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one"I am about to fall madly in love," Sam Bridgesannounced meaningfully over the phone to hertwo best friends, Emma Cresswell and CarrieAlden."Who?" Emma asked with surprise."Yeah, who?" Carrie echoed.It was a natural question. The last time thethree of them had been together was Christmasvacation, three months earlier. Emma, Sam, andCarrie had taken a trip to Miami. And althoughSam had had an almost serious encounter with ahot young rock star, to Emma and Carrie'sknowledge all that was in the past. So who hadSam met, they wondered, that she hadn't evenmentioned in all their long-distance conferencecalls between Towson, Maryland (where Emmawas a freshman at elite Goucher College), Or-lando, Florida (where Sam was a dancer atDisney World), and New Haven, Connecticut(where Carrie was a freshman at Yale)?"Is it Goofy?" Carrie asked, referring to Sam'sfriend Danny Franklin, who played Goofy atDisney World."Hey, he may be Goofy, but he's my Goofy,"Sam quipped. "Anyway, it isn't Danny. Goofy and Iare, as the saying goes, just friends," she said."So who then?" Emma asked."Details are not important," Sam replied breez-ily. "It's the intent that counts.""Yes, but who is the intended?" Carrie pressed."I don't exactly know," Sam admitted, "butthat's the best part!""I think the translation of that is that she isn'texactly seeing anyone," Emma told Carrie with alaugh."Hey, that only applies to right now," Sampointed out. "I could meet the guy of my dreamsduring the Rockin' Fifties Revue this afternoon.He could be watching me from the front row,thinking I'm the most gorgeous and talented babehe's ever seen. We'd make eye contact rightbefore I go into my cartwheel. Fifteen minuteslater we could be swapping spit right underMickey and Minnie's noses.""As long as it's not Goofy's nose," Carrie said."I have a feeling he'd like to be much more to youthan just a friend.""No, Danny's okay about it," Sam said. "He'dbe happy to shake hands with my Romeo Man.""Romeo Man?" Emma laughed."I like to throw in the occasional quaint expres-sion," Sam said."Oh, it's quaint, all right," Carrie agreed."Hey, my motto is, live on the edge of possibil-ity," Sam decreed blithely. "Knowing Mr. Tall,Dark, and Rich could walk into my life at anymoment sort of keeps me going through my tenzillionth high kick at the Wonderful World ofDisney. Sometimes I don't think I can stand itanother millisecond," Sam said."It was your choice," Carrie pointed out. "You'rethe one who wanted to drop out of college to take ajob dancing there.""Right," Emma agreed. "You could quit if youwanted to, and go back to school.""Pardonnez-moi, but some of us have to workto pay the bills," Sam told Emma huffily, "though Irealize this is not a concept to which you canrelate."Emma's money was a sore point with Sam, andsometimes Sam pounced on Emma's most inno-cent remarks. Emma was rich. Sam was not.Actually, different as all three of them were inbackground and personality, it still amazed themthat they had become friends at all, much lessbest friends.Emma was a Cresswell of the Boston Cress-wells, one of the wealthiest families in the country.She had never had to do a day of work in her life.In fact, she'd shocked her parents the summerbefore, when she'd taken a job as an au pair onSunset Island. Emma had been educated inEurope, spoke five languages, and was on afirst-name basis with royalty. She longed toescape from the hypocritical, narrow confines, ofthe life prescribed for her�maybe even to jointhe Peace Corps one day�but so far she hadn'tbeen able to get up the nerve to confront heroverbearing mother with her decision. Insteadshe just continued along as a French major at hermother's alma mater, snooty Goucher College,trying to decide what she really wanted to do andhoping that she hadn't been a pampered rich girlfor so long that she no longer had what it wouldtake to follow through with her dreams.Carrie Alden came from an upper-middle-classfamily in New Jersey, where both her parentswere pediatricians. Level-headed Carrie, who hadalways been an excellent student, was thrilled tobe at Yale studying photography. If anything,Carrie tended to be too perfect, trying too hardto be everything to everyone.And then there was Sam�irrepressible, one-of-a-kind Samantha Bridges. Much to Sam's cha-grin, up until a few months ago she had lived herentire life in the tiny town of Junction, Kansas. Itwas home, she said, to a few cows and acres andacres of cornfields. A few weeks after startingcollege on a dance scholarship at Kansas State,Sam had auditioned for a job dancing at DisneyWorld. She'd gotten it and had dropped out ofcollege without even telling her parents. Of coursethey had had a fit when they found