Read Falling Fast for Free Online Page B

off her degree in English Literature. The less said the better. If they check up on her, no one could say she had lied about anything. She had simply omitted a few small things.
    The next question, Have you ever been arrested? stopped Alexa in her tracks. Should she should mention the two hours she had spent in jail when she was protesting the unfair hiring practices that favored male professors over females by refusing to unchain herself from the provost’s chair? Given that it had been seven years since the incident, she wrote, No.
    The next question, however, was nearly enough to make her run screaming from the room. Are you genuinely looking to get married? “Thank god this is a yes or no,” she whispered, sorely tempted to write, “And be some guy’s slave for the rest of my life?” in the margin. Circling Yes she moved on to the next whopper: Why do you want to find your husband on our TV show?
    Why indeed? It was hard enough to find a boyfriend in the normal world, but to try and do it on TV while in competition with twenty-nine other women? It boggled Alexa’s mind. On the other hand, she needed to get into the mind-set of a serious contestant, or she’d be out on her butt faster than she could say, “Patriarchal Oppression” three times in a row.
    “Let’s see,” she said as she chewed on the end of her pen, “what is the right answer here?” Brigit looked up at her and Alexa said, “Sorry, I always talk to myself when I’m filling out forms,” which seemed to pacify the blonde. Alexa made a mental note to shut up before resuming her quest for a passable answer to the question. She decided to compose a response from her mother’s and sister’s point of view. Stepping into their psyche she wrote, I’m ready to settle down and I’m looking for a man who also wants to settle down, not one who is ready to run at the slightest hint of commitment. After so many years of going after Mr. Wrong, I hope that this TV show comes through with its promise to deliver Mr. Right.
    “I deserve the frickin’ Booker Prize for fiction for that answer,” she told herself smugly.
    “You deserve what for what?” Brigit asked.
    “Oh it’s nothing,” Alexa said, fumbling for a cover-up response. “I was just saying that I deserved the Booker T. Washington prize for excellent penmanship that they used to give out at my elementary school when I was a kid.”
    Brigit glanced over at Alexa’s questionnaire. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, Alexa, but your handwriting isn’t all that neat.”
    Alexa smiled. She really liked this girl. “You should see how bad it is when I’m not trying to impress the judges.”
    They shared a quick laugh. A redhead in the front row, who looked none too friendly, turned around and loudly shushed them, so they put their heads back down to finish writing down their answers.
    Alexa read the next question and nearly screamed in frustration. How many serious relationships have you been in and why did they end? How pathetic would she seem if she told the truth? “Really pathetic,” she muttered softly. Alexa didn’t like to dwell on her dearth of male companionship, but late at night she sometimes wondered why she had never had more than two semi-serious boyfriends. Granted, she didn't go out of her way to dress up and simper, but shouldn’t there have been at least more than two guys who were willing to look past the outward trappings of clothes and hairdos?
    She thought for a moment and then wrote, While I have had many boyfriends, I have only had two truly serious relationships. Both times, I thought I had found a man who would love me as passionately and deeply as I loved him, but unfortunately, both times my heart was broken.
    Alexa practically had to hold back the applause from her heart-wrenching performance on the page. I’m not a writer for nothing, she thought proudly before she moved on down the page.
    What is a unique talent that you are proud of? Knowing she