Free Sisterhood Of Lake Alice by Mari M. Osmon Page A

More than 30,000 students were on the campus, which was spread over acres of rolling hills. There were quaint old buildings on Beacon Hill surrounded by new, sleek, high-rise dorms. It was a campus of contrast and excitement. As Emily parked her car at Chadbourne Hall, she looked around at a sea of strangers. She watched as the other girls and their parents wheeled large carts of their belongings into the dorm. She watched all the laughter, love, and tears that were on display by both parents and their daughters. She seemed to be the only person with no one to share the excitement of her first day of college.
    Emily quickly found her room on the first floor and moved in the few things that she had brought with her. She had a private room and bath, which was usually reserved for the dorm’s housemothers. Emily had no idea how her parents had arranged it, but she knew that she would probably be embarrassed if she found out. The room had been stripped of the normal dorm furniture and replaced with a new oak bed, dresser, desk, TV, stereo, and loveseat. She had a small refrigerator stocked with her favorite drinks and a closet full of new clothes. There were plants on the windowsill, silk drapes on the windows, and a large, expensive Persian rug on the floor. The room looked more like a plush hotel room than a freshman’s first dorm room. She vowed it was the last time this was going to happen.
    *
    Emily sat alone, listening to all the commotion that filled the hallways. Soon, it was replaced with giggles and the sound of doors opening and closing. She suddenly felt the need to get outside and go for a walk. As she opened her door, she ran into a group of girls standing outside her room. It was obvious that they were talking about her. Emily smiled and introduced herself. Next, she apologized for her overprotective and indulgent parents.
    A pixie-looking girl named Maxie laughed and invited her to come with them to the welcome party. By the time dinner was over, Emily felt part of a new circle of friends. She invited them back into her room, which they had all been dying to see. It was quickly decided that this would become the official gathering place for the #1 girls who lived on the first floor of this all-girls dorm.
    Maxie turned out to be a “wild child,” as she had officially named herself. She talked the girls into escaping after curfew by crawling out their windows. She quickly introduced them to smoking and drinking. Within a few weeks, Emily was hanging out at a house on Mifflin Street. The large, unkempt house was home to more than twenty odd characters. The unofficial commune for wayward hippies was a place with no rules, lots of drinking, drugs, and wild parties that seemed to go on all day and all night.
    At first, Emily was shocked at the open atmosphere. She stood out from everyone else with her plaid skirts and matching sweater sets. Maxie finally took her shopping on State Street for new clothes. Emily went from prim and proper to sloppy and relaxed. She wore long gauze skirts, baggy men’s shirts, and sandals. She stopped shaving her legs and armpits. Instead of setting her hair in rollers each night, she had hundreds of tiny braids all over her head. She changed her diamond stud earrings for long, dangling beads.
    Her old SOLA friends would have never recognized her. She thrived on the freedom of her newfound friends. Maxie and Emily often skipped classes, spending the days drinking at the Mifflin house. Instead of As, she settled for Cs with little effort at studying. She was not completely happy; however, she did enjoy the escape from her past overly protected life. The only thing that gave her any worry was how often her new friends asked her for money. She never denied a request; however, at times she was beginning to feel as though they were using her. She still was not completely comfortable with the drugs or sex. Nevertheless, she had learned to go with the flow.
    She began to sneak out of the