XOXO by Christina Lee EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Christina Lee
- Language: English
- Genre: New Adult & College Romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
LARK
WITH MY NOSE pressed against the glass, I watched the sparrows in one of
the many feeders Mom had hung outside. She was obsessed with birds, and
though our two-bedroom trailer wasn’t really conducive to her dream of
looking out a bay kitchen window to the trees in her backyard, we made do.
Since our trailer park was near some woods that led to a man-made lake,
plenty of birds came to visit.
My heart was throbbing this morning as nerves set up camp in my
stomach.
I curled my hands into fists, feeling the blunt edges of the Band-Aids on
my fingers, two on each side.
I won’t chew my cuticles raw, I’d told myself last night. Then promptly
failed.
My nervous habits had taken a turn for the worse since my hospital stay
as a kid, despite my making it through. But as the saying goes, habits were
hard to break. The pediatrician said my anxious condition was likely
something called dermatillomania, and he gave me pamphlets on it, which I
ignored. No way would we be able to afford more doctors or therapy.
Besides, I’d come up with my own solutions that worked—sometimes. But
certainly not the night before a major turning point in my life.
I heard the padding of small feet before I felt Star, my four-year-old
sister, twist her tiny hand around my finger and yank. “I’m hungry.”
“What are you doing up so early?”
She shrugged and pulled me toward the kitchen table. Her name was
short for Starling, so you could tell Mom was on a roll naming her kids
after her favorite subject. Add in her so-called pagan worship, hello summer
and winter solstice, and you could imagine how our family was seen as
unconventional in certain circles. Hopefully, I’d blend in better in college.
Famous last words. “I’ll fix you some cereal.”
“I’ve got it,” Mom said, padding over to us fresh from the shower. “You
finish getting ready for your first day.”
Roosevelt College had a dress code for the guys that essentially
consisted of wearing collared shirts and no denim. It was similar for girls
except that skirts were optional and had to sit at the knee—same as in high
school, as if the girls were responsible for how the boys might respond if
they saw some thigh. Mom complained that most dress codes were archaic
and wouldn’t change without some pushback.
Mom and I had gone thrift store and clearance shopping over the
summer and had gotten me some polo shirts and khakis along with some
other button-downs. But today I slipped on the sleek black jacket I’d thrown
in the mix because it felt more like me. Besides, it was a chilly morning in
Jersey, which was unusual for a late August day. But it was another sign
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