She tucks her sleek gold strands behind a pearl-studded ear. “I almost wrecked the new Tesla,” the It girl is saying now. Or getting a ride from your ride or die, and a lift from Lyft. That’s like the difference between going to a house party and going to a club. While we both got accepted into college-prep summer programs on actual college campuses, she’s at a welcoming HBCU in Atlanta, and I stayed in New Jersey to attend snooty Halstead University. The brave, get-things-done Zora Emerson I know would just keep moving.Įasy for Skye to say. (Everyone else at this program seems to be from out of state or even overseas.) I never miss a chance to rep my home state, so I jumped into the conversation with the answer.

This all started when some student asked another what the driving age is in New Jersey. But that’s what u get for taking the bait. Ready for this? I type, and then quickly summarize the conversation I’ve just had. Since my summer program started a few days ago, I’ve been sending daily text-isodes of my “Overheard at Halstead U” series for Skye to binge-read. There’s too much awkwardness not to live-text this situation to my best friend, Skye Joseph. My answer is to busy myself with my phone. “Why don’t you just … ask your parents for one?” a wide-eyed boy asks.

“I won’t be seventeen until September,” I say. “You don’t drive?” It Girl will not let this go. But in a room that can barely fit the oval conference table we’re all seated around, it’s tough to zone out these Yacht Club kids. Why did I come to class fifteen minutes early today? If this were one of the common lecture halls, I’d be fine. On an unrelated note, she’s the same person who used the term “third world” earlier.ĭeep sigh. I look away before she feels compelled to give me a sympathy hug. “Is it safe?” the girl sitting catty-corner to me asks, extra earnestly. “Well, local as in fifty minutes by train and light-rail,” I joke. She probably owns the yacht they all look like they’ve just stepped off of. People lean in when she speaks and agree with her before she’s even made her point. “So, y-you’re a local?” says the obvious It girl of the group. There’s an audible gasp among my fellow students. “Yes,” I repeat to the incredulous faces around me. You never walk alone.įOR CENTURIES, the famed halls of Halstead University have echoed with expansive dialogue, provocative debate, and poignant questions. To teens who lift up their communities in tiny and tremendous ways.

Truly madly royally