The nicest thing about graduation, Bea thinks, is that in the brief window after breakfast and before the flames burn through, most of the mals are migrating down to the graduation hall. So it's possible to let one's guard down slightly more than usual and not feel too bad about it. And if you go two to a room instead of separately to wait for the cleansing to finish... it's not like curfew's being enforced.
They'll have to work to keep their surroundings clear for their hangers on from the younger years.
Which their now-junior and now-sophomore buddies are long inured to! Including their favorite sophomore, who also takes the initiative of being first in line, and escapes with her usual mildly excessive offering for El.
(They only get a few new freshmen - though a lot for the first day. A couple of the kids Shinta rounded up, plus Aaron from Manchester and his new ¿friend? who is possibly using him as an excuse to get closer to a major enclaver from New York. And as an excuse to sit somewhere relatively safe. None of the freshmen had as much initiative as Jialin, though.)
He gives them it, and asks: "Can you bring them letters from me when you graduate?"