I stroked the cat and he purred some more. “Is he yours?”
She nodded. “We’re not allowed to have pets, actually, but I just couldn’t leave him at home. I’ve had him my entire life.” Her eyes grew worried. “You’re not allergic or anything, are you?”
“Nope. And don’t worry, I won’t say a thing. I love animals.” I patted Cyrus’s flank. “Not missing any meals, is he?”
“We spoil him rotten, and he’s–”
She was interrupted by peals of laughter from the hall. The door swung open and two girls burst in, their eyes bright.
“Woohoo!” the taller of the pair exclaimed, her thick blonde mane straight out of a shampoo commercial. “You’ll never guess what happened!”
The other girl froze when she saw me. “Oh…”
Serena broke in. “Sarah, Kate, this is Lacey, our new roommate.” She eyed the blonde and then glanced at me. “Sarah’s the quiet one.”
Sarah gave Serena the finger with a good-natured smile. “Some juniors from the college invited us to Portland tonight! Jared announced a surprise concert yesterday. Fans have been standing in line all night for tickets.”
I didn’t want to seem clueless, but I was lost. “Jared?”
Sarah drew back in pretend shock. “Well! You’re obviously not from around here. Jared is only the hottest musician who ever lived.” She pointed to the poster that had struck me earlier. “And his music’s not bad either.”
Kate cut in. “He’s a total babe – he’s a local boy who hit it big last year with his first album. At first just around here, but he’s been getting national and even international attention. Trust me, he’s going to be huge. Huger than he already is, I mean. And we are going to see him!”
“How?” Serena asked skeptically.
“I told you, we met these guys,” Sarah said. “One of them has a cousin who’s working security for the show. He made a call and we can totally get in. He’s working the backstage door.”
“Where exactly did you meet these so-called guys? How, I mean?” Serena asked.
Sarah gave her hair a casual toss. “We were hanging out by the river. They were having a few beers, which they offered to share with us, and we got to talking, and one thing led to another…and they invited us to, oh, nothing, just the biggest show of the year.” She grinned at me and then faced the poster. “I plan to have his babies.”
Kate snorted. “You’re going to have to wait in line.”
Sarah turned eagerly at Serena. “You in? They said we could bring a couple of friends. They have a section of seats blocked off.”
Serena shook her head. “Much as I’d love to go off with guys I’ve never met on a hundred-mile drive, I’m going to pass. I’ve got stuff I need to finish here. And you know if you get caught drinking again, you’re going to be in a mess of trouble.”
Sarah shook her head. “Who at the academy doesn’t drink? This school is probably propping up the breath mint and chewing gum industries for the entire state. And tell me, what homework could you possibly have? School hasn’t even started yet.”
“I’m getting a jump on a few things, and then I had summer assignments, you know. As you probably did too. Some of us are here for something other than…socializing.”
Sarah and Kate looked at each other and rolled their eyes, almost in unison. “It’s Jared, Serena. Ja-red!”
Serena shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll have a great time.”
Kate then turned to me. “What about you? We already told them we had a roommate. You wanna come?”
I stared at the poster again and a chill ran up my spine. What was it about his image? I’d seen posters of supposedly “hot” guys before, and honestly, they did nothing for me. A flat image is meaningless. I only react to flesh and blood people. I’d never had a celebrity crush. But something about his image made my blood run cold and then hot again. Perhaps it was the pose or something, or the mood from some trick photography effect. I weighed my disinterest in boys against trying to be friendly. Did I want to go? I didn’t even know. “I…I just got here. I mean, literally five minutes ago. I’ve been on a bus all day.”
Sarah looked at her wristwatch. “I told them we’d meet them in half an hour. The show starts at nine, but I don’t care if we miss the opening act. So you’ve got time for a quick shower.”
Assume much? “I didn’t say yes.”
“Consider this your Ridley initiation. It’s mandatory,” Sarah said with a friendly grin. “Come on. It’s bad enough having one grind for a roomie. This is the end of vacation. Come have a little fun. Take in some local…sights.”
“And it’s okay if we just…leave? We don’t need permission or anything?”
“Nope. We just sign out. Technically we’re only allowed to go as far as downtown, though, so don’t go bragging about concert tickets to the whole dorm – that’s not cool. But unlike the Prep kids, we only have a few little rules.”
“Which you break all the time anyway,” Serena noted. Nobody contradicted her.
I looked from Kate to Sarah and back to Kate. I didn’t usually like snap decisions, let alone going out with people I didn’t even know, but on the other hand, it wasn’t like I had anything pressing to do. Unpacking would take ten minutes if I stopped for a rest in the middle. And I didn’t want to start off with my roommates on the wrong foot. I guess I was actually hoping to be talked into it; I just didn’t want to give in too quickly. Who knew what sort of precedent that might set?
I glanced at the poster again and forced a smile that I hoped seemed casual, like I did this sort of thing all the time. “Fine. But I would like to just rinse off first…plus I don’t really have anything to
