The Alpha Bet Read Online Free Page A

I say.
    Jentry grabs my hand, and stares deep into my eyes. “GK, you never, ever tell your parents the real amount you spent on books. It’s the cardinal rule of college. That’s two hundred dollars you could use for new clothes or whatever you want.”
    “I don’t lie to my parents,” I say, pulling my hand away from her.
    “Fine, keep wearing granny panties and elastic pants,” she mutters, fanning herself with a spiral notebook.
    I grab a hold of my thick mane of hair and pull it into a ponytail using a rubber band. It is so hot today that it doesn’t even make a difference. I glance longingly at Jentry in her tank top and short shorts.
    “Stop staring at me, freak.” She laughs.
    “Do you think I’d look okay in a shirt like yours?” I ask her, pulling on my blue oxford that has zero ventilation.
    “Not as good as me, but then again who would?” She cracks herself up again. I pull a notebook out of my book bag and start to fan myself like Jentry. I turn my head to study the other students on campus. More upperclassmen are arriving every day but campus is still pretty sparse. Some students are listening to their Ipods while downing bottles of water, others are making out in front of everyone, others are just like us, trying to escape the brutal heat while hauling a hundred pounds of books back to their dorm.
    “I could use a beer right now,” Jentry says, wiping the sweat from her brow.
    “I wouldn’t turn down an iced tea,” I reply, cringing when I realize how immature my choice of beverage must sound to Jentry.
    “Waiter, one Bud Light and one iced tea, please,” she jokes, flagging down an imaginary waiter. She doesn’t seem to care one bit that I didn’t want a beer.
    “I can take our books back to the dorm if you have other stuff to do,” I offer. I can’t help feeling that Jentry is taking pity on me by spending so much time with me. Surely she will want to start making friends with other girls soon.
    “Are you trying to ditch me?” She asks, clutching her chest dramatically.
    “Of course not. I think it’s really sweet that you’ve been spending so much time with me but I know you are probably ready to meet some other people.”
    “Did it ever occur to you that I really like you?” She asks, her eyes bugging out.
    Actually, it hadn’t. It’s not that I don’t consider myself likable, it’s just that people like me and people like Jentry don’t usually intermingle unless there is a lab or class project involved. As much as I would like to change the way that people see me, hanging out with Jentry isn’t going to magically do that for me. They might put up with me if I was Jentry’s friend but I want people to like me for me.
    “I know you do,” I finally answer. “But I’m not sure you’ll want to spend your weekends the way I do.”
    “You can get good grades and have a life, you know.” She says matter of factly.
    I had figured out the good grades part, it was the life part I was having trouble with.
    “I can help you,” she says, reading my mind.
    “Why?” I ask bewildered. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised to see a camera crew jump out from behind one of the quad oak trees to tell me I’ve been chosen for some new reality show where a cool girl mentors a geek.
    “Why not?” Jentry replies, so genuinely that I don’t want to jinx it by questioning her more.
    “How?” I can’t fathom how Jentry thinks she can reverse sixteen years of social awkwardness but I am willing to try if she is.
    She doesn’t say a word but points toward the middle of the quad. I notice a group of freshly glossed, perfectly tanned girls strutting toward us. I can’t concentrate on their almost seemingly synchronized movements because my eyes focus in on the huge letter A they all have on their pink tanks tops.
    “What did they do?” I ask Jentry, mortified for them. The posse of modern day Hester Prynne’s don’t look like they are being publicly ostracized, actually it is