I freeze. She’s caught me so off-guard. Ellie and Annie Laurie both turn to look at me. Unable to speak, I just shake my head.
“Cali’s yourrealname?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Mrs. Whitmore tilts her head curiously like she knows better. “The spelling is sooo… unique. It looks like it was shortened from California.” She chuckles. “But what do I know?”
Her smug expression makes me think she does know it’s California, but how could she? Unless she knows someone from Blue Mountain who’s known my family since I was little. And what are the odds of that?
I’m relieved when she drops the subject and snuggles her daughter. “You girls get some food. I’m sure it will be a big relief after eating all that abhorrentUniversity food.” As we’re walking off, she pulls on Annie Laurie’s arm. “We’ll be leaving here around two thirty. Your daddy does not want to miss kickoff. Okay?”
Annie Laurie yanks her arm free with a scowl.“Okay.”
Mrs. Whitmore ignores the offense and turns to Ellie. “I’ve been looking for your parents. I thought they’d be here by now.”
“Oh, they were—”
“Lilith. There you are!” A lady with the exact same hairdo as Mrs. Whitmore’s—a high ponytail—pulls her away.
“Not too much alcohol, girls,” she says while dashing off.
Ellie and I steal a stunned, sidelong glance before Annie Laurie steps between us, looping her arms through ours. “Let’s head to the bar.”
“Wha— Are you serious?” Ellie asks with shock written all over her face. “Maybe yours doesn’t care, but my dad will kill me.”
“How will he know?”
“My breath?”
“Hang on,” she says, withdrawing her arms. “There’s a fix for this.” Anne Laurie digs inside the Louis Vuitton cross-body bag she’s wearing, and hands Ellie a handful of Altoids. “Works every time.”
Ellie slips them in her own bag but adds, “You have no idea how smart my dad is. He’ll know.”
“They aren’t even here.”
“Yet.”
Thoughts of my scholarship swirl through my mind. And the warning Ellie heard about being extra careful about your behavior until Rush is over. But I keep my mouth shut.
“When my brother was in school,” Ellie says, “before he turned twenty-one, my dad caught him drinking at a Grove party and he, like, almost pulled him out of school.”
Annie Laurie’s nose wrinkles. “Why does he care? The drinking age was eighteen when he was young.”
Until now I’ve had nothing to add to this conversation. I’m not sure why I want to admit this, but I go ahead and say, “I’ve never even seen my grandparents drink.”
Both Annie Laurie and Ellie turn their heads at the exact same time andlook at me like I’m from outer space. As if this is the strangest thing anyone’s ever said.
“Not once?” Annie Laurie asks.
After a shrug, I shake my head. “Nope.”
“Not even a glass of wine?” Ellie adds in a gentle tone.
I shake my head a second time.
Furrowing her brow, Ellie tilts her head to the side. “Is it a church thing?”
“Pretty much.”