out. But Samfelt certain that college was not for her, anddancing at Disney World was just a step to biggerand better things. She aspired to fame and for-tune, with the emphasis on fortune. How shewould achieve it, she didn't know. All she knewwas that she wished she could be there already."Hey, I thought this phone call was to talkabout the party," Carrie reminded them, smoothlychanging subjects. She was used to being a bufferbetween Sam and Emma."It's going to be fabulous, incredible, and out-rageous," Sam enthused, already forgetting hermomentary pique with Emma. "It is so nice ofGraham and Claudia to offer their house for aspring-break bash.""I agree," Emma said, willing to forget Sam'sbarbed comment. "Can you believe it's been overseven months since we were on Sunset Island?"Sunset Island was where the three girls hadbecome best friends the previous summer, and itwas to Sunset Island they were about to returnover spring break for the party of the year.All three of them thought back to the pastspring, when they had met at the National AuPair Society convention in New York City. They'dcome to like one another during the three daysof classes and interviews, and had been reallyhappy to find out they'd all been hired to work forthe summer on fabulous Sunset Island, a resortisland off the coast of Maine. Each girl had livedwith the family that hired her, taking care oftheir kids and being a general helper, in returnfor room, and board, and a small salary. The bestpart was that Sunset Island was famous not onlyfor its spectacular beaches and breathtaking sun-sets, but for its parties with the rich, wild, andsometimes famous. All three girls had been readyfor a summer of adventure before the realities ofcollege took over their lives, and all three of themhad found it."What you mean, Emma, is can we believe thatit's been over seven months since you've seenKurt?" Carrie teased.The Kurt Carrie referred to was Kurt Acker-man, the first guy Emma had ever fallen in lovewith. Kurt had grown up on Sunset Island, andEmma had met him when she'd taken her three-year-old charge, Katie, for swimming lessons atthe Sunset Country Club. Kurt was the headswimming instructor. Between that summer joband driving a taxi at night, he was puttinghimself through college at the University ofMaine. Emma and Kurt had vowed that her beingrich and his being poor wouldn't affect theirrelationship, but it had anyway. There had beenso many misunderstandings and recriminationsthat Emma had finally broken up with Kurt atthe end of the summer. The final straw had comewhen Kurt had started dating Emma's worstenemy, Diana De Witt. Their relationship had notbeen platonic. Emma had felt as if she'd beenstabbed in the back�she didn't feel that shecould ever trust Kurt again.And yet she couldn't seem to change what wasin her heart. She knew she'd made mistakes, too,and perhaps they both had rushed into a relation-ship they weren't really ready for. After a coupleof months, Emma had written a letter to Kurt,but Kurt had never answered it. Then, just whenEmma had begun to tell herself she had to giveup on Kurt, even if it broke her heart, she'dreceived a long, heartfelt response. Emma's tearshad fallen on the pages as she read that Kurt, too,couldn't stop thinking about her, that he stillloved her, that the only reason he hadn't an-swered sooner was that it was so important tohim to get down on paper exactly how he felt.He'd said he was scared, but more than anythingelse he wanted a second chance. Emma hadwritten back that she felt the same way, thatthey both would learn from their mistakes of thesummer. Now that the girls were planning thisreunion party, Emma would soon see Kurt again.Just the thought of being with him again, of beingwrapped in his arms, made Emma shiver all over. Itdefinitely made concentrating on French literaturedifficult, if not impossible."I always told you the guy loves you," Samsaid. "I'm really glad you're going to get backtogether.""We're going to try, anyway," Emma saidcautiously."Oh, please," Sam scoffed. "Five minutes afterwe hit Sunset Island you two will be in the dunesteaming off each other's clothes.""Oh well, I guess that means I don't need tohelp plan this party, then, since I wont be there,"Emma said with a laugh."Hey, this is a team effort, remember?" Samreminded her."I know we decided to meet up before theparty," Carrie said, "but we didn't decide where.How about if you guys come to Yale, and we hangout here, and then fly up to Sunset Island?""Sounds like fun," Emma said. "I love NewHaven.""And Yale guys are seriously cute," Carrieadded."Forget seriously cute, let's talk about seri-... [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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