Skye's Future

While the men talked, the women were hardly idle. Someone asked, "Skye, this is your final year of compulsory education in the United States, right? Have you decided which high school to apply to?"

Everyone in the Hepburn Family knew about the little girl Henry had adopted. Especially during last year's terrorist incident in New York City, when they had all moved to the villa in Fenwick to take shelter.

For a girl who had managed to survive in a place like the Sewer World, she was no fool. It did not take her long to get acquainted with everyone.

When the subject turned to school, someone asked, "Are you going to a private high school? It should be easy enough to recommend you to our alma mater." Perhaps out of consideration for Henry, and perhaps because of Skye's age, everyone was quite enthusiastic.

But the suggestion frightened Skye so badly that she shook her head at once. "No. Those private boarding schools have outrageous tuition fees, and their management is practically prison-like. How desperate would I have to be to go there?"

Katharine Hepburn, who was keeping the "tabby cat" Kitty pinned down, said with some dissatisfaction, "I told Skye that I could recommend her to some very good schools.

"Henry is also willing to pay her tuition, and she would not have to pay it back, but she still refused. So she can only apply to one of two public high schools: Standard High School or Midtown High School."

Another elderly woman, also grandmother-aged, asked, "Are there no other public high schools in New York City?"

"What kind of standards do the other public high schools have? Other than teaching students how to use contraception—and giving plenty of them opportunities to practice on their own—they cannot produce any