An Off Year (24 page)

“Cecily Powell?” I said when I got to the big picnic table that had the freshmen orientation information. A smiling, squinting girl in a purple NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION! T-shirt with the short sleeves rolled up handed me a small envelope. “Here you go! Room assignment and keys. Welcome!” I heard her fellow orienters saying exactly the same thing, word for word, to the other kids around me.

“Where is it?” Dad asked, trying to get ahold of the student map that was in my packet. He was a sucker for maps.

“It's this way,” I said, following one of the campus signs. “Let's go.” I hustled off, and he had to run a little bit to catch up. We just had to do this.

I
had to do this.

 

 

We stood in the room. I was in a brand-new dorm, compared to last time, when I was assigned to a room in what looked like a housing project from the 1960s. This place smelled like new carpeting and paint. Not exactly a homey feel, but it smelled like a fresh start. My boxes were piled so high, I could make a fort out of them if I wanted to. That actually might be kind of fun.

“What now?” said Dad. “You want help unpacking? Should we get a bite? Do you want to go down to the parent/freshman mixer? I saw a sign for it.”

“No,” I said, and shook my head.
This is real
, I thought.
This is not a drill
.

“You okay?” asked Dad, and put his arm around my shoulders. For a second, I felt tears welling up inside me. Or were they in him? I couldn't tell exactly.

“Yeah,” I said, and shrugged out from under his arm. “You should go.”

“Nah, it's okay,” he said. “I can help you.”

“No really,” I said. “I mean it. Time to go.”

“Are you Cecily?” I heard a voice behind me, loud and Southern. I'd probably find it grating after a few days, but I planted a big smile on my face and turned around.

acknowledgments
(in reverse alphabetical order)

My parents, Ed and Janice Zulkey, for always supporting me as a writer and pushing me to work as hard as I could at everything.

Julie Strauss-Gabel. I never got why other writers spent so much time lionizing their editors in their acknowledgments, but I get it now. Thank you for taking a chance on me and believing in this project and for all your wonderful hard work and the good conversations. It's been such a pleasure working with you.

Liz McArdle, for being one of the best things ever to come from my college experience, for being a great, supportive friend, and of course for her insight into the world of college admissions. Being your freshman-year roommate was totally worth it.

My agent, Byrd Leavell, for persistently believing in me and also blowing sunshine up my butt only when appropriate.

Stevie Kuenn and Jim Norton, for the Madison color and copyediting mark translation.

John Green, for introducing me to Julie Strauss-Gabel, but also for being a good friend, talented individual, lovely guy, cheerleader, and co-host. I'm proud to know you.

Nora Geraghty, for her long-distance evaluation of Cecily's situation, offering expertise in the world of child psychology, and for being a great old friend.

Lucy Chambers, for the good edits.

Andy Behrens, Will Leitch, Kristen Pettit, and Melissa Walker for giving me insight into YA writing.

AND: Julie Friedman, Lindsay Robertson, Kelly Mulvaney, Wendy Mc-Clure, E. Jean Carroll, Keith Phipps, Nathan Rabin, Whitney Pastorek, Dave Reidy, Mike Sacks, Kevin Guilfoile, Miles Harvey, Sandi Wisenberg, Jessica Riddle, John Sagan, and all the Pie People out there.

Like Cecily, Claire Zulkey did everything you're
supposed
to do before graduating high school, if a little more intensely: she attended an SAT class, took the SATs a second time to improve her math score, had a private college counselor, and applied to ten schools before choosing Georgetown University.

While
An Off Year
is a work of fiction, Claire drew on some real-life experiences: she did have a private college admissions coach; she got into her first choice (Georgetown), despite having had a similarly named class-mate's transcript submitted instead of her own; and, like her character Kate, Claire's freshman year roommate was a New Yorker named Liz, but the real Liz's accent wasn't fake and she did not bring beer with her when she moved into the room.

Since graduating in 2001, Claire has written for such publications as
WallStreetJournal.com
, the
Chicago Tribune
,
ElleGirl
,
Modern Bride
, and the Huffington Post and received her Masters in Creative Writing from Northwestern University and has decided that she is done with school for a while. An early blogger, she is also the creator of
Zulkey.com
, which has been featured in the
New Yorker
,
USA Today
, and on Anderson Cooper 360°.