7. Chapter 7 (2/2)

ing out her eyes. i wish i'd taken the time to learn everyone's names. i only know who the 5 girls who were announced before me are. the rest are mysteries.

"hi." she extends her hand to me. "i'm summer."

i take her hand and shake it. "i'm allysa."

"nice to meet you, allysa," she says. i smile. maybe this won't be a total disaster. summer turns to the girl next to me, who introduces herself as november. summer tries to introduce herself to ember, but ember's glare scares her off. november and summer launch into a conversation about their names and seasons and months. i chime in occasionally. after about 5 minutes, ember says, "are we going to leave or what?"

"you are, actually," lisa answers. "girls, it's time to board the plane."

on the plane, november pulls out a book, ember stares moodily out the window, and summer and i talk."i'm so excited," she tells me. "i don't want to get my hopes up, though. i mean, i have like a 3 percent chance of making it all the way to the end, right? but even if i get sent home tomorrow, at least i get a makeover and the night of my life, right?"

"yeah," i say, slightly distracted. summer seems nice and all, but she gets on my nerves a little bit. and we still have an 8 hour flight in front of us. thankfully, summer starts writing a letter to her family, and i turn to november. "what are you reading?"

"little women," she says.

"okay, i know that's a classic and all, but i don't think i've ever read it," i tell her.

"are you kidding? never?"

"nope."

"what about pride and prejudice?"

"no."

"huckleberry finn?"

"nuh-uh."

"secret garden?"

"no."

"oliver twist?" she sounds a little desperate.

"actually, i have read that one," i tell her. "but i didn't really like it."

"what?! why?" this is clearly distressing to her.

"because the portrayal of an orphanage is so wrong!" i exclaim.

"how do you know what an orphanage is like?" november asks.

"um, because i work at one?" i say. "or, i did."

"what happened?" she sounds concerned. i think i like this girl. she's nice.

"it burned down," i say. i look down. "i don't really want to talk about it."

"oh, okay," she says. there's a moment of awkward silence as she taps her fingers, not really knowing what to say. "i'm sorry."

"yeah." i stare out the window and try to blink back tears. it was an awful night.

after a minute, november turns to me. "do you want to read a book? i've got tons." she opens up a bag full of books, most of them classics.

"yeah, thanks," i say. "that'd be nice."and i spend the rest of the ride reading secret garden.