She sighed and blew out the match. Aubrey admired Kate’s delicate hands. Her chipped fingernails sparkled with sky-blue polish, and a spray of stars was tattooed on the inside of one wrist.
“I got all the way through high school without getting in trouble, and I don’t plan to start now,” Jenny said.
But there was no animosity in her voice. They were all lethargic, content to loll and idly chat. They’d been forecasting a thunderstorm, but it hadn’t come yet, and the air coming in through the open windows was heavy and wet.
“Just for argument’s sake, how exactly do you imagine we’re going to get caught?” Kate asked.
“That fan does nothing to cover the smell. It blows it out into the hallway. I’m not judging you. Smoke if you want to, but if you do it here and the RA smells it, I’ll get in trouble, too.”
“That Asian girl? She would never rat us out.”
“What does the fact that she’s Asian have to do with it?”
“Nothing. She’s some lowly biochem grad student. I could have her grant money pulled for looking at me the wrong way. Don’t you understand what kind of protection you get by rooming with me?” Kate said.
“Well, I don’t want that kind of protection. I don’t agree with it.”
“My, my, such an idealist,” Kate drawled.
“Hey, it’s after eight o’clock,” Aubrey said. “Shouldn’t we head out?”
They’d been through four deadly days of required orientation activities—team-building hikes, sexual harassment lectures, IT sessions where they learned to use Carly, the library’s research database. Every night there had been pizza feeds, and bands, and open houses sponsored by some dorm or club. But tonight the true debauchery began. The first fraternity parties. Frat Row would be lit up like Times Square, and packed with hunky upperclassmen cruising for the tender flesh of freshman girls.
“If Miss Priss here is even coming,” Kate said, but there was a note of affection in her voice.
“I’m thinking about it,” Jenny said.
Aubrey sat up and reached for her sneakers.
“No you don’t,” Kate said. “Only geeks show up this early. And you’re not going sober either. Not if you want to walk in with me. Where I come from, we pregame. Hold on a minute.”
Kate got up and flounced off to her room.
“Have you registered for classes yet?” Jenny asked idly, considering her manicure.
“I thought we had until the end of next week,” Aubrey said, sinking back down onto the sofa.
“Not if you want to take anything popular,” Jenny said. “Popular classes fill up early. Tell me which courses you’re thinking of, and I’ll tell you if you should worry.”
“I don’t know. Maybe Renaissance Painting. Or Literature of the Outsider—I heard the prof for that is really amazing. Oh, and French New Wave Cinema, or Eastern Religions. There are so many.”
Jenny frowned. “What do you do with courses like those?”
Kate came back, carrying a bottle of tequila and three paper cups.
“Courses like what?” she asked.
“Aubrey’s thinking about taking Renaissance Painting and a bunch of other floofy stuff,” Jenny said, smiling.
“Floofy?” Kate said, and laughed. “You’re too much.”
“You’re saying those courses aren’t practical,” Aubrey said. “I get it, but why come to Carlisle if not to study things that inspire me?”
“Um, to get a job after?” Jenny said.
“What a bore,” Kate said.
“Spoken like a girl with a trust fund,” Jenny said.
“I swear, you are prejudiced against me, Jenny Vega, but I forgive you. Hey, I have an idea. I’ll take Renaissance Painting, too, Aubrey. Then you can come to New York over break and we’ll go to the Met and look at the paintings in the flesh,” Kate said.
“Do paintings have flesh?” Aubrey said.
“Nudes do.”
They laughed, pleased with their own cleverness. Kate sloshed a generous amount of tequila into each cup, releasing a bracing sting of alcohol into the steamy living room. Jenny made a face, which was a reaction to the smell of the alcohol, but Kate took it as a comment on her invitation.
“Don’t be jealous, you can come to New York, too,” Kate said, thrusting a cup at Jenny. “It’s my personal mission to loosen you up. Once you’re properly blotto, we’ll go out and get you laid.”
Jenny gave a snort of laughter and rolled her eyes, but she took the cup. Heavy drops spattered the skylight, and Jenny got up to lower the window sash. They spent the next hour drinking tequila and doing each other’s makeup. Or rather, Jenny and Kate did Aubrey’s makeup. Aubrey was missing the girly gene. She’d never been interested in the mall, or the cosmetics counter, never learned the tricks that made a girl attractive to boys. She was blessed with a tall, willowy figure and symmetrical features, but she was plain and rabbity-looking to her own eyes. Brows and lashes pale to the point of disappearing, lank hair, a shy manner. Her roomies transformed her. At their direction, she opened her eyes wide, sucked in her cheeks, puckered up. The tickly feel of the brushes on her face, the smell of alcohol on their warm breath, made the whole experience seem surreal, or maybe that was the effect of the tequila. When she looked in the mirror, Aubrey didn’t recognize herself. They’d made her beautiful, with dramatic eyes and lovely cheekbones.
By the time they stumbled out of Whipple onto the Quad, the rain had stopped, and it had cooled off considerably. The sky was indigo, the air smelled sweet, and Aubrey felt like a new person. She also felt a raging headache coming on, but she didn’t care. She’d borrowed a cute pair of cutoffs and a sexy top. Her new look made her brave, and what better thing to do with that feeling than go flirt with some frat boys?
Kate had a list of parties ranked in order of prestige. It was important to be seen at the right ones.
“The frats control social life on campus,” Kate explained as they picked their way between puddles. “When you rush a sorority this spring, what the frats think of you will be made known, and it matters. Not for me, I can get in wherever I want. But for girls like you with no connections, having the guys think you’re a cool girl, fun at parties, that can make all the difference.”
“Oh please, what year is this, 1954?” Jenny said.
“In 1954, there were no women at Carlisle,” Kate said.
“Exactly. You’re a throwback, Kate. If I rush a sorority, which I haven’t decided, it’s because I want to network. Not ’cause I give a crap what some mentally deficient frat boy thinks of me.”
“Don’t listen to her. She’ll spoil your fun,” Kate said.
“Such fun,” Jenny said. “These are the sort of places girls go into and they come out covered in bodily fluids.”