Flat-Out Celeste Read Online Free PDF Page A

trapped on campus in repeated and forced social situations. Ones in which she would be expected to function appropriately. This was a tremendous problem.
    She sat rigidly on the concrete floor and tapped her head against the painted-brick wall. What was she going to do? Her personality certainly hadn’t won over crowds during high school, so there was no reason to think interpersonal relations would magically improve when at college. Why hadn’t she thought of this until now? For a smart girl, she had done something incredibly stupid.
    It felt as though the costume room was closing in on her, and she would be lost forever under a mountain of pirate hats, poodle skirts, and goblin masks. Celeste stared at a hideous grass skirt. It might just do to run off to an as-yet-undiscovered island. She would wear coconuts and spear fish and never be required to deal with human beings again. She would have a new title: Celeste Watkins, intellectual deserted-island goddess. However, one must have internet access, and a deserted island might not provide that. Not to mention that she had no means with which to locate an as-yet-undiscovered island. Such an exploration would presumably require a boat and an expert degree of nautical mapping skills, neither of which she had.
    Then she had a thought: Who says that she couldn’t just create a new identity? She still had time this year. There was no reason that she had to show up at college next fall with the same old stilted and stunted personality she currently had.
    A personal reinvention would simply have to take place, and the clock was ticking.

HOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?
    “ARE YOU SURE that you want to do this?” Celeste’s mother, Erin, pulled into the parking lot on Saturday morning and looked at her daughter. “Hot yoga is not for everyone.” She tucked her short hair behind her ear, and Celeste had a full view of her mother’s skeptical expression. While Celeste did prefer her mother’s relatively new, closely cropped style to the long hair that she’d had for years, it did have its downside: there was no opportunity for flyaway hairs to obscure her face and hide her feelings.
    “Hot yoga does not need to be for everyone . But it will be for me. I feel sure that I can become a yoga enthusiast.”
    “An enthusiast? I just thought you wanted to try a class with me. I guess we’ll see if you like it.” Erin gave Celeste a solid nod and smiled. “Let’s do it.”
    “Yes. Let’s do it,” Celeste repeated more robotically than she cared to. Contractions were not easy these days. “We shall have a mother-daughter bonding experience.”
    “And we’ve got more coming up. Your father took you to Yale last weekend, so I get to take you to Princeton and U Penn in December. I’m looking forward to watching all of these schools battle it out for your acceptance.”
    They headed through the sharp October wind and into the warmth of the building. “I do believe that I am well prepared, yes? I have this yoga mat, a skidless towel that all of the online yoga sites say is quite the trend, and I spent the past few days hydrating sufficiently so that my body will not suffer when I sweat. Of course, I also have this decorative water bottle. My outfit is similar to yours, and I think that it is essential that I look the part as I delve into this new area of interest.”
    “I told you that they have mats at the studio that you can use, sweetheart.”
    “Erin!” Celeste shrieked. “What in the world would possess you to think that I would consider using a communal mat? I could catch some sort of repulsive fungal infection or worse! Hardly the way to launch my new identity.”
    “A new identity? What are you talking about?”
    Celeste fidgeted with her gear. “It is nothing.”
    Erin eyed her daughter. “You don’t need a new identity. And I believe they clean the mats thoroughly, but I’m glad you like the one we got you. And, for God’s sake, would you please call me ‘Mom’?