“I’m not sure. I get the impression that people are kinda scared of Whitney.”
“There’s a girl like that at every school. So, do you think I can take off this stupid feather crown?”
“You better not. Here comes Tyrese.”
Tyrese sits down with us and rests his muscular arms on the table. “So, congrats. Dance team is cool. You getta come out and shake that ass for the football team.”
I scrunch my nose up, cuz shaking my ass for the football team wasn’t exactly why I tried out. Actually, I’m still not sure why I tried out. But I do know that I loved being up there dancing. It was really fun.
He lowers his voice. “So the party tonight, moved to plan B. You understand?”
“Yeah.”
“You know how to get in and out of the dorm without getting caught?”
“Uh, no.” Shit, the party must be after curfew.
“What floor you on?”
“First. 6B.”
“Well, aren’t you just the lucky girl?” Okay, so all the outside doors have alarms on them, and I’m sure they told you the whole place is wired, right?”
“Yeah, they did tell us that. They also told us about all the trouble we’d get into if we got caught outside the dorm after curfew.”
“You won’t get caught if you do it right, okay?”
“Okay.”
“The biggest problem will probably be your roommate. I heard you have some girl that goes to bed at 9:30. Would she tell on you?”
“She would have, yes, but I have a new roommate. We switched. I’m roommates with Katie. She just made dance team. She’s the really cute petite one.”
“With the huge boobs?”
“Um, yes.”
“Dayuuum, you can just bring her along. Introduce her to Tyrese.”
“Okay. She seems fun, so I’m sure I can talk her into it.”
“Solid. Okay, so what they didn’t tell you is that the doors are wired, but the windows aren’t. All you have to do is report for curfew, then, about an hour after that, sneak out your window. Check your window, make sure you can get in and out of it. Wait, did you say 6B? Damn girl, that window has got WD40 all up and down the sides of it. It glides like a dream. Effortlessly and quietly. Little honey of mine, graduated last year, that was her room.”
Dallas and I laugh.
“So, curfew is at twelve tonight. Be there at one.”
“Wait. How do we get in?”
“Oh, shit. I almost forgot. Your dorm faces the woods. Walk that way, so no one sees you. The second window will be open. Just climb in and take the stairs up to the party. If you have any trouble, text me. Here, give me your phone.”
He grabs my phone, puts in Tyresebaby and his number, winks at me, and leaves.
“You gotta take me to one of these parties,” Dallas tells me.
“Let’s wait until I’m actually invited myself, and then you’re in. And before the others get back,” I say as I see them walking toward us. “Anytime you wanna go back to the cave, you text me.”
He’s kissing my soul.
1:15 am
Katie is excited to go to the party. She’s been chattering nervously about it for the last hour while we unpacked all of our clothes and put them away. She’s also a junior, who has apparently been on the waiting list since freshman year. They told her they had a last minute opening a couple weeks ago, and she decided to come even though her friends and boyfriend thought she was nuts.
We checked our window and, as expected, it glided effortlessly open. She wanted to leave at 12:55, so we would be there right at one, when the party supposedly starts. But no way was I going to look like an overeager B-list actor trying to get into an A-list party. I told her we weren’t leaving until 1:15.
At least.
At 1:15, she can’t wait any longer. She’s had two Red Bulls and is bursting at the seams.
Katie climbs out the window quite gracefully. I pretty much fall out of it and into the bushes. I’ve never had to sneak out before.
“How did you do that?” I ask her as I’m picking leaves off my shorts. We had a big dilemma about what to wear tonight. She wanted to be all decked out. I thought maybe we should look more casual. Pajama party casual. We discussed it for about an hour. Killed some time at least.
“Get out of the window without falling?” she whispers. “I snuck out my window at home all summer to see my boyfriend.”
“And what exactly were you doing with your boyfriend in the middle of the night?”
She smiles and blushes. “Well, you know. Mostly, we just made out, but toward the end of the summer we started having sex. Well, we did it a few times anyway. It was so awkward. But we were both virgins, so I wasn’t really expecting much.”
“Well, when you do it again, hopefully it will be with someone more experienced. I liked it. A lot.”
“Like tonight? Do you think that stuff goes on at this party? I really have no idea what to expect.”
“I would guess it’s like any party. Drugs. Alcohol. Hooking up.”