My Sweetest Escape Read Online Free PDF Page A

still
    trying to find my niche when it came to
    what the blog was about. I barely got any
    views, but I discovered that the only thing I
    loved more than music was writing about it.
    Before…everything,
    I never would have considered music
    blogging. I still hadn’t told anyone I was
    doing it. They wouldn’t understand—that
    was for sure.
    Renee had promised me a tour of the
    campus after we had lunch. From what I’d
    seen so far, it was a lot like UNH.
    College campuses were pretty similar,
    especially if they were state schools. I’d
    considered coming here, but the idea of
    being away from my crazy family was more
    enticing than saving a few bucks by going to
    an in-state school. I’d gotten into Bowdoin
    and Bates, two prestigious Maine schools,
    but they had been far too expensive and my
    financial aid hadn’t been enough to cover it.
    Too bad, so sad.
    When she finally emerged from her lab,
    Renee reeked of formaldehyde, but she had
    a crazy gleam in her eye. She must have
    gotten to dissect something.
    “Have fun?” I said, as I got to my feet.
    My back was crazy stiff from all the sitting
    I’d done.
    “We got to cut into a fetal pig. It was
    awesome,” she said, as if she was talking
    about seeing the latest girlie movie to hit
    theaters with a hunky vampire in it.
    “Sometimes I wonder if we’re related,” I
    said as the rest of her class poured out.
    They didn’t seem nearly as enthusiastic as
    Renee was.
    “I’ve been asking myself that very
    question for years,” she said as we headed
    toward the Student Union for lunch. Unlike
    some people who wouldn’t be able to eat
    after a fetal pig dissection, Renee got
    herself a bacon cheeseburger and inhaled it
    like she hadn’t seen food for weeks. I went
    with a strawberry walnut salad and picked
    at it.
    “So I have to do a three-hour shift at the
    hospital tonight,” she said after she
    disposed of the burger and was attacking
    the fries. How she stayed so thin was
    beyond me. I usually had to watch what I
    ate to keep myself thin, or at least thin-ish.
    “And?”
    “And you’re coming with me, so I hope
    you have something to do with yourself.
    Like maybe getting that transfer paperwork
    together.”
    I’d rather have my teeth drilled, but the
    look on Renee’s face told me I didn’t have a
    choice.
    “So you’re my jailer now, is that it?”
    “Well, I wouldn’t have to be if you’d just
    follow the damn rules, Joscelyn.” God, she
    sounded like Mom. Way too much like
    mom. She even had the same “I’m
    disappointed in you” face.
    “Fine. Am I allowed to go to the
    bathroom, or do you need to come with me
    to hold the cup while I pee?”
    “Cute,” she said as I got up and headed
    for the bathroom.
    I spent the rest of the day watching
    movies on my computer.
    I threw in movie reviews every now and
    then on my blog just to spice things up.
    They usually got quite a few hits, especially
    if they were classics from the eighties.
    There’s something so comforting about
    watching a movie you’ve seen a ton of
    times. I started out with Sixteen Candles,
    and then because I was in a John Hughes
    kind of mood, I moved on to Ferris
    Bueller’s Day Off, and then Pretty in Pink,
    which took me almost to the end of Renee’s
    shift at the hospital.
    I was camped out in one of the lounges,
    and for a hospital it was pretty quiet except
    for the occasional squeak of a nurse’s shoes
    on the linoleum, or a restless kid fussing, or
    a monitor going off. I’d had dinner at the
    cafeteria, but that had been a few hours
    ago, and I was in need of munchies.
    Renee had showed me a vending
    machine down the hall, so I fished in my
    bag for some quarters and paused the
    movie.
    “Yes,” I said as I saw that they had both
    M&M’s and Skittles. I couldn’t eat one
    without the other. It was something I’d
    started doing as a kid, and it was one of
    those things I’d always done that had never
    changed.
    My M&M’s came out fine, but