March 12, 2238

Dearest Diana,

Remember how we used to pretend that we were like the girls in those classic stories? The ones who got sent away to boarding school, where they went on Great Adventures and proved to be the Best of Friends and everything was Happily Ever After? I'm sure you remember them, you certainly borrowed them enough. Well, I always thought that getting sent away was the sort of thing that only happened in classic novels. Nobody sends their daughters away for school anymore, certainly not their teenage daughters. Clearly I forgot to factor Mother into my reckoning.

"Cassandra Holder, you know full well that with your father away on the Colony, you are expected to behave yourself. Others look to us for guidance, or look at us for something to gossip about. You are not to see That Boy. He is Trouble, and your continued acquaintance will reflect poorly upon our family. Because I know I cannot trust you to stay away from him, I am sending you to Miss Goddard's School for Ladies on the third moon."

She didn't even tell me, you know. She wrote it in a letter, Di. I came home and found the letter on top of a suitcase, sitting on my bed. She was conveniently out, visiting someone. She's sending me away! Why didn't I go with you when you asked me to? I know it seemed impossible, but we would have made it work somehow, I know it!

I miss you, you know. I miss having you around when I have my Terrible Ideas (remember the Incident with Dr. Blithe's laser scalpel?), most especially because of your ability to get me out of trouble after. You never would have let me get caught with him,or if we had been caught, you'd have known what to say to Mother.

I understand that Father's away, and he took so many men with him that most of us are a little lost. I know that people are looking to Mother for leadership, and that it does matter how I behave, but I didn't do anything wrong. Tell me that things will be alright, Di, that going away to school will not be as horrible as it seems right now.

I miss you, Di. Tell me about things there, they must be better.

All my love,
Cass.