Alex worked on an article for the school paper as she twirled her nose ring and chewed her pencil.

Emily joined them silently with her chemistry textbook.

"Covalent bonds are strong bonds because the atoms share electrons. Energy is released when covalent bonds form, but it does not result in a reduction of potential energy. It reduces kinetic energy which gives the bond direction in space...."

Emily closed her text and dropped it with a loud thud, interrupting the lull they had fallen into.

"The only thing that really sucks about this time of year is studying for Regents and finals."

She sighed and stretched.

"Ugh! I need a break from it! Chem has just about killed my average this year. I'll be thrilled if I end up with a B- and I hope it doesn't mess up my shot of getting into Yale."

She rubbed her eyes and pulled a novel out of her backpack.

Anna finished off the last bites of her sandwich. "What are you reading now Em?"

She took the book from Emily's hand, who warned, "Don't lose my page and don't get mayo on it!"

Anna turned the paperback over and feigned shock. "Surprise, surprise... Game of Thrones. You really love all that fantasy and sci-fi stuff, huh?" Anna dog-eared the page and tossed the book back to Emily.

Jenny joked, "She's waiting for a knight to drive by and sweep her away in his Mustang. Maybe Geoffrey..."

Evie looked over her shoulder as Jenny tied off the end of her braid. "Missing your daily dose of crush this morning?"

Emily shrugged. "I guess it didn't help my mood after running late. After all, he's the one thing I look forward to during the morning rush hour."

Anna threw her wadded up napkin at Emily. "Hey! You commute with Jenny and me!"

The girls all laughed and Emily rolled her eyes.

"Of course I love talking with you both every morning. I've just liked Geoff for years and I'm trying really hard to find the right moment to make up for the last time he spoke with me. Let me remind you what that debacle entailed."

Emily took a deep breath.

"When Geoff asked," she deepened her voice a few octaves, "Hey, what's up?"

She switched back to her own voice.

"My mind went completely blank and I stammered incoherently for a minute... Uh ah um duh... There may have even been some drool too. Until I finally came up with the completely nonsensical response - Good, thanks."

She buried her face in her hands.

"I sounded like a total imbecile! And then my ears turned red and I pushed through the crowded aisle to hide in the back of the bus."

The fact that the one and only boy she kissed, happened to be one of Geoff's friends, added to the embarrassment.

I vividly remember the mortification of that night... I've replayed it in my mind far too many times...

It was at a dance earlier in the year. The gym was dark and the music deafening when the boy approached her. He introduced himself but Emily could barely hear him and didn't care enough to ask him to repeat himself.

While they danced to one song, she made up her mind and leaned over to yell into his ear. "Do you want to kiss me?"

And before she knew it, his tongue was in her mouth.

To say the kiss was not good would be an understatement. In truth, it was sloppy, inept and involved teeth smacking into each other.

But Emily didn't stop it.

If I'm being honest... Which I prefer... While I didn't want to kiss that boy, I did want to kiss a boy... ANY BOY... Because everyone else I knew had already been kissed and I just wanted to get my first kiss over with...

But the real humiliation happened after the nameless boy walked away from her and over to a crowd of guys that included Geoff.

As Emily watched them look in her direction and fist-bump, she thought it pretty much guaranteed that Geoff would hear she was a bad kisser. It didn't matter that the other half of the bad kiss was the nameless boy's fault.

He'll never report how terrible he was at it and Geoff will never want to kiss me... I'm sure of it...

Thinking about it made her stomach queasy so she changed the subject.

"Anyway, who wants to read about real life?" she asked hypothetically.

"That's way too boring. My life is at least. Chemistry finals, crushes, Improv Club and chores... Snooooze. Of course I'd rather read about dystopian societies or alternate realities where their problems seem so much bigger than my own. I'd rather imagine terrifying things like armies of undead, instead of my very real fear of not getting into Yale. Or worse, getting accepted but without enough scholarship to afford it."

She looked down and picked at her cuticles.

Evie groaned. "Thanks so much for depressing us all on this fine spring day, Buzzkill."

Anna wagged her finger at her. "Are you turning fifteen in two weeks or fifty?! You're too young for even a quarter-life crisis Emily Louise!"

"Ooooh first and middle names," Evie and Jen joked in near perfect unison.

"Sorry." Emily rolled her eyes and smirked. "I've been told more than a few times that I'm an old soul."

"I don't think your taste in old-people music and skipping the eighth grade makes you an old soul Em... just a wise-ass," quipped Jenny.

Emily stuck her tongue out at the group.

"That's more like it! Release your inner child!" Jenny encouraged as she extended her middle-finger to continue to lighten the tense mood.

Emily laughed. "That's why you're my best friend Jen. You call me on my crap."

Alex, who had been uncharacteristically quiet until that moment, joined in. "In my opinion, people have always preferred illusion over reality. Even every major religion began because people didn't understand the realities around them. So they created illusions and myths to help them process the cruelties of the world and make life more palatable."

Emily pointed at Alex. "And that's why I love you Alex!"

Evie stood up, brushing the grass from her legs. "I hate to break up this party and our scintillating conversation, but lunch is over. Save some of your brain cells and those philosophical musings for Morality class. Maybe Father Leo will let us discuss St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas in the rose garden today."

Jenny looked up, squinting at the sun. "Good idea. And I have another good idea... Em, you never filled me in on the panty gawker from this morning. Why don't you reenact it for us on our way to the chapel?"