“Wait—what bodies?”
Daisy giggled. “Oh my god, your face! It’s just an expression. Come, I’ll give you the tour.”
I struggled to keep up as Daisy strode through the party. She greeted a tall guy with a kiss on the cheek. He winked at me as we swept past. We passed the ballroom, where a packed dance floorspilled out around a DJ, and continued down a hall. On one side, glass doors stretched to high ceilings, and on the other, nineteenth-century portraits of important-looking white men hung, their eyes following as we passed.
As Daisy led me up the grand staircase, the sound of a wind chime made me look up. A glowing chandelier swayed precariously overhead, its crystals trembling.
“Tonight we invited all the people we’re hoping will bicker.” At the landing, she handed me a glass of champagne that seemed to appear out of thin air.
“Thanks.” I took a long sip and wondered how many glasses it would take to ease my nerves.
Daisy led me down a dark hall, and with every step, the sound of clinking glass, music, and laughter rose. But there was something else there too. Underneath, obscured by the low throb of music, was a quiet hum…At first, I thought it was the wind outside, but no, this was something darker, like a whisper in a language I didn’t understand.
Daisy was still talking. “Does that make sense?” She was looking at me as if I’d missed what she’d said.
“Um. Sorry, I— What were you saying?”
She heaved an exasperated sigh. “In order to get in, you need at least one gold card from a member, which I’ll give you, but the entire club will have to vote. Since you don’t know anyone, it’s really important to make a good impression…so to that end, I told them your grandfather is a wealthy Chinese investor.”
I nearly choked. “Wait, what—”
Daisy waved her hand through the air. “Look, I just fluffed up your résumé a bit. Your grandparents must invest insomething.”
What was I expecting? I couldn’t seriously think they’d let in someone like me. Daisy was right. I could pretend. Ihadto pretend. I had to let them think that I didn’t need them, to let them think thatIwas a connection thattheyneeded to make.
I felt a new jolt of anxiety as Daisy pushed open the doors at the end of the hall to reveal a spectacular library filled to the brim with people. I’d been to a couple of the eating clubs before, but this was the first time I’d experienced a party like this.
Daisy charged in and threw her arms around a tall, slender guy, who picked her up and twirled her through the air. “Come on, Maya!” she yelled over the music.
As we made our way through the party, Daisy jutted her chin in the direction of a clean-cut man in a bow tie and whispered, “Jackson speaks eight languages. Top recruit for the CIA.”
She pointed at a couple making out against a wall. “Those two went full-on Animal Planet in the middle of the soccer field. During a snowstorm!”
A blond guy with a comb-over. “Rumor is his family owns the stolen Rembrandts from the Gardner Museum.”
After grabbing champagne at the bar, I followed Daisy out to the terrace and through a maze of attractive young men in suit jackets and bow ties drinking whiskey and smoking cigars.
On the other side of the club, we entered a single restroom, and after locking the door behind us, Daisy unearthed a pill from her purse.
“Want some?” She was carefully dissecting the pill with her nails.
“What is it?” I eyed the capsule with its tiny blue beads, suddenly apprehensive.
“Extended-release Adderall.” Daisy poured half the pill’s tiny beads on her tongue and handed the other half to me, which I held awkwardly.
Someone knocked on the door. “One second,” Daisy shouted, then gestured for me to hurry up. Without thinking, I poured the tiny beads onto my tongue like she did and took a drink of champagne.
Downstairs, she grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the packed dance floor. The lights were low and flickering and there was this wild energy, this intensity, like a spell had been cast over the room.
The bass of the music pulsed through my chest, deep into my body, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, I could let go. I felt so alive. So free.
Before long, sweaty bodies pressed against one another. On one side, a flapper made out with a guy in an unbuttoned shirt, his hand unhooking her bra. On the other, a red-haired guy in a bow tie was passed out drunk on the floor.
“Want to dance?” A tall, dark-haired guy was standing in front of me. There was something thrilling about his eyes, his self-assured way of carrying himself. Everyone carried themselves this way in Sterling, and I wondered if that kind of confidence was inherited along with immeasurable wealth. Maybe the posture came with the genes.
Before I had a chance to respond, he’d pulled me in and in less than thirty seconds reached for my face with both hands. His lips met mine with such intensity that I jerked back in surprise. But after I recovered, I kissed him right back. This was how I had always pictured college. Dance floor make-out:Check.
I found Daisy near the champagne tower afterward. “That guy you kissed is Kevin Francis,” she said. “I got the Adderall from him.”
