Be Strong & Curvaceous Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2009 by Shelley Adina

  All rights reserved.

  FaithWords

  Hachette Book Group,

  237 Park Avenue,

  New York, NY 10017

  Visit our Web site at www.HachetteBookGroup.com

  FaithWords is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The FaithWords name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  First eBook Edition: January 2009

  ISBN: 978-0-446-54374-3

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  About the Author

  For Cindy and Spencer

  acknowledgments

  This book was inspired by a true story. On January 29, 2001, eighteen-year-old Kelly Bennett alerted police to the contents of a packet of photographs she’d processed in her part-time job behind a drugstore photo counter. Because of her courage and quick thinking, Al deGuzman was arrested before he could detonate homemade bombs and commit mass murder at De Anza College in Cupertino, California—on the same day my husband was scheduled to be in class.

  Thanks, Kelly.

  “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or

  terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes

  with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

  —Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)

  Chapter 1

  BE CAREFUL WHAT you wish for.

  I used to think that was the dumbest saying ever. I mean, when you wish for something, by definition it’s wonderful, right? Like a new dress for a party. Or a roommate as cool as Gillian Chang or Lissa Mansfield. Or a guy noticing you after six months of being invisible. Before last term, of course I wanted those wishes to come true.

  I should have been more careful.

  Let me back up a little. My name is Carolina Isabella Aragon Velasquez . . . but that doesn’t fit on school admission forms, so when I started first grade, it got shortened up to Carolina Aragon—Carly to my friends. Up until I was a sophomore, I lived with my mother and father, my older sister Alana and little brother Antony in a huge house in Monte Sereno, just south of Silicon Valley. Papa’s company invented some kind of security software for stock exchanges, and he and everyone who worked for him got rich.

  Then came Black Thursday and the stock market crash, and suddenly my mom was leaving him and going to live with her parents in Veracruz, Mexico, to be an artist and find herself. Alana finished college and moved to Austin, Texas, where we have lots of relatives. Antony, Papa, and I moved to a condo about the size of our old living room, and since Papa spends so much time on the road, where I’ve found myself since September is boarding school.

  The spring term started in April, and as I got out of the limo Papa sends me back to Spencer Academy in every Sunday night—even though I’m perfectly capable of taking the train—I couldn’t help but feel a little bubble of optimism deep inside. Call me corny, but the news that Vanessa Talbot and Brett Loyola had broken up just before spring break had made the last ten days the happiest I’d had since my parents split up. Even flying to Veracruz, courtesy of Papa’s frequent-flyer miles, and being introduced to my mother’s boyfriend hadn’t put a dent in it.

  Ugh. Okay, I lied. So not going there.

  Thinking about Brett now. Dark, romantic eyes. Curly dark hair, cut short because he’s the captain of the rowing team. Broad shoulders. Fabulous clothes he wears as if he doesn’t care where he got them.

  Oh, yeah. Much better.

  Lost in happy plans for how I’d finally get his attention (I was signing up to be a chem tutor first thing because, let’s face it, he needs me), I pushed open the door to my room and staggered in with my duffel bags.

  My hands loosened and I dropped everything with a thud.

  There were Vuitton suitcases all over the room. Enough for an entire family. In fact, the trunk was so big you could put a family in it—the kids, at least.

  “Close the door, why don’t you?” said a bored British voice, with a barely noticeable roll on the r. A girl stepped out from behind the wardrobe door.

  Red hair in an explosion of curls.

  Fishnet stockings to here and glossy Louboutin ankle boots.

  Blue eyes that grabbed you and made you wonder why she was so . . . not interested in whether you took another breath.

  Ever.

  How come no one had told me I was getting a roommate? And who could have prepared me for this, anyway?

  “Who are you?”

  “Mac,” she said, returning to the depths of the wardrobe. Most people would have said, “What’s your name?” back. She didn’t.

  “I’m Carly.” Did I feel lame or what?

  She looked around the door. “Pleasure. Looks like we’re to be roommates.” Then she went back to hanging things up.

  There was no point in restating the obvious. I gathered my scattered brains and tried to remember what a good hostess was supposed to do. “Did someone show you where the dining room is? Supper is between five and six-thirty, and I usually—”

  “Carrie. I expected my own room,” she said, as if I hadn’t been talking. “Whom do I speak to?”

  “It’s Carly. And Ms. Tobin’s the dorm mistress for this floor.”

  “Fine. What were you saying about tea?”

  I took a breath and remembered that one of us was what my brother calls couth. As opposed to un. “You’re welcome to come with me and my friends if you want.”

  Pop! went the latches on the trunk. She threw up the lid and looked at me over the top of it, her reddish eyebrows lifting in amusement.

  “Thanks so much. But I’ll pass.”

  Okay, even I have my limits. I picked up my duffel, dropped it on the end of my bed, and left her to it. Maybe by the time I got back from tea—er, supper—she’d have convinced Ms. Tobin to give her a room in another dorm.

