The Ivy: Secrets Read Free

exactly?”
    “It’s a . . . well . . . it’s a . . . Well, you know, it’s one of those things that’s difficult to say exactly what it means. Like the word surreptitious : you know what it means and could use it in a sentence, but nobody could really say the exact definition.”
    “Surreptitious, an adjective: obtained, done, or made by clandestine or stealthy means. Middle English with Latin origins in surrepticius , from surreptus , the past participle of surripere , to take away secretly,” Dana recited instantly.
    OK’s mouth fell open in a manner that made him look the way a caveman might if he had just been handed a cigarette lighter.
    “I think I’m going to need to raise my price,” Dana said, flipping to the beginning of the book. “Now let’s see, where shall we start? Do you at least know your limits?”
    “He definitely does not know his limits!” Mimi shrieked, swatting at OK’s hand, which he had surreptitiously —or so he had thought—placed on her knee.
    “Sure I do,” said OK, smiling wickedly. “The limit, much like your beautiful self, is what I, the function, or f of x, approaches—moving closer and closer to,” he said, enacting his words and scooting closer and closer to Mimi. “But he can never,” he continued, inching closer as Mimi leaned away, “quite”—he spread his arms—“get there!” he concluded, throwing his arms around her and burying her beneath him.
    Dana shook her head in disbelief and looked at Callie. “You’d think studying calculus is the one time we’d be safe from all this . . . flirting.” She wrinkled her nose.
    Callie laughed. “Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you.”
    “ Ahem! ” Dana coughed, clearing her throat and tapping OK’s shoulder. When he failed to react, she grabbed him with a strength that seemed to surprise even her and threw him back against the couch. “ You will stay right here. And you ,” she said, pointing at Mimi. “If you insist on staying, kindly sit in the armchair over there .”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Mimi laughed. She made her way to the overstuffed armchair where Callie was sitting and perched herself atop her roommate’s lap.
    Callie smiled.
    “Missed you, ma chèrie ,” Mimi whispered, wrapping an arm around Callie’s shoulders.
    “I somehow get the feeling that you’re the only one.” Callie sighed, watching while OK squinted at the notepad on which Dana was patiently drawing.
    “ Tut, tut .” Mimi clicked her tongue reproachfully. “You two . . .”
    “I heard her this morning,” said Callie. “She sounded angry.”
    “This is a triangle. Do you know what a triangle is?” Dana asked OK.
    “A triangle—bless my boots. You mean that three-sided thing isn’t a square?”
    Callie and Mimi burst out laughing. Dana silenced them with a glare. Mimi looked thoughtful. Turning to Callie, she said: “Yes, Vanessa is angry. Almost as angry as Mama the time she caught me finger-painting on her Chanel suits . . . Pourquoi pas : I was six and I had run out of paper!”
    Was she kidding? As always, it was nearly impossible to tell.
    “But seriously,” Mimi continued, “you two are so close. You will work it out.”
    “I don’t know . . .” Callie murmured. She stared at the floor, wondering if Mimi knew about the tape. She certainly knew about Gregory at Harvard-Yale: he and Callie had hooked up in her shared hotel room, and even though Gregory had been gone, in mysterious Gregory fashion, by the time Callie had woken up that morning, Mimi had been the one to locate her underwear on the other side of the room. Oops . Mimi had spent that night across the hall in OK’s hotel room. In fact . . .
    “What’s going on with you and Mr. Cotangent-ly Challenged?” Callie whispered.
    “I do not know what you are speaking about.” Mimi grinned. “Though one might ask you the same question about—” She paused when Callie winced, almost as if she were in physical pain.
    “Sorry,” Mimi