Read You Know You Love Me for Free Online Page B

Kati told Rain. Wait till you see her, Isabel said. Shes a total mess.
     Yeah, Rain whispered back. I heard shed started some kind of voodoo cult up in New
     Hampshire. Kati giggled. I wonder if shell ask us to join. Hello? said Isabel. She can
     dance around naked with chickens all she wants, but I dont want to be there. No way. Where
     can you get live chickens in the city, anyway? Kati asked. Gross, Rain said. Now, Id like
     to begin by singing a hymn. If you would please rise and open up your hymnals to page
     forty-three, Mrs. M instructed. Mrs. Weeds, the frizzy-haired hippie music teacher, began
     banging out the first few chords of the familiar hymn on the piano in the corner; then all
     seven hundred girls stood up and began to sing. Their voices floated down Ninety-third
     Street, where Serena van der Woodsen was just turning the corner, cursing herself for
     being late. She hadnt woken up this early since her eleventh-grade final exams at Hanover
     last June, and shed forgotten how badly it sucked.
    Hark the herald angels si-ing! Glo-ry to the newborn king! Peace on Earth and mercy
     mi-ild, God and sin-ners reconciled.
    Constance ninth grader Jenny Humphrey silently mouthed the words, sharing with her
     neighbor the hymnal which Jenny herself had been commissioned to pen in her exceptional
     calligraphy. It had taken all summer, and the hymnals were beautiful. In three years the
     Pratt Institute of Art and Design would be knocking her door down. Still, Jenny felt sick
     with embarrassment every time they used the hymnals, which was why she couldnt sing out
     loud. To sing aloud seemed like an act of bravado, as if she were saying, Look at me, Im
     singing along to the hymnals I made! Arent I cool?
    Jenny preferred to be invisible. She was a curly-haired, tiny little freshman, so
     invisible wasnt a hard thing to be. Actually, it would have been easier if her boobs
     werent so incredibly huge. At fourteen, she was a 34D.
    Can you imagine?
    Hark the heavenly host proclaims, Christ i-is born in Beth-le-hem!
    Jenny was standing at the end of a row of folding chairs, next to the big auditorium
     windows overlooking Ninety-third Street. Suddenly a movement out on the street caught her
     eye. Blond hair flying. Burberry plaid coat. Scuffed brown suede boots. New maroon
     uniformodd choice, but she made it work. It looked like . . . it couldnt be . . . could it
     possibly . . . No! . . . Was it?
    Yes, it was. A moment later Serena van der Woodsen pushed open the heavy wooden door of
     the auditorium and stood in front of it, looking for her class. She was out of breath and
     her hair was windblown. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were bright from running the
     twelve blocks up Fifth Avenue to school. She looked even more perfect than Jenny had
     remembered. Oh. My. God, Rain whispered to Kati in the back of the room. Did she like,
     pick up her clothes at a homeless shelter on the way here? She didnt even brush her hair,
     Isabel giggled. I wonder where she slept last night. Mrs. Weeds ended the hymn with a
     crashing chord. Mrs. M cleared her throat. And now, a moment of silence for those less
     fortunate than we are. Especially for the Native Americans that were slaughtered in the
     founding of this country, of whom we ask no hard feelings for celebrating Columbus Day
     yesterday, she said.
    The room fell silent. Well, almost. Look, see how Serenas resting her hands on her
     stomach? Shes probably pregnant, Isabel Coates whispered to Rain Hoffstetter. You only do
     that when youre pregnant. She could have had an abortion this morning. Maybe thats why
     shes late, Rain whispered back. My father gives money to Phoenix House, Kati told Laura
     Salmon. Im going to find out if Serenas been there. I bet thats why she came back halfway
     through term. Shes been in rehab. I hear theyre doing this thing in boarding school where
     they mix Comet and cinnamon and instant coffee and snort