  The way things looked, this chica would probably demand the headmistress’s suite.

  “WHAT A MO guai nuer,” Gillian said over her tortellini and asparagus. “I can’t believe she snubbed you like that.”

  “You of all people,” Lissa agreed, “who wouldn’t hurt someone’s feelings for anything.”

  “I wanted to—if I could have come up with something scathing.” Lissa looked surprised, as if I’d shocked her. Well, I may not put my feelings out there for everyone to see, like Gillian does, but I’m still entitled to have them. “But you know how you freeze when you realize you’ve just been cut off at the knees?”

  “What happened to your knees?” Jeremy Clay put his plate of linguine down and slid in next to Gillian. They traded a smile that made me feel sort of hollow inside—not the way I’d felt after Mac’s little setd
own, but . . . like I was missing out on something. Like they had a secret and weren’t telling.

  You know what? Feeling sorry for yourself is not the way to start off a term. I smiled at Jeremy. “Nothing. How was your break? Did you get up to New York the way you guys had planned?”

  He glanced at Gillian. “Yeah, I did.”

  Argh. Men. Never ask them a yes/no question. “And? Did you have fun? Shani said she had a blast after the initial shock.”

  Gillian grinned at me. “That’s a nice way of saying that my grandmother scared the stilettos off her. At first. But then Nai-Nai realized Shani could eat anyone under the table, even my brothers, no matter what she put in front of her, so after that they were best friends.”

  “My grandmother’s like that, too,” I said, nodding in sympathy. “She thinks I’m too thin, so she’s always making pots of mole and stuff. Little does she know.”

  It’s a fact that I have way too much junk in my trunk. Part of the reason my focus is in history, with as many fashion design electives as I can get away with, is that when I make my own clothes, I can drape and cut to accentuate the positive and make people forget that big old negative following me around.

  “You aren’t too thin or too fat.” Lissa is a perfect four. She’s also the most loyal friend in the world. “You’re just right. If I had your curves, I’d be a happy woman.”

  Time to change the subject. The last thing I wanted to do was talk about my body in front of a guy, even if he belonged to someone else. “So, did you guys get to see Pride and Prejudice—The Musical? Shani said you were bribing someone to get tickets.”

  “Close,” Gillian said. “My mom is on the orchestra’s board, so we got seats in the first circle. You’d have loved it. Costume heaven.”

  “I would have.” I sighed. “Why did I have to go to Veracruz for spring break? How come I couldn’t have gone to New York, too?”

  I hoped I sounded rhetorical. The truth was, there wasn’t any money for trips to New York to see the hottest musical on Broadway with my friends. Or for the clothes to wear once I got there—unless I made them myself.

  “That’s it, then.” Gillian waved a grape tomato on the end of her fork. “Next break, you and Lissa are coming to see me. Not in the summer—no one in their right mind stays in the city in July. But at Christmas.”

  “Maybe we’ll go to Veracruz,” Lissa suggested. “Or you guys can come to Santa Barbara and I’ll teach you to surf.”

  “That sounds perfect,” I said. Either of Lissa’s options wouldn’t cost very much. New York, on the other hand, would. “I like warm places for my winter holidays.”

  “Good point,” Gillian conceded. “So do I.”

  “Notice how getting through the last term of junior year isn’t even on your radar?” Jeremy asked no one in particular. “It’s all about vacations with you guys.”

  “Vacations are our reward,” Gillian informed him. “You have to have something to get you through finals.”

  “Right, like you have to worry,” he scoffed, bumping shoulders with her in a chummy way.

  “She does,” Lissa said. “She has to get me through finals.”

  While everyone laughed, I got up and walked over to the dessert bar. Crème brulée, berry parfaits, and German chocolate cake. You know you’re depressed when even Dining Services’ crème brulée—which puts a dreamy look in the eyes of just about everyone who goes here—doesn’t get you excited.

  I had to snap out of it. Thinking about all the things I didn’t have and all the things I couldn’t do would get me precisely nowhere. I had to focus on the good things.

  My friends.

  How lucky I was to have won the scholarship that got me into Spencer.

  And how much luckier I was that in two terms, no one had figured out I was a scholarship kid. Okay, so Gillian is a scholarship kid, too, but her dad is the president of a multinational bank. She thinks it’s funny that he made her practice the piano so hard all those years, and that’s what finally got her away from him. Who is my father? No one. Just a hardworking guy. He was so proud of me when that acceptance letter came that I didn’t have the heart to tell him there was more to succeeding here than filling a minority quota and getting good grades.

  Stop it. Just because you can’t flit off to New York to catch a show or order up the latest designs from Fashion Week doesn’t mean your life is trash. Get ahold of your sense of proportion.

  I took a berry parfait—blueberries have lots of antioxidants—and turned back to the table just as the dining room doors opened. They seemed to pause in their arc, giving my new roommate plenty of time to stroll through before they practically genuflected closed behind her. She’d changed out of the fishnets into heels and a black sweater tossed over a simple leaf-green dress that absolutely screamed Paris—Rue Cambon, to be exact. Number 31, to be even more exact. Chanel Couture.

