Amy was conflicted, but talking with Laura had been quite eye-opening, and she felt more confident in her new accessory. Wearing a scarf would just de...lay her progress, and time wasn’t on her side. Laura could see the shift in Amy’s demeanour, and tucked the scarf back into its drawer with a smile.Amy felt slightly better about her collar after talking with Laura, and agreed to swallow her shame and go home with it exposed. She said her goodbyes to both Laura and Dr. Conseil before stepping out. “It’s all business. Look at these people." I gestured to the rest of the room, where people sat in ones and twos and there was quiet conversation rather than animated chat. “It’s depressing,” I said in conclusion.“My, you’re in a bad mood,” Neema said, patting my hand. “I thought you said you’d got over the separation.”“I have,” I said. “That’s not an issue.”“Girlfriends?” she asked. I shook my head.“I don’t know if there’s anyone in Georgetown looking for someone like me,” I said, trying to. Even drunk, dad was too fast for him. The guy went down, hard. I think dad broke his jaw. Dad took a step, grabbed a chair and smashed it over the next guy's head. There were a couple of zaps and the other two went down. Across the room, the two brothers hurried their prepacks along down the hallway to where the portal was set up.Dad stared at the two guys who'd been zapped, looking like a little boy who'd had a toy taken away. Eventually his eyes fell on the line of girls and his smile came. Shewalked down to the end of the hall, to the last door on the right.Inside, she found Beccasitting on the edge of her bed, sobbing. “I…j-j-just can’t do it,” shestammered in between sobs. Her roommate sat down on the bed opposite her,staring at the floor. Silently, each of their thoughts consumed them as theypondered their predicament.Finally, Nikki spoke.“If you don’t go through with this, then I did all that for nothing.”“That’s not true,” Beccaretorted. “You took your punishment.”“It’s not.