Harvard Hottie Read Free Page A

keep those extra fingers. I bet you could pack much more of a punch.”
    I was so distracted by my rage that Luke took this opportunity to yank my own essay paper out from below my left hand. He raised his eyebrows at me when he saw the B. Even though I should have grabbed it back from him, I didn’t. I wanted him to read it and realize how much better it was than his own essay. That I was the one who deserved the A, not him.
    “Wow,” Luke said, as he lifted the first page and glanced at the second. “You’re certainly heavy-handed in your metaphors.”
    I stared at him. That was exactly the same criticism Dr. Cole had made in her critique of my initial draft of the paper.
    He lifted his eyes and grinned at me. “Maybe you should stick to cleaning toilets, Twelve Fingers.”
    I snapped out of my trance and ripped my papers out of his hands. Luke still looked deeply amused, and I wanted to say something to wipe the smile off his face. I stuck my finger in his face, which surprised him, if nothing else. “At least I got in here fair and square,” I said. “And not just because my father went here and gave the college a bunch of money.”
    Luke looked like he had an answer to that, but before he could give it, I jumped out of my seat and marched right out of the classroom.
    ***
    After that, I went from disliking Luke Thayer to downright despising him. The conversations in expos class became dominated by Luke and me throwing back and forth arguments. Whatever he said, I disagreed with. Whatever I said, he disagreed with.
    But in a way, it paid off. I worked so hard studying the stories to come up with perfect arguments to shoot him down, I earned an easy A on my next paper.
    Delia was celebrating too, because she brought up her tragic C on the first paper to a solid B+. We decided to rent a movie to watch in the common room of our dorm together. We lived in Weld, a dorm once inhabited by none other than John F. Kennedy himself. It seemed a bit of a travesty that a nerdy computer science girl and a nerdy pre-med should occupy the same space as such a great man, but like I said to Luke that day, at least we got in here fair and square. Even JFK probably got in at least partially because of nepotism.
    It was a Thursday night, so the common room was empty. On Fridays and Saturdays, you could usually count on a bunch of drunk kids in there making out. I hadn’t been drunk ever before and I’d never made out with a boy, so I generally avoided the common room on weekends. But Thursday night was safe.
    Delia had a bag of popcorn, but when we went to pop it in the microwave, we found a big “out of order” sign taped to the door. “Lame!” Delia whined.
    “There’s a microwave in the Thayer common room,” I recalled. I knew because I’d cleaned the bathroom in there.
    “Great.” Delia shoved the popcorn bag into my hands. “I’ll see you in five.”
    “Me?” I cried. “Why do I have to go?”
    “Because I’m wearing my fuzzy slippers!” Delia said, pointing down at her feet, which were indeed cloaked in bunny slippers. Why did I wear my sneakers? 
    I didn’t want to admit the real reason for not wanting to go to Thayer, which was that I was scared of running into Luke. Well, not scared , exactly. But he wasn’t my favorite person these days and I knew seeing him would put a crimp in my night. Then again, if I slipped in and out of Thayer real fast, the chances of running into him were pretty slim.
    I trekked out of my dorm into the yard. I was only wearing a sweater and it was freaking cold, although at least I had my hair to keep me warm. New England was colder than Jersey by a noticeable margin. I heard on the radio that it was supposed to snow soon.
    I was shivering pretty violently by the time I reached Thayer House. Gripping my bag of popcorn in my raw, red fingers, I raced in the direction of the common room. I noticed there was a couple making out on the couch, but I figured I wouldn’t disturb them