Кристин Ханна – Rirefly Lane / Улица Светлячков. Книга для чтения на английском языке (страница 20)
Tully stopped. “Are you really not going to come with me?”
Kate smiled and kept walking. “We aren’t going to get the job.”
“But you’ll come with me, right? We’re a team.”
“Of course I’m coming.”
“I knew it. You were just messing with me.”
They kept talking as they walked through the Quad, where the cherry trees were lush and green, as was the grass. Dozens of students in brightly colored shorts and T-shirts played Frisbee and hacky sack.
At the newspaper office, Tully stopped. “I’ll do the talking.”
“I’m shocked, really.”
Laughing, they went into the building, announced themselves to a shaggy-looking kid at the front desk, and were directed to the editor’s office.
The entire meeting lasted less than ten minutes.
“Told you we were too young,” Kate said as they walked back to the sorority.
“Bite me. Sometimes I think you don’t even want to be a reporter with me.”
“That’s a complete lie: you hardly ever think.”
“Bitch.”
“Hag.”
Kate put an arm around her. “Come on, Barbara Walters[117], I’ll walk you home.”
Tully was so depressed over the meeting at the newspaper that Kate spent the rest of the day cajoling her into a good mood.
“Come on,” she finally said, hours later, when they were back in their minuscule room in the sorority house. “Let’s get ready. You want to look your best for the exchange.”
“What do I care about a stupid exchange? Frat boys are hardly my ideal.”
Kate struggled not to smile. Everything about Tully was big – she had such high highs and low lows[118]. Their time at UW had only increased her tendencies. The funny thing was that while this huge crowded campus had somehow released Tully’s extravagances, it had had an opposite and calming effect on Kate. She felt stronger every day here, more and more ready to become an adult. “You’re such a drama queen. I’ll let you do my makeup.”
Tully looked up. “Really?”
“It’s a time-limited offer. You better move your ass.”
Tully jumped up, grabbed her hand, and dragged her down the hall to the bathroom, where dozens of girls were already showering and drying off and blowing their hair out.
They waited their turns, took their showers, and went back to the room. Thankfully, their other two roommates weren’t there. The tiny space, filled mostly with dressers and desks and a set of bunk beds for the upperclassmen, barely gave the two of them room enough to turn around. Their own twin beds were in the large sleeping porch down the hall.
Tully spent almost an hour on their hair and makeup, then pulled out the fabric they’d bought for their togas – gold for Tully, silver for Kate – and created a pair of magical garments held in place by tight belts and rhinestone pins.
Kate studied her reflection when they were done. The sparkling silver fabric complemented her pale skin and golden hair and brought out the green in her eyes. After all the nerd years, she was still sometimes surprised that she could look good. “You’re a genius,” she said.
Tully twirled for inspection. “How do I look?”
The gold toga showed off her big boobs and tiny waist, and a riot of curled, teased, sprayed mahogany hair spilled down over her shoulder, à la Jane Fonda in
“You look gorgeous,” Kate said. “The guys’ll be falling all over themselves.”
“You care too much about love; must be all those romance novels you read. This is
“I don’t want to screw them, but a date would be nice.”
Tully grabbed Kate’s arm and led her out into the hallway, which was crowded with laughing, talking girls in various stages of dress, running down the busy corridors with curling irons, hair dryers, and bedsheets.
Downstairs in the formal living room, one of the girls was teaching the others to Hustle[120].
Outside, Kate and Tully merged into the crowd walking down the street. There were people everywhere on this balmy late September night. Most of the fraternities were having an exchange. There were girls in costume, in ordinary clothes, in almost nothing at all, walking in sorority groups toward their various destinations.
The Phi Delt house was big and square, a fairly modern mixture of glass and metal and brick, that was set on a corner. Inside, the walls were worn, the furniture was broken and ripped and ugly, and the décor was prison-era 1950. Not that most of this could be seen through the crowd.
People were packed in like sardines, chugging beer from plastic cups and swaying to the music. “Shout!” blared through the speakers and everyone was singing along, jumping up in time to the music.
The crowd crouched, stilled, then raised their hands and rose up again, chanting along.
As always, the minute Tully stepped into a party, she was “on.” Gone was the edge of depression, the hesitant smile, the irritation at losing the job. Kate watched in awe; her friend instantly grabbed everyone’s attention.
“Shout!” Tully yelled out, laughing. Boys moved in close, drawn to her like moths to a flame, but Tully barely seemed to notice. She surged onto the dance floor, dragging Kate along with her.
It was the most fun Kate had had in years.
By the time she’d group danced to “Brick House,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” and “Louie Louie,” she was hot and sweaty.
“I’ll be right back,” she yelled to Tully, who nodded, and then she went outside, where she sat on the low brick wall that marked the property’s edge. Cool night air breezed across her sweaty face. She closed her eyes and swayed to the music.
“The party’s inside, you know.”
She looked up.
The guy who’d spoken was tall and broad-shouldered, with wheat-colored hair that fell across the bluest eyes. “Can I sit with you?”
“Sure.”
“I’m Brandt Hanover.”
“Kate Mularkey.”
“Is this your first frat party[121]?”
“Does it show?”
He smiled and went from good looking to gorgeous. “Just a little. I remember my first year here. It was like being on Mars. I’m from Moses Lake,” he said, as if that should explain everything.
“Small town?”
“Speck on the map.”
“It
The conversation moved easily on from there. He talked about things she could relate to. He’d grown up on a farm, feeding cows before dawn and driving his dad’s hay truck when he was thirteen. He knew about feeling both lost and found in a place as big and sprawling as UW.
Inside, the music changed. Someone turned the volume way up. It was ABBA’s, “Dancing Queen.”
Tully came running out of the house. “Kate!” she yelled, laughing. “There you are.”
Brandt immediately stood.
Tully frowned at him. “Who’s this?”
“Brandt Hanover.”
Kate knew exactly what was going to happen next. Because of what had happened to Tully in the dark woods by the river all those years ago, she didn’t trust boys, didn’t want anything to do with them, and she was committed to protecting Kate from any kind of harm or heartbreak. Unfortunately, though, Kate wasn’t afraid. She
But how could she say that, when Tully was only trying to protect her?
Tully grabbed Kate’s arm, pulled her to her feet. “Too bad, Brandt,” she said, laughing a little too loudly as she dragged Kate away. “This is our song.”
“I saw Brandt at the HUB today. He smiled at me.”