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I blinked at her, then swiveled to take in the other two.
“Not sure yet,” Nora said through another mouthful of ice cream. “Something in the entertainment industry, but I’m not sure what. Directing, maybe?”
Damn, the kids here really did have plans. My own goal to drop out in a couple of months and apprentice as a tattoo artist seemed very…unimpressive.
“Julie?” Frank prompted with a sly smile, and Nora snorted, then clapped a hand over her mouth before she spat out her ice cream.
“What?” I asked, looking between them.
“Julie’s plan is to marry someone important,” Nora informed me with a wide grin.
“So?” Julie licked icing off the back of her fork with an unaffected shrug. “Make fun of me all you want, but there’s more than one path to power.”
“It’s not that you’re wrong,” Nora said. “It’s just that you’re worth so much more than you give yourself credit for. You’re actually smart under that future-trophy-wife exterior you try so hard to maintain.”
“I know,” Julie said blithely. “And I’ll use my brain when the time comes.”
Frank snorted, then batted her eyes. “Why don’t you just marry Drew?”
I watched with interest as Julie made a fake retching sound. “Wow, no thanks. Besides, Drew’s small potatoes. He’s a stepping stone. I’m going to marry someone with real power.”
“Then why date him at all?” I asked.
The look she shot me was condescending. “Because his father is on the admissions panel at Princeton. Besides, haven’t you seen the way he looks?” She smiled and licked the last of the icing off her fork in a pornographic move. “Dating him isn’t such a hardship.”
I suppressed a shudder. Now that I didn’t believe for a second.
* * *
It wasn’t long before all the female bonding got a little oppressive, so when Nora put on a movie, I made an excuse and slipped out the door to get some fresh air. Light poured from practically every room in the dorms, music and laughter echoing from every open window, and the cool night air was a refreshing change.
The lake drew me like it had a magnetic pull, and before I’d even made a conscious decision I found myself behind the dorms, pacing the rocky shore of the beach. The water lapped at the tips of my shoes as I gazed out into the surrounding forest, listening to the rustle of wind in the trees and the hum of nighttime insects.
What I’d told Nora had been true—this place was pretty much what I’d expected. People had been rude, and pushy, and judgmental, and the presence of wealth was so dense I could practically feel it in the air all around me. But at the same time, there had been some unlikely surprises as well. Nora, for one. Despite the fact that she obviously fit into this world I was clearly not part of, she was easy to be around and to talk to. She was friendly and understanding, and I liked her. Frank, too, was turning out to be a pretty good roommate.
I started to wander along the edge of the lake as I let my mind drift back over the week, and only stopped when a large boulder came into view. It was half hidden by the trees, but jutted out over the water, and when I climbed out onto the smooth surface and sat by the edge, I could almost imagine there was no ground below me and no trees above, just water as far as the eye could see. I leaned back on my hands and let my legs stretch out in front of me. I couldn’t hear the sounds from the dorms this far out, the silence like a comforting blanket all around me, and I let my thoughts wander once again.
Another surprise from the first week of classes had come in the form of Devan Moore. Despite his intimidating appearance, my chemistry lab partner was turning out to be one of the few people on campus that I found myself not just tolerating, but actually liking. Not only was he a competent lab partner, but he was easy to talk to, and had a great sense of humor.
Well, I wasn’t exactly sure that bad science jokes counted as a great sense of humor, but he was certainly capable of making me laugh, which was something I rarely found myself doing those days. Wednesday’s offering had been, “Why should everyone have a friend who’s a chemist?” My raised eyebrow had earned me an answer of, “Because they have all the solutions!” I had tried hard to keep a straight face, but my amused snort had earned me a glare from both the professor and Garrett at the table behind us. My face softened at the memory.
“I’ve seen you every day this week and I think this is the first time I’ve seen you smile.” The voice came from behind me and startled me so badly I almost fell into the water.
Catching my breath, I turned to glare at the shadowed figure of Micah Hartsough as he folded himself to sit on the wide, flat rock next to me.
“Ah, now that expression is more familiar,” he said.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” I demanded.
“I could ask you the same question,” he pointed out, then shrugged, looking out over the water. “I come here a lot. I didn’t expect to find someone on my rock.”
“Your rock?”
He tilted a glance down at me and half-smiled. “Our rock?”
I followed his gaze out over the placid surface of the lake and didn’t answer right away.
“It’s peaceful out here,” I finally said, my voice quiet. “I can see why you like it.”
