Lunch was another quiet hunch in the impressive cafeteria followed by a slow, slumping return across the Yard toward the library and more torture. I was recognizing faces at least. Yeah, sure was. Only because those faces glared at me like I was some kind of freak who'd ruined everything.

The really crappy part in all of this was how so very far I'd really come. I wasn't the complaining, poor-me girl who wanted to be normal anymore. I really felt like I'd grown up a lot in the ...