Initiation by Jessica Burkhart Read Free Book Online

beside it—the highest rating—five out of five. “You must really like that one.”
    â€œIt’s so good.”
    Khloe flipped through the pages. “You’ll have to be my tea tutor. There are so many kinds! Like this one . . .” She pointed to a tea three-fourths of the way through thejournal. “I’ve never heard of red tea. Green, yes. But red ? Is it actually red?”
    â€œIt is—and there are a ton. Oh, Khloe—you never should have asked me to teach you,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ll never stop talking. You’ll run to the dorm moni tor’s office and beg for a new roommate.”
    Khloe giggled. “Christina,” she acted out. “My roomie—she is obsessed with tea! It’s terrifying . I fear for my life !”
    I giggled with her and Khloe looked at me mock- dramatically. “I think I’ll keep you anyway.” Khloe put back my journal and flashed me an Oscar-worthy smile. “Seriously, Lauren—I am so happy we got paired together. Total kismet!”
    I smiled. But, “Kismet?” I asked.
    â€œMeant to be!” she sang, skipping over to her bed.
    â€œOh,” I said, nodding in fierce agreement. “Then, ‘kismet’ it is.”
    I unpacked the books I’d brought, taking two of the four built-in bookshelves in our room. Next: my desk. The beautiful white-painted wood desk had a center drawer, two curved drawers on each side, and a hutch on top.
    Soon my purple HP laptop, flexible desk light, brightsilver wire pen holder and matching paper holders were set up. I filled one drawer with notebooks and another with an organizer that held a stapler, paper clips, erasers, Wite-Out, and other random supplies. When I’d bought everything at Staples this summer, Becca, teasingly, had kept three feet away from me at all times, pretending not to know me as I excitedly filled an entire cart with school supplies.
    â€œYou do know that you can buy stuff online when you get to school, right?” Becca had asked.
    â€œBut then, something important might not get there in time. I mean, what if my order of highlighters doesn’t get to school by Monday? Then I have no highlighters. I won’t be able to take good notes. I’ll fail all of my classes on the first day and—”
    â€œOkay, okay!” Becca held up her hands in a conceding gesture. “Continue to fill the cart, Canterwood girl.”
    The memory made me smile and I tried to ignore the tug of sadness when I thought how far apart Becca and I were now as I finished with my desk. Once I’d finished, I looked at my side of the room. I was especially pleased with my closet where all of my clothes were color coordinated. Khloe hadn’t teased me once about my type A organization.

HOME-TYPE THINGS
    BY MIDAFTERNOON, KHLOE AND I WERE BOTH exhausted.
    We had put in a DVD from season one of the TV show Sing . (We’d screamed and jumped up and down when we found out we were both Sing fangirls!) I had all four seasons on DVD, Khloe had a brand-new flat-screen and a Blu-Ray player— voilà !
    â€œKismet, once again!” Khloe had said.
    Now we were each in our beds, half watching the show and half—in my case—reeling from information and sensory overload. My eyes were just starting to go from blink to closed-for-nap when my phone buzzed. The BlackBerry Messenger sign was red.
    Ana: I saw ur update on Chatter. The Sweet Shoppe looks so cool!
    I sat up, already so happy to hear from someone at home it almost made me teary.
    Lauren: I’m glad you saw it! And, um, HI!!! How are you? How’s everything?
    Immediately, the screen lit up. Ana is writing a message . . . I waited impatiently for her response.
    Ana: LOL. Hi, LT!! Nothing has changed since you left—trust me. Except it’s Sat nite & school starts on Mon. L Brielle and I r gonna miss u!
    Lauren: It’ll b SO weird. Can’t