Free You Know You Love Me by Cecily von Ziegesar Page A

paper napkin off the table, scrunched it into a
     ball, and threw it at her brothers head. Dan, please, she said pleadingly. We have to go!
    Dan tossed the script aside and looked at his sister, his brown eyes serious and sad.
     Jenny, he said. I dont want to go to that party. Next Friday night Im probably going over
     to Dekes house to use his PlayStation, and then Ill probably head over to Brooklyn to hang
     out with Vanessa and her sister and their friends. Just like I do every Friday night.
     Jenny kicked at the legs of her chair like a little girl. But why, Dan? Why wont you go to
     the party?
    Dan shook his head, smiling bitterly. Because we werent invited? Because were not going to
     be invited? Give it up, Jen. Im sorry, but thats just the way it is. Were different from
     them, you know that. We dont live in the same world as Serena van der Woodsen or Blair
     Waldorf or any of those people.
    Oh, youre such a wimp! You drive me crazy, Jen said, rolling her eyes. She stood up and
     dumped her dishes in the sink, scrubbing at them furiously with a Brillo pad. Then she
     whirled around and put her hands on her hips. She was wearing a pink flannel nightshirt
     and her curly brown hair was sticking out all over because she had gone to sleep with it
     wet. She looked like a mini disgruntled housewife with boobs that were ten times too big
     for her body.
    I dont care what you say. Im going to that party! she insisted. What party? their father
     asked, appearing in the doorway to the kitchen. If there were an award for the most
     embarrassing dad in the universe, Rufus Humphrey would have won it. He was wearing a
     sweat-stained white wife-beater and red checked boxer shorts, and was scratching at his
     crotch. He hadnt shaved in a few days, and his gray beard seemed to be growing at
     different intervals. Some of
    it was thick and long, but in between were bald patches and patches of five oclock shadow.
     His curly gray hair was matted and his brown eyes bleary. There was a cigarette tucked
     behind each of his ears. Jenny and Dan looked at their father for a moment in silence.
     Then Jenny sighed and turned back to the dishes. Never mind, she said. Dan smirked and
     leaned back in his chair. Their father hated the Upper East Side and all its pretensions.
     He only sent Jenny to Constance because it was a very good school and because he used to
     date one of the English teachers there. But he hated the idea that Jenny might be
     influenced by her classmates, or those debutantes, as he called them. Dan knew their dad
     was going to love this. Jenny wants to go to some fancy benefit next week, he said. Mr.
     Humphrey pulled one of the cigarettes from behind his ear and stuck it in his mouth,
     playing with it between his lips. A benefit for what? he demanded. Dan rocked his chair
     back and forth, a smug look on his face. Jenny turned off the faucet and glared at him,
     daring him to go on. Get this, Dan said. Its a party to raise money for those peregrine
     falcons that live in Central Park. Theyre probably going to build like, birdhouse mansions
     for them or something. Like there arent thousands of homeless people that could use the
     money. Oh, shut up, Jenny said, furious. You think you know everything. Its just a stupid
     party. I never said it was a great cause. You call that a cause? her father bellowed.
     Shame on you. Those people only want those birds around because theyre pretty. Because it
     makes them feel like theyre in the pretty countryside, like theyre at their houses in
     Connecticut or Maine. Theyre decorative. Leave it to the leisure class to come up with
     some charity that does absolutely no one any good at all! Jenny leaned back against the
     kitchen counter, stared up at the ceiling, and tuned her father out. Shed heard this same
     tirade before. It didnt change anything. She still wanted to go to that party. I just want
     to have some fun, she said stubbornly.