On induction day, Vi’s mom and dad and grandma and grandpa tell her things about the Scholomance she knows (because she’s not stupid).
Vi nods along with everyone’s instructions, even though they think she’s an idiot, and thinks about how to get Cam to teach her spells (A+, much less depressing). Cam probably knows a lot of cool incantations now and wow, that’s kinda intimidating. Vi wants to learn basically everything Cam knows. Also, artificing, which her parents have some opinions about.
When they start on this stuff, or her brain turns to mush during a conjugation drill, Vi zones out and thinks about what she’s going to learn. This one weird trick helped Vi spend the last few years tracing Cam’s steps through French (which her grandpa helped with) and Spanish (which he didn’t) and Mandarin (which sucked the most). If Vi must ask, Cam will save her from truly obscure bullshit the homework confronts her with. (Archaic hanzi do not interact.) Add English and Vietnamese, and Vi feels pretty good about her languages. (Cam is so smart, though, that she also got into Latin-- weird flex.)
Hang on, Vi’s mom wants her to check the backpack again, in case anything recently fell out(?!). Yes, her backpack (big, aggressively turquoise) still has the standard supplies. Also mana crystals and a letter to Cam and one of her knives, the rainbowy one, enchanted for sharpness. In the inside backpack pocket, durian coconut candy, for Cam. (Dubious barter value). Vi’s convinced her parents she’s not going in without a few months’ worth of what her mom calls her medicine or with her hair any shorter than this. (They’re not, like, great about this stuff, but they get now that she’s serious.) In fact, she’s also wearing the new earrings her mom got her-- they've got sparkly opals, enchanted to protect her-- though sadly they’re studs, since mals grab the dangly kinds (source: Vi’s mom). She doesn't want to ask what her mom did for the LA enclave to get this stuff.
After she checks the backpack, Vi’s mom and grandma and grandpa hug her. Her dad looks for a second like he’s not sure whether he should, then he doesn’t.
So he’s still being like that, a year out. Whatever.
Her mom looks like she’s going to cry. Hmm, that’s worse.
Vi’s going to see Cam in less than an hour. She still has to explain some stuff that they didn't let her put into the last letter, but Cam won’t freak out about it. Cam will understand.
Here's the jerk from the induction. It’s pretty awful.