Welcome to Bridgeport Academy, an elite boarding school in New York where glamorous rich kids don't let rules get in the way of a good time.
[ Based on the It Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar ]
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Alex's phone vibrated noisily against the wooden dresser as both she and Kae raised their eyes from their English books and stared at each other. Alex's cat-like eyes gleamed triumphantly as she dashed over to the phone and read the caller ID.
"Finally!" she yelped before taking a deep breath and attempting to remove all excitement from her voice. "Yes?" she answered coolly as Kae giggled and pulled her flannel pajama-clad knees to her chest.
"Can you meet me at my place in Rhinecliff? I have to see you." Michael's deep voice immediately erased any worry she'd been feeling, as if he had just tucked aside her hair and spoken softly into her ear. She felt her face heat up, and Kae gestured toward the door and mouthed, "Should I go?"
Alex shook her head before turning toward the window and looking out at the darkening evening. It was 9:15. Less than an hour to curfew.
"How will I get there?" Alex responded finally, looking down at her pink silky camisole and favorite pair of super-soft yoga pants that she wore on days she was feeling fat or depressed.
"I'll send a car for you. Be at the front gate in twenty minutes, okay?"
Alex hung up quickly and immediately started tugging off her pants. "I knew he'd call," she squealed, pulling a pair of dark jeans out of the depths of her closet. She kept on her camisole since she was wearing the matching underwear and she automatically felt much sexier when wearing a complete set. Alex stared at herself in the mirror. Her face was clean of makeup since she had already performed her nightly pore-cleansing ritual. She spread a layer of lip gloss across her naked lips, enjoying the way it tingled. Then she stepped into a pair of pink Versace ballet flats and pulled on a romantic-looking blazer. "Do I look all right?"
Kae didn't know what to say. "Uh, you're going out? Now?"
"No one will know. Don't mention where I am to Rob and Jas, okay?" Alex looked beautiful (clean and sweet and delicate) but Kae still wasn't so sure how she felt about her with Mr. Jordan. She knew Alex was way more mature than she was, but there was something kind of skeezy about it all. Yet standing in front of the mirror, adjusting her hair behind her ears, Alex seemed to positively glow. Who was Kae to be the unwelcome voice of reason when Alex was clearly happier than she'd been all week?
"Sure, I'll make something up," she said, standing up to brush a fleck of lint off Alex's shoulder. "You look really pretty."
Alex twirled out of the room in a cloud of romantic exhilaration, but a knot of nerves settled in her stomach as she slipped into the black Town Car that was waiting for her outside Bridgeport's front gate. The driver didn't say anything to her, and she suddenly felt like the mistress of some wealthy banker, being summoned while his bitchy wife was away at the spa.
After passing through the sleepy main street of the tiny town of Rhinecliff, the car turned toward the river and drove along a thickly wooded road. Lights from large, tasteful homes glinted through the trees. Then, right when it looked like they were about to drive into the slow-moving Hudson, the car turned suddenly down a long driveway. Branches swept lightly against the windows and sides of the car. Completely private, Alex noted.