  My knees nearly buckled with envy.

  “Is that Carly’s roommate?” I heard Lissa ask.

  Mac seemed completely unaware that everyone in the dining room was watching her as she floated across the floor like a runway model, collected a plate of Portobello mushroom ravioli and salad, and sat at the empty table next to the big window that faced out onto the quad.

  Lissa was still gazing at her, puzzled. “I know I’ve seen her before.”

  I hardly heard her.

  Because not only had the redhead cut into line ahead of Vanessa Talbot, Dani Lavigne, and Emily Overton, she’d also invaded their prime real estate. No one sat at that table unless they’d sacrificed a freshman at midnight, or whatever it was that people had to do to be friends with them.

  When Vanessa turned with her plate, I swear I could hear the collective intake of breath as her gaze locked on the stunning interloper sitting with her back to the window, calmly cutting her ravioli with the edge of her fork.

  “Uh oh,” Gillian murmured. “Let the games begin.”

  Chapter 2

  VANESSA, DANI, AND EMILY formed a fighting V and strolled to the table with their plates.

  “Excuse me, do we know you?” Dani asked politely.

  “Poor thing,” Mac said. “I’m so sorry about the short-term memory loss. No, we haven’t met.”

  Dani’s mouth worked while she tried to figure out whether or not she’d just been insulted.

  Vanessa stepped in front of her. “My name is Vanessa Talbot.”

  “Pleasure. Mac.”

  “Mac?” Emily repeated. “What kind of a name is that?”

  Vanessa ignored her. “And you’re sitting in my seat.”

  Mac looked at the empty table, which could seat eight. “Really?”

  “Really. I suggest you move. My friends and I sit here. Everyone knows that except clueless noobs.”

  Mac’s face dimpled with laughter, as if Vanessa had told her a real knee-slapper. “I’d say you were the clueless one, if you think that’s any reason to move. Sit where you like, darling. Do enjoy the ravioli. It’s marvelous.” And she went back to her pasta.

  Vanessa’s face set into a porcelain mask. “This is the last time I’ll ask you nicely. After that . . .”

  Mac glanced at her. “What? You’ll turn me into a ferret?”

  Even from where I stood, I could see the color burn its way into Vanessa’s cheeks. When was the last time anyone had stood up to her? Certainly not this year. Well, except for Gillian and Lissa, first term.

  “You wish,” Vanessa said. “Try a social outcast.”

  “From your society?” Mac drawled. “What a terrible loss.”

  “Do you have any idea who she is?” Dani hissed. “You big, redheaded loser.”

  “Vanessa Talbot. Hmm.” Mac consulted an imaginary PDA in her head. “Daughter of a former U.N. Secretary and Eurotrash.” She rolled her eyes. “Such a bore.”

  “At least you’ve done your research,” Vanessa snapped. “Unfortunately, you don’t seem to be anyone.”

  “No one you’d know, and I’d p
refer to keep it that way.” Mac looked the three of them over. “Are you staying or going?”

  I tried to keep my grin under control as a ripple of something that was almost laughter sighed through the room. This was the best thing that had happened since the infamous food fight last term, but nobody dared to laugh outright. The truth was, Vanessa was stuck. If she stalked off to another table, she and her posse would lose their territory. If she didn’t, she’d have to let Mac sit with them—and that might imply she’d accepted her.

  Can you say lose/lose?

  Mac smiled—not a victorious or malicious smile, but the sweet kind. Like frosting that comes in a can—close enough to fool you into thinking it’s the real thing. With a huff of impatience, as though she didn’t have any more time to waste on Mac while her food got cold, Vanessa slid into a seat.

  I finally got my feet moving and took my blueberries back to our table, where Gillian and Lissa telegraphed “Did you see that?” and “What’s going to happen now?” to me with their eyes.

  It didn’t take long for us to find out. Vanessa was not the kind of girl who let anything go unresolved—especially a power struggle. I’d only been here a week or two when I’d learned that. She was so used to winning that it never occurred to her there could be any other outcome.

  She made a show of picking at her lunch, then reached for her drink. Dani said something to her, and, whoops! Her soda went flying . . . all over Mac’s lime-green Chanel dress.

  I would have screamed and burst into tears. Mac stood slowly, looking down at her lap, where a brown stain spread. Coke dripped slowly from the hem to the floor.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Vanessa said, while Dani made tsking noises and Emily offered a handful of napkins. “I hope it’s washable.”

  Every female in the room knew it wasn’t. Every one of us knew Vanessa had just done the equivalent of painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

  “Eurotrash.” Mac finally sighed. Lifting her head, she gave it a slow, regretful shake. “What a pity a person can’t overcome her DNA.”

  And she floated out of the room as effortlessly as she’d come in, leaving Vanessa fuming behind her.