"Emma didn't come to class today. I don't know what happened to her," Carol said as she counted the notebooks in her bag. The other students left the classroom quickly, like a small stampede. "Anyway, I took notes during all the morning classes. Hopefully she gets here by lunchtime. I don't want her to fall behind . . . but hey, she surprised me a little, you know?"

"Emma?" Enrique stood up and began to stack his notebooks on top of his desk.

"Yeah. She's from another country . . . it must be difficult to feel at home here, not to mention the fact that her family is so far away."

Enrique put his belongings into his backpack, which he slung over his shoulder while standing up from his desk. Carol continued speaking. He started toward the door with Carol following behind.

"Well, um . . . it's sort of the same for you, isn't it? But Emma . . . well sometimes she seems pretty stressed out, and it's not like she has a job, does she?"

"I don't think so."

Jeff had already left to run some errands. Carol and Enrique continued talking as they walked through the hall, headed toward the campus' central road.

"Are you doing anything after class?" Carol asked.

"Um, no," Enrique answered. "I don't do anything except homework really," he laughed.

"Me neither. Jeff even less so. I think he probably heads straight to bed when he gets home. Well at least that's what he used to do back in high school."

"That's right, you guys have been classmates since—"

"Since elementary school." Carol looked at Enrique and held up three fingers. "Since third year to be exact. He changed schools because his family had a problem with one of the teachers at his other school. According to what he told me, he made a rude joke to a friend and the teacher heard and hit him with a ruler. 

That kind of thing stopped happening long ago. I don't know how that could have happened. Anyway, that's how we met, when he changed to my school." Carol sighed, gazing forward with an affectionate air about her. 

"And he is still the same Jeff, still making jokes and as clueless as ever."