BooksBarbecue
Back Admission
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Julie Buxbaum
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  52. EPILOGUE
  53. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  54. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  55. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  56. What’s next onyour reading list?

“Not your fault,” she says, and even though she’s right and I’m not privy to the weird decisions of the SCC admissions committee, I still feel like somehow it is.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Now

“Go get ready. You’re taking me hiking,” Isla says on Sunday morning. Our parents will be back later today from the hearing in Boston, so my plan was to numb myself with Xbox all day and then Postmates a belated birthday cake for my mom. This might be the first one we’ve ever gotten her that she’ll actually eat.

The only plus side I can come up with to this whole disaster is that our house is no longer carb free.

“I think you’ve forgotten that hiking happens outside.”

“You have to get out, Chloe. This hermit depressive thing isn’t cute,” Isla says. She gathers a dirty T-shirt and yoga pants from the floor of my room and throws them at me. I know my room smells, and probably so do I. Since Shola came by, I’ve been doing some next-level wallowing. “Get dressed.”

“There are people outside, and did you know all of them have cameras in their pockets? Also, what if I run into Levi? Or Shola? What if someone tips off the paparazzi and they take a picture of me with a sweaty red face?”

“First of all, LA is a huge city, so the chances that you’ll run into Levi are like literally one in a million. Also, screw him. He’s kind of a conceited douche. Did I tell you he put a Harvard sticker on his locker? The outside. And it’s Sunday morning, so you know Shola’s at church with her family. So get over yourself. The paparazzi have better things to do than hunt you down. Sneakers. Hurry.”

“Have you always been this bossy?” I ask.

“I’m not bossy. I have leadership skills,” Isla says.

—

An hour later, I find myself at the top of Runyon Canyon with Isla and Fluffernutter. I’m out of breath and slick with sweat. I wear large aviator sunglasses and a baseball hat low on my forehead to go incognito. We’ve been hiking for an hour and I haven’t noticed a single second look. I realize these are probably unnecessary precautions. It’s my mom who draws attention, not me.