Testing Kate Read Online Free PDF Page A

heel.
    “Nineteen? And you’re in law school?” Addison exclaimed. “That means you’re, like, Girl Wonder.”
    “Are you a genius?” Lexi asked.
    Dana’s cheeks stained even darker, and she shrugged. “I was accelerated, so I graduated from high school and college early,” she said.
    I decided to rescue her from further interrogation. “When should we meet?” I asked. “And where? Is there room in the library for study groups?”
    Nick nodded. “There is, but when I was there on Saturday, it seemed like it could be sort of a scene. And the librarian had to chase away some undergrads who were hanging out in the reading room.”
    “I say we meet Sunday afternoons,” Jen said. “That way we’ll have all weekend to go over our notes from the week before we get together.”
    “There’s a coffee shop near my house, the Rue de la Course,” Addison said. “The Rue, for short. It’s in the lower Garden District, on Magazine Street, and it’s far enough away from campus that it might not be crowded.”
    “Sounds perfect. Sundays at the Rue,” Lexi said. She pulled a white box of Marlboro Light cigarettes out of her leather knapsack, packed them against the heel of her hand, and then pulled one out. She lit the cigarette with a light-pink Bic lighter and took a long, satisfied drag on it. The mannerism was fluid and self-possessed, reminding me of a Parisian woman, the kind whose elegance is so natural she can wear a scarf or hat without looking foolish.
    “Cool. I’m sure we’ll talk before then,” Addison said. He stood and shifted his knapsack onto a thin shoulder. “Okay, chickadees, I’m going to split.”
    “Plan on coming over to my place next Saturday,” Lexi said to him. She nodded at the rest of us. “All of you. There’s a Bar Review that night. We can hang out at my place and then all go together.”
    “What’s a Bar Review?” Dana asked, frowning. “Is it a requirement for class?”
    Lexi laughed and shook her head. “No, it’s just a party the law school hosts at a bar near campus. They’ll have free beer there for law students. It may be lame, but I thought we could check it out.”
    “Oh. I can’t drink,” Dana said. “I’m underage.”
    “You could still come,” Jen said.
    Dana shook her head. “No, that’s okay. I don’t have time for parties. I heard that the only way you can make Law Review is if you study pretty much all of the time.”
    Was that true? I wondered. I wanted to make Law Review too. Everyone did. At the end of the school year, the illustrious legal journal extended invitations to only ten One-Ls—those with the highest grade point averages in the class. They also had a writing contest in the fall, but that was an even longer shot; they only took five write-ons a year. Being on Law Review meant a whole hell of a lot of extra work for your second and third years at law school, but it was where the top law firms in the country went to recruit and was pretty much the only route to a prestigious judicial clerk-ship. I knew that the competition for Law Review seats was intense; I just hadn’t expected it to start this early.
    “You can’t study all the time. You’ll get burned out,” Jen said.
    Dana stood and grabbed her bag. “I’m used to it,” she said. “See you all on Sunday.”
    “I should go too,” I said. “I still have to unpack and catch up with the reading assignments.”
    “Are you taking the streetcar home?” Nick asked. When I nodded, he said, “I’ll come with you. Help you carry your books.”
    “You don’t have to,” I protested, but he picked the bags up as he stood.
    “Just consider me your own private pack mule,” Nick said, and he grinned. “See you guys later.”
    “Bye,” I said, waving at Lexi, Jen, and Dana. And then I turned and walked with Nick across the lush green Tulane campus.
    “Did you hear a guy in our building tap dancing last night?” Nick asked.
    “Yes! You heard that too?”
    “I was