Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 555(@200wpm)___ 444(@250wpm)___ 370(@300wpm)
Seriously. So awesome.
I smiled. “Rum and Coke, please.”
“Hell yeah!” She stood up, lifting the bottles over her head, and went to the fridge.
I went over and hit my playlist. “Settle Down” by Chaptabois filled the air, and soon both of us were bobbing our heads to the beat.
We were on our second round when someone knocked on our door.
“Come in!” Jade called.
The door opened, and two more girls I’d briefly met on our floor came in.
We introduced ourselves again. One was a shorter Latina girl, and that’s how she introduced herself. She stuck her hand out and said, “I’m Veronica, and I’m Latina. I have an accent, and I’m not going to tell you where my family is from, because I’m from Texas, and that’s it, girl. Got it? We’ll move forward from this, and all you need to know is that I’m a hella good time. Also, I don’t do nicknames. My name is Veronica. Not Ronnie. Not Rica. Not Ver. Veronica. Got it?”
“Got it.” I nodded and smiled. I liked this one already. “I’m Aspen.”
Then she melted. “Oh, man. One look and I know you’re the sweetest and shyest girl ever. You remind me of one of my sisters, Crystal. Heart of gold.”
Instant friends.
The other girl was her roommate, and she had sleek, reddish hair, blue eyes, and a ton of freckles. Hers was one of the most arresting faces I’d ever seen. Her name was Angeline.
“We heard the music and guessed you might be our kind of girls.” Veronica sat on my bed, since it was nearest.
“You want drinks?” Jade asked.
Veronica boomed, “Hell yes.”
Angeline cringed, but then shrugged. “College.”
“That’s right, girl.” Jade pointed over her shoulder since she was at the fridge already. “We’re in college, and classes don’t start till Monday.”
After Veronica got her drink, Angeline went back to their room to get herself a wine cooler. “I heard some girls in the hallway talking about a party on frat row,” she reported when she returned. “You guys want to go?”
Jade’s eyebrows went up. “A frat party? Our first night here?”
Veronica thrust her drink in the air. “HELL YEAH, BITCHES!”
Angeline giggled.
We’d learn soon enough that that’s what Angeline did. She sipped on her wine cooler and giggled, a lot.
Veronica boomed and said bitches a lot. I kinda loved it.
Jade was clearly our leader.
After another drink for each of us (and a new wine cooler for Angeline), we got ready to go. Jade went and found the girls who’d been talking about the party, and they included us in their group. We walked from campus to a street down on Cain’s frat row.
The whole block was packed, and it wasn’t just one party. There were a few of them going.
A part of me was like, What am I doing? I should go back to the room and call Blaise. I should tell him I’m here. But the other part of me was like, This is college. I should embrace this, and hell yeah to me for not just eavesdropping on a party for once.
I was a mixed bag this evening.
I should’ve brought a wine cooler of my own. Though Jade had us covered. She had the serious party/tomboy look going, including a backpack full of drinks, and she was pulling it off glamorously. No joke. She didn’t care how she looked, but she still looked good—tight tank top, tight shorts, sneakers, and a backpack.
I followed along toward the back of the group, because five more girls had attached to us when they learned we were all from the same dorm. Was this normal? I had no clue. But it was the first weekend, so the normal social rules might not apply.
We went past the first party to a bigger party.
I eyed a few of the guys on the front lawn because they looked so much like Zeke, they could’ve been twins. I mean, the faces were different, but the douchebag, bully/joker, preppy partier vibe was the same. They were throwing beanbags at a piece of wood with holes in the middle of it, and they were doing pretty well. They kept yelling, “Hole in one!” Then they’d cheer with their fists in the air and salute each other, downing an entire red cup of beer. Or I assumed it was beer. They’d done this three times by the time we got to their sidewalk.
Then I caught the end of what a girl in front of me was saying, “...he, like, moved from New York to California or something? I don’t know, but Columbia was supposed to have him on their team. Something happened, and we got him on ours. He’s a big deal, I’m telling you.”
“How do you know this?” another girl asked.
“My brother’s a junior on the soccer team. He swears he’s never seen a player like this in person. This guy should’ve already been in Europe playing for one of their clubs.”