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Back The Social Climber Save as PDF
Chapters (34)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. Quote
  6. Part One
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. Part Two
  19. TWELVE
  20. THIRTEEN
  21. FOURTEEN
  22. FIFTEEN
  23. SIXTEEN
  24. SEVENTEEN
  25. EIGHTEEN
  26. NINETEEN
  27. Part Three
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  34. Booklist

I checked my cell phone, which I’d left charging on my desk while I worked out, and saw a text from Ruthie: grabbed dinner with some kids from class. see you later.

My stomach fell. We always ate dinner together. It felt like I messed up. Like this simple text might be the start to it all. Like I might be losing her.

That night, I was lying in bed in the dark. It was ten minutes to curfew but Ruthie wasn’t back yet and I had started planning for what I would do—how I would prove myself by covering for her. I could say she’s in the bathroom. That she’s not feeling well and needed some fresh air. I could bat my eyes and smile and Brigid would believe me. As much as I didn’t want to be, I was just like her. I was very believable.

I rolled around when I heard keys jostling in our door, pretending I was asleep. With two minutes to spare, Ruthie walked in. She attempted to be quiet, to find her pajamas, her toothbrush, her glasses case, but she wasn’t. It bothered me at first—if I were really sleeping this would be very annoying—until I saw some movement out the window. I leaned in closer, tried to get my eyes to separate darkness from objects, until, somehow, I recognized it: the two girls from the forest, snaking between the trees. Camouflaged by the darkness, their limbs blended in with the trees, moving leafless, lifeless, with the light wind. If I didn’t recognize them, I’d assume I was dreaming. But there they were, heading away from the dorm, and disappearing into the night.

For the next few days, I listened to the campus gossip carefully, waiting to hear about two girls who were defending themselves to the Student Court of Appeals for sneaking out after curfew to drink and smoke and dance and have sex and do all the other things I realized I also went to college to experience. I did extra Violation Rotations, looking for something that would have exposed them. But there was nothing. They didn’t get caught.

So neither would we.

“I found our party group,” I finally told Ruthie as we were getting ready for bed one night. “We got that invite you wanted.”

FIVE