Empress of the World by Sara Ryan Read Free Book Online Page A

this fucking position paper, and something’s fucked up with my word processor,” says Isaac, looking at Katrina.
    “Not for long,” she says. “Geek girl to the rescue!” Then her face turns an intense shade of pink, and she adds quickly, “You guys come too, you might learn something.”
    Judging from his expression, a crowd scene was not what Isaac had in mind. But he doesn’t say anything as we all troop back to Prucher Hall to go up to his room. I wipe my hands off on my shorts when Battle’s not looking.
    We’re not ever supposed to be on the guys’ hall, officially, but Isaac and Kevin have both mentioned that their RA doesn’t seem to be capable of noticing anything short of a nuclear attack. The gossip is that he is trying to use this summer to write his master’s thesis, and so all he does is sit at his computer with his headphones at top volume.
    But unfortunately, the RA seems to be taking a break. He’s standing in the hallway outside his room as we approach, and he says, “Hey, where are you all going?”
    “Study group,” says Katrina promptly. “Isaac has the notes we need on his computer.”
    The RA wrinkles up his face in thought. “I guess that’s all right. Just leave the door open, okay?”
    We all nod seriously. But when we get to Isaac’s room, we can’t help cracking up.
    “For God’s sake, don’t close the door, because if you did, we would just all be compelled to have sex with you immediately,” says Katrina. “He must think you are a major studboy!”
    “And you don’t?” Isaac challenges.
    She says very quickly, in a higher voice than usual, “Yeah, he must have been having visions of all kinds of goings-on—ooh, step back now, I’m going to boot up your hard drive. . . .”
    I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that Isaac hasn’t decorated his room at all. The only things identifying the room as his are the clothes and books on the floor. Suddenly he blushes and kicks a pair of underwear underneath the bed.
    Battle and I sit on clear parts of the floor. Katrina sits cross-legged in Isaac’s chair and peers at his computer screen. Isaac hovers close by her.
    “I’ve got it,” she says after a few minutes, “you moved your Office Folder into Queries, so nothing will—”
    She’s interrupted by the sound of Isaac’s phone ringing.
    We stare at it as it rings, all obviously thinking the same thing: that it’s one of his parents. It keeps ringing, and it doesn’t seem like the person on the other end is going to hang up any time soon, so Isaac sighs and grabs the receiver.
    “Hello? Oh hi.”
    Pause.
    “I’ve been busy. This is an intensive program, you know.”
    Pause.
    “What do you mean, have I met anybody? Of course, I’ve met tons of people—my class alone has twenty-five people in it.”
    Katrina raises one eyebrow. “Girlfriend,” she mouths, and Battle nods. We get up.
    Isaac says, “Don’t go.” Then he says into the phone, “No, not you. I’ve got some people in my room.” We sit back down.
    Pause. Isaac starts to hold the phone some distance away from his ear, although the voice on the other end is not getting any louder. Then he puts his mouth close to the receiver again and says, “Yeah, I know. Yeah. Listen, I can’t talk much longer. I don’t want to run your phone bill up.”
    Pause.
    “Yeah, I know your dad pays it. I’ve gotta go.”
    He hangs up.
    “Harsh,” says Katrina.
    “It was nobody important,” says Isaac.
    “Dang, I guess not,” says Battle.
    The phone starts ringing again.
    “Let it ring,” says Isaac.
    “It must be hard to concentrate on anything right now,” I say, speaking more loudly than usual to be heard over the phone.
    “I don’t even know what they’re doing with me and Rebecca,” Isaac says with a kind of outrage in his voice. Then he unplugs the phone.
    “Rebecca’s your sister?” I ask.
    “Yup. She’s ten. You’d like her,” he says to Katrina. “She’s a lot like