The It Girl

Chapter 1

“I’ve never let my school interfere with my education.

—Mark Twain”

A WAVERLY OWL DOES NOT DISCUSS  HALF-NAKEDNESS WITH STRANGERS.

Somebody’s plaid Jack Spade duffel slammed into Jenny Humphrey’s shin and jerked her out of a dream. The 10 A.M. Amtrak Empire Service to Rhinecliff, New York, had stopped in Poughkeepsie, and a tall, twentyish, stubbly chinned boy in dark brown square Paul Smith glasses and a Decemberists T-shirt was standing over her.

“Anybody sitting here?” he asked.

“Nope,” she responded groggily, scooting over. He threw his bag under the seat and settled in next to Jenny.

The train groaned along at about a mile an hour. Jenny sniffed at the stale, slightly sweaty train car air and jiggled her foot, thinking about how she was going to be super-late for check-in at Waverly Academy. She would’ve been early if her dad, Rufus, had driven her up here in his blue beater Volvo wagon—he’d practically begged Jenny to let him—but Jenny hadn’t wanted her unshaven, peacenik father to drop her off at her brand-new, haute boarding school. Knowing him, he’d have tried to start up an impromptu poetry slam with her new classmates and shown off old pictures of Jenny when she “was a lame seventh grader and wore nothing but fluorescent green and orange Old Navy fleeces. Um, no thanks.

Going to Waverly?” the boy asked. He raised his eyebrows at the Waverly Academy Guide to Ethics that sat unopened in Jenny’s lap.

Jenny brushed a brown tendril out of her eyes. “Yeah,” she answered. “I’m starting there this year.” She couldn’t hide the enthusiasm in her voice—she was so excited to start her brand-new boarding school that she felt all jiggly inside, like she had to pee.

“Freshman?”

Nope. Sophomore. I used to go to Constance Billard. It’s in the city.” Jenny was a little pleased that she had a relatively chic past to refer to, or that it at least sounded that way.”

So you wanted a change of pace, or what?” He fiddled with the strap of his worn leather watchband.

Jenny shrugged. This boy looked like he was her brother Dan’s age. Dan had just taken off for Evergreen College on the West Coast two days ago, taking nothing with him except for two duffel bags, his Mac G4 laptop, and two cartons of cigarettes. Jenny, on the other hand, had already shipped four over-size boxes and a couple of giant duffels to Waverly, and had lugged a giant suitcase and an overstuffed bag with her. In her hyperexcited preparation for boarding school, she had practically bought out the hair, cosmetics, and feminine products aisles at CVS—who knew what she’d need at boarding school! She’d also gone on a buying spree at Club Monaco, J.Crew, and Barneys with the credit card her dad had lent her for back-toschool shopping. “Kinda,” she finally answered.

The truth was, she’d been asked to leave Constance— apparently because she was considered a “bad influence” on the other girls. Jenny hadn’t thought she was being a bad influence at all—she was just trying to have fun, like every other girl at school. But somehow, all of her moments of extreme fun had also been highly publicized and embarrassing: a picture of her boobs in a sports bra had shown up in a magazine (she’d thought it was a sportswear model shoot), a Webcast of her practically naked butt had been spread around the school, and she’d made some bad decisions about which boys she should make out with at various parties—and of course everybody had found out.

The final straw had come after Jenny had spent a night at the Plaza Hotel with her brother’s old band, the Raves. A photograph of her leaving the Plaza in nothing but a fluffy white bathrobe had appeared online on Page Six the next day. Rumors had flown that Jenny was sleeping with all the Raves, including her brother. Ew! Concerned parents quickly called up the Constance headmistress, aflutter about Jenny’s promiscuity. After all, Constance had a reputation for excellence to uphold!