"Good morning everyone! Thanks for coming! I know it's early but I wanted to meet you all first before we went to morning convocation, I am Elizabeth Bennet, and I'm going to be your advisor this year." Lizzy was standing in front of the round table in her classroom, looking at the six girls who will be relying on her for the next academic year, and, she had to admit, feeling pretty terrified. "To make waking up earlier worth it, I made breakfast! I didn't know if you were all coffee drinkers or not, so I brought a pretty big amount of tea as well. I'm going to leave it all on the table, so don't worry and help yourselves. There's bagels and muffins too, and some apples."

While waiting for the girls to get their share of breakfast, she tried to notify distinctive traits any of them might had that would help her memorize their names faster. Two of them were blondes, but one was a lot taller than the other. One of them was Asian, an international student from Seoul, Lizzy remembered. Two brunettes who visibly looked alike sat together talking and laughing while they poured coffee into the mugs Elizabeth had brought. Lastly, a ginger girl, incredibly pretty, seemed a little lost between the other teenagers, which led Lizzy to thinking she was probably Georgiana Darcy, a new junior international student, coming directly from London.

"Apart from being your advisor, I am joining the rest of the faculty as an English teacher, so you might even have me in class. I know it's pretty lame, but do you think we could go around the table sharing some facts so that we get to know each other a little better? I can start!" As the students nodded in agreement one by one, Lizzy started thinking what she could share with them. "Well, my name is Elizabeth Bennet and I am 26 years old. I graduated from this same school, Duch's, and went on to study English at NYU and a masters in International Relations at Kings College in London. I loved this school as a student, and that's why I decided to come back as a teacher. I live near campus with my best friend Jane, whom you may know as the school's psychiatrist."

"Oh, right! She's the new and pretty one, isn't she? We saw her in the dining hall yesterday, she seemed really nice" one of the brunette sisters said in admiration.

"Seems to me you've already seen her then! She really is nice, you can go to her if you have any problem at all, you don't even know everything she's helped me deal with. We both graduated from here together, and have remained friends ever since, that's why you might see her wearing her school ring, as well as you might see it in my hand. How many of you are newbies?"

"I think Georgie, Mary, Katie and me are the all newbies, or whatever" this was the short blonde one speaking. From what Lizzy had gathered, Mary was the shy South Korean at the end of the table, and Katie was the other, taller blonde teenager. "My name is Lydia, I am fifteen and a new sophomore, I also come from South Carolina. I know you're going to say that I don't have an accent, thank the Lord, but that's because I worked real hard not to be considered like any average valley girl. I have class. Also, what even is the deal with all these strange names of newbies and oldies and the rings? I don't want to start getting all confused and freaked out when I just got here!"

"Don't worry Lydia, I'm sure you'll get on fine with all the suspense of getting through all the traditions of the school. You are given the ring at the end of your first year as a student, when you go from being a newbie to an oldie. That means you are full part of the community and that you have gone through all the initiation rituals that generations have been through before you. Mary, Georgiana and you are going to have an exciting year, no doubt! Do you want to share any other facts or should we move on?" Lydia made a head gesture indicating that the taller blonde girl could pick it up from there.

"Hey! I am Katie, I mean my name is Katherine obviously, but everyone calls me Katie and so you should too! Oh, I'm rambling aren't I? Sorry, sorry, sometimes it happens and I just can't help it! I'm a new sophomore too! I mean, I could hardly believe the coincidence because Lydia and I live right next to each other at Finn, and then boom! We are in the same advisory and probably share classes together! This is so great, I am so excited. What about you Georgie?"

"Well, uhhmm, hello. My name is Georgiana Darcy, but you can call me Georgie or Gia. I am a sixteen and new international student from London. I live in the same dorm as Lydia and Katie, across the street, I think it's called Finn, and I have a brother. My brother also studied at Kings, like you Ms. Bennet, but there's really nothing else to say about me." Liz saw her smile nervously at that, and she already knew she liked her. She seemed to be trying to calm herself down, as if she had anxiety just because of being around people. Liz was going to have to help her break her shell.

"Well, welcome to the US, Georgie! I think we might also have to welcome Mary, right there at the end of the table, you're a new international student too, aren't you Mary?" Liz was trying to make it easier for her to join the conversation, and it did seem to go pretty well, to her own surprise.

"Hi, I am Mary Kim. I am from Seoul, South Korea, and I came here to make friends and because it is a great opportunity for anyone to be able to come to such a prestigious boarding school that could help me get into a very good college if I apply myself diligently in my studies. I have a brother who is a year older than me, so a sophomore, and he goes to Netherfield, which I am told is our brother school."

"Oh! Is your brother like a cute Asian?" Lydia jumped.

"He is Asian, but I am not sure if he is cute... He's just my brother" this made Georgiana laugh, which Lizzy was extremely grateful for.

"Ok, girls! We're getting to the end, you two are left" Lizzy said looking at the sisters.

"We are Natalie and Zooey, and we are non-identical twins. I am Nat."

"And I am Zooey."

"Some people find it annoying that we go together pretty much everywhere, but don't worry Ms. Bennet, we are not a little twin clique, we hang out with plenty of other people."

"Yeah, like Mary King for example. Oh, do you think we could maybe mess up Mary King with Mary Kim because their names are so similar?" said Zooey looking at Natalie. They were completely immerse in their little conversation.

"How about we call her Mary K.?" Natalie was looking across the table at Mary now. "And we just keep calling Mary King, just plain old Mary like we've always done? I mean, we knew her first."

"That's fair, Nat. I seriously don't know what I'd do without you!"

"It's ok, Z. I'll always be here for you" if you forgot that they were leaving everyone out of their little exchange, just blankly staring at them, it was quite an endearing scene to watch. "Well, we forgot to say, we are seniors, and we are in the little acapella group that you're going to see singing in traditions all the time, so we wanted to tell you that no matter how hard it might be for you just to adapt this year, it is worth it. I was so homesick the first semester of my freshman year I almost went home, and I'm from upstate New York, which isn't even a 5 hour drive from here. But we made it, and you can too."

"That was incredibly sweet of you to say, Natalie. Thanks for sharing it with us. Well, before going to convocation, which is this big all-school meeting in which there's a bunch of welcome speeches and all that stuff, I'd like to set up weekly meetings with the new students, even if it's just for the first semester. And at least one meeting with both of you seniors, to discuss college applications mainly."

After organizing themselves so that Elizabeth could fit the individual meetings with each girl into her already packed week, they cleaned up after breakfast and went to the theater together to assist convocation as a group, and right there and then, Lizzy felt really excited for the year to come.