"...no. I, I-I never made it to college. I-I'd only just graduated high school."

It probably wasn't hard to figure out events from there. A celebratory trip, getting turned around in the wrong part of town or catching the eye of the wrong person and...well, never being seen again. Or at least, never being seen again under that particular name.

"But, um, that's...th-that's a lot more than a lot of us have. I-I can do a lot with that. Math, and, and and reading."

Or she could be stupid. Sometimes people preferred a stupid slave over an intelligent one, and it was good to be able to know how to act the part. Besides, even if he'd apparently extended the offer of college...

"I, I can't pay for it."

There was her family, yes, her father and her brother and her cousin, maybe, but...well, they'd probably been relieved, to hear she'd dropped off the map.