Read Online Consent by Nancy Ohlin - Free Book Online Page B

there.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œLakshmi, my neighbor. I guess it’s a pretty fancy place. I’ll have to ask her if she ever had Mr. Rossi for a teacher.”
    â€œI wonder why he left there to come to A-Jax?”
    â€œBecause he was destined to meet you, obviously.”
    â€œObviously, ha-ha.” I pick up the Hello Kitty pillow and hug it tightly. “I can’t believe he thinks Annaliese van Allstyne would be willing to hear me.”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œAt the café. That’s why he wanted to meet with me. He said he wants me to play for his old teacher at Juilliard.”
    â€œYou mean, like a recital?”
    â€œNo, not exactly. Like privately. Like in a lesson. People sometimes do that if they’re interested in applying to a music school for college.”
    Plum bolts straight up, scattering pillows to the floor. “Wait a second. You’re applying to Juilliard for college?” she demands in a hurt voice.
    I shake my head. “No! That’s my point. It would be a big, huge waste of my time.”
    â€œOkay, whew. Because I thought you liked our master plan.”
    â€œI do like our master plan.”
    â€œBesides, Juilliard isn’t a real college, is it?”
    Of course it’s a real college. “Honestly, I don’t know very much about it.”
    Plum frowns suspiciously at me. “What aren’t you telling me?”
    â€œNothing. There’s nothing I’m not telling you. Come on, let’s get those Common App essays over with.”
    â€œFine, all right. You do know that best friends tell each other everything, right? It’s in the best-friend manual.”
    â€œOf course I know that. I’m not keeping any secrets from you.” Just a couple you wouldn’t be interested in, anyway.
    I get my laptop from my backpack, turn it on, and fuss unnecessarily with the volume control. Even though I have good reasons to lie to Plum, I still feel a twinge of guilt. Will I ever be able to open up to her?
    Maybe after a few decades of therapy.
    Plum and I begin typing side by side, in silence. As I try to come up with a response to the prompt— Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family —my thoughts turn to Dane and his parents and sister. Why didn’t he follow in their footsteps and become a big-deal musician? It’s like he started to and then gave up.
    Although I guess I would know something about that.

F IFTEEN
    When I get home on Sunday afternoon, Dad isn’t there. I grab an iced tea from the refrigerator, head upstairs to my room, and boot up my computer.
    Cream Puff follows me and jumps on my lap. She smells like fabric softener, which makes me wonder if she has been napping in the laundry basket again. Hannah will not be pleased.
    My screen flickers to life, and for a few minutes I mindlessly shop for new sheet music and watch a couple of YouTube music tutorials. But what I really want to do is check my e-mail to see if Dane has written. I checked on and off all night at Plum’s, but . . . nothing.
    I finally give in. I have half a dozen e-mails: an invitation to my cousin Jin’s twenty-first birthday party, a reminder from the College Board about my upcoming SAT date, random ads. But nothing from Dane.
    â€œHello?”
    Someone is calling up the stairs—not Dad, and not Hannah, either. I rush into the hallway to see who it is.
    Peering over the banister, I stifle my surprise. It’s Theo. He peels off his leather jacket, glances around for somewhere to hang it, and tosses it to the floor.
    â€œWe do have a closet,” I call down to him.
    He looks up with a wide grin. “Yo, Bumblebee. What’s up?”
    â€œNot much. What are you doing here?”
    â€œDunno. In the neighborhood. Thought I’d raid the