Getting In (Amanda's Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

goal: straight As at Nightingale-Bamford, competing in the ITF junior circuit, a career as a neuroscientist as soon as she gets her Ph.D. She’s my father’s pride and joy. If she weren’t my little sister, I’d hate her on principle. Her saving grace is a mile-wide sarcastic streak.
    I open a cabinet under the sink and pull out a roll of paper towels. I may not have Anne’s brainpower, but I’m not an unobservant member of the household. My mom gives me an embarrassed smile as I hand them to her.
    “I just wondered if you might know her since she could be about your age. She’s married to a Stefan Angstrom.”
    I had spent a few minutes before coming into the kitchen, poking around the Web. There really wasn’t much about Jennifer; I only figured out she was married to this Stefan because there was a picture posted of them at a Nobel Awards ceremony a few years ago. Stefan Angstrom is reportedly a billionaire, the CEO of a family-owned company headquartered in Stockholm. He was dark-haired, like Jennifer. Tall and thin with wire-framed glasses. Unsmiling. Severe. The quintessential cold Scandinavian. Jennifer, in the picture, was smiling broadly, her arm wrapped possessively around his waist.
    My mother shrugs. “Honey, half the girls in my class were named Jennifer. It was Generation Jennifer when I was growing up, you know.”
    As my mom’s about to wipe up the egg, my father strolls into the kitchen. When he sees my mother’s ass wiggling in the air, I can see his eyes widen. He drops the newspaper in his hand onto the counter, grabs her around the hips, and pulls her torso up and toward him, twisting her around for a kiss that’s not appropriate for kids to see. For any human being, really.
    “Aw, geez,” I groan, mock covering my eyes as they go at each other like a couple of monkeys. “Gross.”
    “Go back to your bedroom!” Anne barks. “That kind of behavior isn’t sanitary in a kitchen.”
    My mom pulls away from my father’s passionate kiss, looking even more flustered than when she dropped the egg.
    “What are you making me, love?” He peers at the mess on the counter.
    “Well … I was trying to make you egg white omelet.” She runs her hand over the slight paunch over his belt. “I’ve got to keep you slim and trim for the next fifty years.”
    He braces himself against the counter and runs his own hand over his abs, or what’s left of them.
    “I know how you can keep me slim and trim, but it’ll take you a hundred years …”
    My mother giggles. I roll my eyes and grab the towels from my mom, who’s all googly-eyed over the impromptu make-out session. “Christ, you guys, really. Have you no decency?” I begin wiping up the mess my mother’s made with the egg. Inside, I think it’s kind of cool my parents are still crazy about each other after twenty-something years. Most of my friends have parents who hate each other, and if they don’t hate, they ignore.
    “Mark, do you know someone named Jennifer Angstrom? Or a Stefan Angstrom?”
    He’s pouring himself a coffee. “Don’t know them, but I’ve heard the guy’s name before. Natural resources in Sweden. I wouldn’t have any contact with that sort of business, though.” He takes a sip from his mug, looks at my mother, then at me. “Why? Am I supposed to?”
    “Amanda here …”
    “A name that came up during my admissions interview,” I interrupt. “I was simply curious.”
    My father puts his mug down and crosses his arms across his chest. “So you’re still on for Lexington,” he says in a mock-menacing tone. “Your mother and I are not going to be disappointed, are we?”
    My mother slaps his arm playfully. “Oh, Mark, of course she’s still ‘on’ for Lexington. The interview went swimmingly. She loves the place. They can’t wait to have her. Right, honey?”
    They both look at me with such hopeful, expectant looks, I muster up a big smile and say, “I’m counting the days.”

CHAPTER SIX

    After