The St. Ambrose School for Girls by Jessica Ward

Author:Jessica Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2023-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

chapter EIGHTEEN

It’s Saturday of Columbus Day weekend, late in the afternoon. I’m in my dorm room alone and it’s eerily quiet. I’m one of the minority of students who are in Tellmer over the three-day break, most of the girls having been picked up to go home or to head off on a last-gasp vacation at a summer country house somewhere. Strots took Keisha away with her, and I gather they were bound for Newport, Rhode Island.

Before Strots left, she told me that they’ve decided to, as Strots put it, “You know, be together.”

So this is a romantic weekend, not just one for friends, and I’m glad because then I don’t feel left behind by my roommate. I decide that Strots telling me about Greta freed her heart for K. I don’t know whether this is true, but it makes me feel helpful. They’re going to stay at Strots’s grandmother’s house. Given that she thought Greta would be impressed with the place, I’m guessing it’s big as a football field and has more columns than the White House. Strots said that she only likes going there in the off-season. In season, evidently, there are too many parties.

Wow, is all I can think.

And there’s been another reminder of my roommate’s wealth, in addition to the ever-gestating gymnasium going up at the edge of campus: A long black limo has been spotted at the construction site and around the administration buildings. I’ve overheard it belongs to Strots’s father. She hasn’t mentioned anything about it, and she also hasn’t talked about seeing her dad. But how could she not, if he’s here at the school? Fathers and daughters… see each other, right?

As if I would know.

What I am certain of is that just as I have kept Strots’s secret, she has kept mine. I can tell she’s honored our pledge to each other because none of the other girls in the dorm, even Keisha, are treating me any differently—which is not to say they’re welcoming me into their cliques, but they haven’t shunned me like I’m a ticking time bomb about to go certifiable.

I’m well familiar with the look people give me when they know my truth. I was the recipient of plenty of those wide eyes and hissed whispers in my old school after my breakdowns. In my small town, Tera Taylor’s daughter going nuts was big news. That was why I ended up writing the essay my mom submitted to Ambrose’s admissions committee. “How I Spent My Summer” by Sarah M. Taylor. I’d gotten tired of the speculation, and decided to set the record straight with brutal honesty, even though I never had any intention of anybody actually reading it.

And then my mom found the thing. After which, Ambrose.

Returning to the present, I look down to my lap. As I sit on my bed, leaning back against the bare wall behind me, I have another book of Nick’s in my hands. It is The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel. It’s part of a series and a novel that, I gather, has sold very well.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.