Sunday is the official “moving in day” and it is always accompanied by a fairly festive atmosphere, as abiding friendships . . . held dormant all summer . . . are allowed to reform . . . and grow.
At about seven p.m. three of the seniors mosey on over to the freshmen wing. It’s an informal visit to answer any questions the freshmen might have and also to initiate the new girls to the Barclay School, um, ways and means.
The seniors . . . Missy, Jody, and Sadie . . . tell their younger counterparts about the free stuff room. The freshmen always use the free stuff room more than any of the upper classes. It is, I suppose, like Christmas morning to them. But as they advance . . . both in age and maturity . . . they begin to realize that their “needs” are more important than their “wants,” and their use of the free stuff room . . . tapers off . . . to a more moderate use of that facility.
The subject of grades is brought up, and the seniors assure the freshmen that they are in good hands. “It’s not sink or swim here.” Jody tells them.
And she is telling the truth. The teachers at Barclay’s go the extra mile for their students . . . giving frequent “drone” quizzes that do not count against their grades, but that allow the instructors to accurately assess each student’s grasp of the class material. And on many occasions a teacher has sat with a student . . . up in a dorm library . . . after hours . . . to make sure she completely understands the subject matter.
“Oh,” Missy tells them, “and there’s The Wednesday Night News Broadcast. You don’t want to miss that.”
The Wednesday Night News Broadcast. It was Mr. Hendersen’s idea . . . and he still sort-of oversees the operation of it . . . but the students have fallen in love with it, and they pretty much run the show now.
It’s a closed-circuit television production . . . broadcast live every Wednesday night at seven . . . to each of the twenty-eight dorm rooms on the second floor.
The seniors do everything . . . and this is considered to be one of the perks of being a senior at Barclay’s . . . as they, the seniors, investigate the news stories, write the “copy,” operate the television cameras, and act as commentators. There is even a mobile camera crew that visits the scene of some of the news events. And they rotate . . . the seniors rotate in and out of the operation . . . at the beginning of each month, so that “this” news team cast and crew is then replaced by “that” news team cast and crew . . . and the fun is shared.
Both of the news commentators always wear dark-rimmed eye glasses (that have had their lenses removed) and talk in a rapid-fire “You gotta hear this!” style. And the news items covered by the program are mostly Barclay School events and activities . . . but not always.
Back up in the freshmen wing, Missy, Jody, and Sadie have, by this time, given the new girls a pretty good understanding of the ins and outs of being a student at Barclay’s. Then, a freshman named Holly asks, “What about the pranks?”
At this, the three seniors look at each other, shrug their shoulders, and say “Pranks?” . . . and then giggle like a trio of young school girls.
Holly: Did you really put that inflatable elephant in front of the mayor’s house that time?
Sadie: Well, he is a republican.
Jody: It was a paper-mache elephant.
Missy: Sort-of a giant pinanta . . . without the candy in it.
Sadie: But if you want to do a prank yourselves . . . it’s completely up to you.
Missy: Yep. Planning it, doing it, keeping it a secret . . . it’s all up to you.
Jody: The more imaginative it is, the more creative it is, the better.
Missy: And if it gets into the newspaper . . . that’s an A plus.
And it is right about at this moment that an announcement comes over the school speaker system: “Excuse me girls, but there will be a pizza delivery in a little while. The freshmen will get their pizza at eight, the sophomores at eight-ten . . . or there abouts . . . the juniors at eight-twenty, and the seniors at eight-thirty. That’s all.”
Sadie, Missy, and Jody look at each other and, simultaneously, say,
“Welcome back girls!”