Free White Lies by Jeremy Bates Page A

stranger to you.
    â€œGood old rock opera.”
    â€œWhat are you doing? Having a party?”
    Katrina turned the stereo off completely. “Yeah. Eighties theme. You should see my hair.”
    â€œHow was the move?”
    â€œNo problems. How’s college?”
    â€œDifferent. Still getting used to the craziness.”
    â€œAnd your classes?”
    â€œIt’s only the third day, but I think they’re going to be all right. Except maybe this classical civilization course. It’s at nine in the morning and the assistant teacher is apparently a real prick.”
    â€œCan’t you take it at a later time?”
    â€œDoesn’t fit my schedule. Anyway, enough about school. Just called to see how you’d feel about some company this weekend? You know. Big old house. Strange town. Must be a little creepy up there in the mountains by yourself?”
    â€œYou got one out of two,” Katrina said. “It is a strange town. But it’s a tiny one-bedroom house. I’m actually sleeping on a futon on the floor. But I’m fine. No need to worry about me.”
    â€œI’m not worrying. Just thought it would be good to hang out. Besides, I don’t mind taking a weekend off to get away. Frosh is crazy so far. A lot of fun, but, well, like I said before. Pretty wild. Over the next couple weeks all the girls are rushing sororities. Not my thing, really.”
    Katrina knew what her sister meant. While in her first year at Washington State, she’d allowed herself to be rushed by Gamma Phi Delta, more out of curiosity than anything else. It was fun at the time. But would she do it if she was nineteen again? Probably not. It wasn’t the initiation. That wasn’t half as bad as the movies and urban legends made it out to be. What nagged at her were the girls—or sisters—themselves. They had been shallow, two-dimensional, like cardboard cutouts of real people. Congratulating you for making the cut, then slandering you behind your back. Promising to be friends for life, then plotting to steal your boyfriend. Caring more about appearances than substance, more about how you looked than what you said. This was all a broad generalization, of course, because some of the girls were very nice and sincere and smart. But her overall impression had been of a mini-Hollywood. Fake tans. Fake boobs. Fake smiles. No substance. She quit after two months.
    She wondered if this was what Crystal was experiencing, thus the reason she wanted to get away. “Well,” Katrina said, “if you don’t mind sleeping on the floor, be my guest.”
    â€œSaturday then? There’s this floor crawl thing in my residence. A bunch of rooms are selected, each has a theme. Vodka in the Russian room. Tequila in Mexico. Get it? I don’t really want to go, and if I stay here, I’ll pretty much be forced to.”
    â€œSure. Hopefully, my furniture will be here by then.” She paused, remembering it was this weekend her supposed cabin party was set to rock the woods. But that was okay, she thought. Perfect, actually. She could tell everybody her sister was coming up for a visit and she would be spending the weekend showing her around. “Chris, this is important,” she said, “make sure you give me some warning if you’re going to cancel.”
    â€œYou have a big date or something?”
    â€œJust tell me you’ll let me know in advance if you’re canceling.”
    â€œWill do. How are the men in Leavenworth? Should I bring my heels?”
    Katrina thought first of Zach, then of Jack. “They’re an interesting bunch,” she said.
    There was a ruckus in the background. Crystal said, “All right, Kat. Gotta run. I’ll call you Friday or Saturday to tell you when I’ll be at the bus station.”
    They said their goodbyes and hung up. Katrina’s homemaking vibe was broken, so she left the chore of hanging pictures until