My Sweetest Escape Read Online Free PDF Page B

anything
    interesting?” she said as we walked back
    down to her car.
    Other than the interaction with the
    Vending Machine Hero? I was about to tell
    her about that and changed my mind.
    “Nope,” I said around a yawn. Maybe I’d
    sleep tonight.
    Usually I got to a point where I was so
    exhausted that my body just shut itself
    down. This felt like one of those times.
    “You know, you should call Mom.” I
    didn’t want to. I knew it would just end up
    in another yelling match, and I was too tired
    to deal with that right now.
    “I will.” Renee was about to say
    something, but changed her mind.
    “Okay.”

    Everyone was deep in study mode when
    we got back to the house. Paul had taken
    up almost the entire dining room table with
    something that, at a glance, looked far too
    complicated to even begin to understand.
    Taylor and Hunter had the living room,
    and both had their heads buried deep in
    textbooks. Darah was at a little desk that
    was tucked next to the stairs, and I
    suspected Mase was also around
    somewhere. Nine months ago, I would have
    been right there with them. Now I thought
    they just looked like a bunch of people
    wasting their time.
    “Little Ne,” Mase said, coming down the
    stairs, a textbook in hand, big surprise.
    “How’s life?”
    “Peachy,” I said, putting my bag down
    on the bench by the front door. The sound
    of the door closing seemed to rouse
    everyone else, and they descended on us.
    There were just so many of them. It was
    overwhelming. Plus the happy.
    That was equally overwhelming. Paul
    came over and gave Renee a kiss, and she
    went to sit with him at the dining table to
    catch up.
    “I’m going down to my…room,” I said,
    catching myself before I could say cave. It
    wasn’t really a cave. Or, if it was, it was the
    nicest cave ever. With Wi-Fi and everything.
    “Are you sure? This house is yours now.
    You don’t have to stay down there,” Hunter
    said. “We’re not that scary, are we?”
    He turned to Taylor, whose eyes were
    pretty glazed over.
    “What? I’m still thinking about
    suffragettes.” He gave her a look and shook
    his head.
    “Seriously, Jos, this is your home.” It
    wasn’t really, but it was nice of him to say
    that.
    “I’m just really tired. I’m going to bed.” I
    said good-night to everyone, including
    Renee.
    “Not planning any nocturnal activities?”
    she said.
    “Nope,” I said, popping my lips on the p.
    “Well, just in case, I’m watching you,”
    she said, making a gesture with two fingers
    to her eyes and then pointing them at me.
    “Whenever you think I’m not there, that’ll
    be when I show up.”
    “Jesus, enough with the third degree. I
    got it. Message received. Mission
    accomplished.” I stomped down the stairs
    and banged the door shut.
    Ahh, peace and quiet.
    The rest of the week went pretty much
    like that first full day, with the exception of
    Renee letting me go to the admissions
    office by myself to sign up for all my classes
    and get everything transferred over from
    UNH. Since my first year grades were so
    high, even with the shitty grades I’d gotten
    last semester, they were still willing to let
    me in.
    When it came to classes, I just picked
    whatever. I’d decided to stick with my
    major, political science with a prelaw minor,
    since it seemed easier than picking a new
    one.
    I’d thought transferring would be a pain
    in the ass, but it was relatively easy, and
    before the end of the week I was officially a
    UMaine Black Bear, with an official decal for
    my car and a copy of the school song, the
    “Stein Song.” I was sure I wasn’t the first
    person who found it ironic that a college
    had a drinking song as their official school
    song. What kind of message did that send?
    I’d only really missed the first week of
    classes, so I was going to be able to catch
    up no problem, according to all the
    professors who had emailed me on my new
    UMaine account to send me the syllabi
    from their