"So, Carmen is the most popular. It's, like, the classic Columbia freshman experience. You get a suite, four roommates sharing two rooms, and a bathroom. It's nice, like a little apartment, so you don't have to share a bathroom with boys. The other buildings can be a little scary. A lot of the dorms have coed bathrooms, and my friend who was in one last year said she was constipated for a year!"

As Danielle showed her around, Mara noticed that the curly-haired girl said hello to a diverse group of people--from a tall guy in a basketball jersey, to a girl in a printed granny dress and hiking boots, to a boy in a tight white tank top with a rainbow flag pin, denim short-shorts, and black combat boots.

"So what do you do for fun?" Mara asked.

"Oh, there's tons of things. I mostly go out downtown. I like to go clubbing. And, of course, the Angelika--the art cinema. The restaurants in New York are just amazing. Have you ever had Ethiopian food? There's a really great Ethiopian restaurant on 115th. And what's cool is you can use your dining card at a bunch of places on Broadway."

"Is it very social here?"

"How do you mean?"

Mara shrugged, feeling embarrassed. "Are there a lot of frat parties?"

Danielle wrinkled her nose. They walked down 114th Street, past a row of brownstones, each door decorated with a letter of the Greek alphabet. "Yeah, we do have frats. But it's not a big

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part of Columbia life. Our football team sucks. The typical notion of Greek life here is pretty atypical. Like the frat for poets. Every year, they host this really groovy party called Hot Jazz and Cool Champagne. Girls wear cocktail dresses and this great jazz band plays Billie Holiday. It's really fun."

Mara thought that sounded really cool . . . and extremely different from everything she'd heard from Tinker about social life at Dartmouth.

"So, what are you doing with your summer? Hanging out?"

Mara told her about her column in Hamptons magazine.

Danielle immediately lit up. "That is fantastic. Wow. Good for you. Columbia is the place to be for aspiring journalists, you know. Sam Davis-who used to edit all those big magazines? She's an alum. So are a lot of people in publishing. We have an Art Suite, a Writers' Suite, and a Nonfiction Writers' Suite, and the Spectator is one of the country's best college papers."

Mara's head was swimming. Columbia sounded really, really great. And the writing program--along with its list of prestigious alumni--was very tempting. Plus, she'd already gotten in. The school actually wanted her--it didn't still have to make up its mind, like Dartmouth.

Maybe she didn't even want to go to Dartmouth anymore. But that was crazy, wasn't it? What about Ryan? She felt bad thinking like that, especially since they'd been fighting so much lately.

After the tour, she said good-bye to Danielle and promised to

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look her up if she made it on campus in the fall. Then she hailed a cab to take her downtown to meet the girls in the Meatpacking District to check out the new boutiques. One advantage of moving to New York City--the shopping would certainly be a lot better than in New Hampshire.

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you always need to be armed in a food fight

TAKING CARE OF THE KIDS WAS HARDER THAN SHANNON HAD

thought. With Jacqui away, Shannon had assumed it would be a breeze. In fact, she had been looking forward to the weekend-- how hard could it be?

But Elizas Land Rover had barely turned the corner when it started. Zoe looked across the breakfast table at the new au pair with a skeptical eye.

"I don't eat pancakes," she informed her.

"You do when Jacqui makes them," Shannon pointed out.

"These are gross," Zoe said, pushing her plate away.

Seeing his sister resist, Cody did the same. "No eat," he said. "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

"C'mon, you guys, these are good, see?" Shannon said, forking up a piece and putting it in her mouth. "Yum."

"No, Zoe's right, these are gross. They're, like, the grossest pancakes in the world," William agreed. An evil smile came onto his face. If Jacqui had been there, she would have recognized that smile. It meant that mayhem was about to erupt.

Tags: Melissa de la Cruz The Au Pairs Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net