Private (Private 1)

if I had been idiotic to think that the girls here would be different.

In those five minutes I found out that she was an only child, that she was new to Easton like me, that she had attended a private school in Manhattan and could have kept going there but felt the need to

“expand her horizons,” that her dog was unfortunately named

Pooky, and that she had a boyfriend back on the Upper East Side even more unfortunately named Clint.

“Clint and I went to the U2 concert last summer at the Garden.

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Not like anyone wants to go to the Garden, but where else is U2

that I grew concerned. “Oh, no. I didn’t bring them with me. I

gonna play, right? So my dad gets us backstage passes because he didn’t want to, you know, show off.”

was promoting it, and—did I mention that my dad is a promoter?”

Right.

She had.

“Anyway!” She was back in my face, bright smile and all, fasten-

“And he was all like, ‘The band isn’t going to be back there, but ing a beaded necklace around her neck. “Are you ready?”

you’ll get to see where they get dressed and hang out.’ But then we

“For what?”

get back there and open the door and guess who’s standing there?

“For the house meeting!” she said, her abnormally large eyes

Guess!”

bulging. “We’re gonna meet our house mother!”

It was actually my turn to talk.

“Oh. Right,” I said, scooting forward on my plaid comforter.

“Bono?” I said.

“Doesn’t that sound so seventeen hundreds? We have a house

“Bono!” she exclaimed. “Right there! Like five feet away! And

mother,” Constance said, cracking herself up. “I can’t wait to meet do you know what he said? He said, and I quote, ‘Pleasure to meet the rest of the girls on our floor.”

you. . . .’ ”