After what felt like forever, it was finally morning—the day I was leaving for college. My mom and my boyfriend were dropping me off in a couple of hours. I wished I could say I wasn’t nervous, but the truth was I was basically terrified. I was so used to being with my mom, to the safety of having her around. And Noah—he was a year younger, a senior in high school—but he was steady, safe, and impossibly sweet.

I was in my room, shoving pieces of my life into cardboard boxes, while my mom hovered nearby, on the verge of a panic attack, determined to make sure I had everything I could possibly need.