AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” I say as I settle back into the couch.
When I glance back up, she pouts her lip, and her eyes grow sad in a way only she knows how to do.
“Please,” she begs.
I can’t help the smile that grows over my lips from seeing her beg like this. She’s not begging because she needs someone to go out to the bars with her. Scarlett is the most confident person I know. She loves being the center of attention. She’s asking because she wants me to have fun for once in my life.
“I don’t know…maybe,” I say, giving her the same answer I’ve told her hundreds of times before.
“Come on, Kins. You don’t need to study. You have the highest grades in our class, and you don’t even like theater.”
“I do, too,” I protest even though I don’t, not really. I suck at acting. I find the history behind theater interesting, but I have no interest in really working in that field.
On autopilot, I pull my phone out of my pocket. I begin texting my dad, like I always do. But I know what he’s going to say before I even ask. He’ll say no. It’s seven thirty. I’m supposed to call him in an hour for our weekly updates. I love his calls, but I think he chose Friday nights just to keep me out of the bars and clubs, not that I mind. It’s also why he chose Yale for me over some of the other colleges. Yale isn’t exactly known for being a party school. I prefer his calls to drinking until I puke, like Scarlett does.
My thumb hesitates over the phone. I’ve never really had the opportunity to try out my theory on drinking until I puke. I’ve just assumed I would prefer talking with my father to it. And I can’t make any more mistakes.
I move my thumb to press Send when Scarlett’s body tackles me to the ground. My phone drops from my hand and slides across the hardwood floor. It’s a miracle it doesn’t shatter, but from where I lie on the ground with Scarlett’s body pressed to me, it doesn’t seem like it even got a scratch on it.
“What—get off of me, Scar.” I try to wiggle out from underneath her bony body, but it’s no use. I have no leverage to get out from underneath her.
I stop fighting and resolve to listen to her. “What was that for?”
“I am not letting you ask your father for permission to go to a bar tonight.”
I narrow my eyes at her, trying to figure out if I can use the element of surprise to get out from under her grasp. “Why not?”
“Because you are a grown-ass woman who can make her own decisions. You turned twenty-one three days ago, and you haven’t even so much as gone out for a drink yet.”
I frown. “I did, too, go out for a drink.”
“Yeah, you had champagne with your family, and you were back by nine o’clock. That’s not exactly what I mean, Kins.”
“It was a weeknight! What was I supposed to d
o? Go out and get so drunk that I wouldn’t have even made it to my classes the next morning?”
Scarlett nods. “Yeah, that’s exactly what you were supposed to do. That’s what any normal college student would have done.”
I shake my head. “But we aren’t normal.”
“Yeah, well, for one night, we are going to be.”
“No, I’m going to study, and then I’m going to call my dad in an hour, like I always do.”
I reach back for my phone that is just a foot or so above my head, but Scarlett pins my arms to the ground with her hands.
“Come on, Scar, let me go,” I whine.
I try my best to give her puppy-dog eyes, like she did with me earlier, but I’m not the best actress in the world. And even if I were, Scarlett doesn’t have a heart. She’s ruthless when she’s made up her mind.
“Not going to work.” Scarlett’s grip on my arms tightens. “The way I see it, you have two options. One, you can spend the night lying on the floor with me sitting on you. Or two, you can get your scrawny ass into that closet of yours, pick out something slutty to wear, and go out clubbing with me.”
I wear a pinched expression as I stare up in annoyance at my supposed friend who is blackmailing me into going out. I look at my scrawny arms. I knew I should have gone to the gym at least once or twice. I don’t have an ounce of muscle on my body to fight her off.
“You’re really going to sit on me all night if I don’t agree to your terms?”
She smiles. “All night.”
