“She hasn’t really been in the room much.”
Wren looked suspicious. “You haven’t talked?”
“We’ve said hello,” Cath said. “I’ve talked to her boyfriend a little.”
“What’s her boyfriend like?” Wren asked.
“I don’t know. Tall?”
“Well, it’s only been a few days. I’m sure you’ll get to know her.” Then Wren changed the subject to something that happened at some party she and Courtney had gone to. They’d only been living together two weeks, and already they had a slew of inside jokes that went right over Cath’s head.
Cath ate her turkey sandwich and two servings of french fries, and shoved a second sandwich into her bag when Wren wasn’t paying attention.
*
Reagan finally stayed in their room that night. (Levi did not, thank God.) She went to bed while Cath was still typing.
“Is the light bothering you?” Cath asked, pointing at the lamp built into her desk. “I could turn it off.”
“It’s fine,” Reagan said.
Cath put in earbuds so that she wouldn’t hear Reagan’s falling-asleep noises. Breathing. Sheets brushing. Bed creaking.
How can she just fall asleep like that with a stranger in the room? Cath wondered. Cath left the earbuds in when she finally crawled into her own bed and pulled the comforter up high over her head.
*
“You still haven’t talked to her?” Wren asked at lunch the next week.
“We talk,” Cath said. “She says, ‘Would you mind closing the window?’ And I say, ‘That’s fine.’ Also, ‘Hey.’ We exchange ‘heys’ daily. Sometimes twice daily.”
“It’s getting weird,” Wren said.
Cath poked at her mashed potatoes. “I’m getting used to it.”
“It’s still weird.”
“Really?” Cath asked. “You’re really going to start talking about how I got stuck with a weird roommate?”
Wren sighed. “What about her boyfriend?”
“Haven’t seen him for a few days.”
“What are you doing this weekend?”
“Homework, I guess. Writing Simon.”
“Courtney and I are going to a party tonight.”
“Where?”
“The Triangle House!” Courtney said. She said it the same way you’d say “the Playboy Mansion!” if you were a total D-bag.
“What’s a Triangle House?” Cath asked.
“It’s an engineering fraternity,” Wren said.
“So they, like, get drunk and build bridges?”
“They get drunk and design bridges. Want to come?”
“Nah.” Cath took a bite of roast beef and potatoes; it was always Sunday-night dinner in the Selleck dining room. “Drunk nerds. Not my thing.”
“You like nerds.”
“Not nerds who join fraternities,” Cath said. “That’s a whole subclass of nerds that I’m not interested in.”
“Did you make Abel sign a sobriety pledge before he left for Missouri?”
“Is Abel your boyfriend?” Courtney asked. “Is he cute?”
Cath ignored her. “Abel isn’t going to turn into a drunk. He can’t even tolerate caffeine.”
“That right there is some faulty logic.”
“You know I don’t like parties, Wren.”
“And you know what Dad says—you have to try something before you can say you don’t like it.”
“Seriously? You’re using Dad to get me to a frat party? I have tried parties. There was that one at Jesse’s, with the tequila—”
“Did you try the tequila?”
“No, but you did, and I helped clean it up when you puked.”
Wren smiled wistfully and smoothed her long bangs across her forehead. “Drinking tequila is more about the journey than the destination.…”
“You’ll call me,” Cath said, “right?”
“If I puke?”
“If you need help.”
“I won’t need help.”
“But you’ll call me?”
“God, Cath. Yes. Relax, okay?”
“But, sir,” Simon pushed, “do I have to be his roommate every year, every year until we leave Watford?”
The Mage smiled indulgently and ruffled Simon’s caramel brown hair. “Being matched with your roommate is a sacred tradition at Watford.” His voice was gentle but firm. “The Crucible cast you together. You’re to watch out for each other, to know each other as well as brothers.”
“Yeah, but, sir…” Simon shuffled in his chair. “The Crucible must have made a mistake. My roommate’s a complete git. He might even be evil. Last week, someone spelled my laptop closed, and I know it was him. He practically cackled.”
The Mage gave his beard a few solemn strokes. It was short and pointed and just covered his chin.
“The Crucible cast you together, Simon. You’re meant to watch out for him.”
—from chapter 3, Simon Snow and the Second Serpent, copyright ? 2003 by Gemma T. Leslie
FOUR
The squirrels on campus were beyond domestic; they were practically domestically abusive. If you were eating anything at all, they’d come right up to you and chit-chit-chit in your space.