Upper East Side #7 Read online

  Hello? Wrong girl alert!

  Chanel grinned as his lips traveled up her neck to her lips. “What are you doing?” she murmured without pushing him away. It had been a while since she'd been kissed, and it felt nice. Of course it was kind of wrong, but it wasn't like she and Kaliq hadn't kissed before, and somehow knowing that they were going to be together next year made it seem okay. She closed her eyes and gave herself up to the kiss. Her towel fell away, and somehow Kaliq's damp gray T-shirt seemed to fall away too.

  It was the end of the year, graduation was fast approaching—there was nothing wrong with a little celebratory hookup between two best friends.

  Yeah, but what about their other best friend?

  41

  Porsha was dripping with sweat and badly in need of a vodka tonic. She hitched up her towel. “What is it?” she asked Tahj impatiently.

  Tahj stood up and patted his shorts pockets. “I've got it,” he explained. “At least I hope it's still there.” He fumbled around for a moment and then produced what looked like a damp white envelope.

  Porsha squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again. She was pretty sure she knew what the enveloped contained. “And you've had that for exactly how long?” she demanded furiously before snatching it out of his hand.

  Tahj shrugged innocently. “It just came this morning.”

  Even through the steam Porsha could see the familiar royal blue of Yale's insignia printed in the upper left hand corner of the envelope. The dampness made the envelope disintegrate as she attempted to pry it open with shaking, impatient hands. “Fuck it,” she breathed and ripped it open with her teeth.

  A single, flimsy, bitten-into piece of paper was folded up inside. Her life had been hanging in the balance for months now. It was hard to believe it all depended on this.

  The others waited with respectful silence.

  Dear Porsha Sinclaire, After much consideration we are happy to offer you a place at Yale University this coming fall…

  Porsha clutched the piece of paper to her chest and tore out of the steam room. “Chanel!” she shrieked, dashing across the pool house and heading straight for the bathroom. She yanked open the door, expecting to see her friend perched innocently on the toilet.

  Inside, a tangle of familiar, gorgeous, naked limbs greeted her from the bathtub. Kaliq and Chanel blinked stupidly up at her, their heads only inches apart.

  “We were celebrating,” Chanel stammered. She climbed out of the tub, her towel clutched ineffectually around her naked body, and pointed at the soggy piece of paper in Porsha's hand. “What's that?” she asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

  Porsha felt like washing out Chanel's perfectly angelic mouth in the Edwards' stupid bidet. “Yale accepted me. Finally.” She narrowed her eyes. “As if you cared.”

  Kaliq staggered to his feet, spilling the giant bag of weed all over the bathtub and ripping the shower curtain off the rail as he tried to find his balance. Infuriating as it was, he was still as handsome as ever. His hair seemed to be even wavier from the wind and salt air, and his cheeks were flushed from sun and weed and kissing Chanel. And his bare chest—it made Porsha feel ill to look at it

  “Hey, you know, that's what we were just talking about,” he fumbled, his tongue heavy with a mixture of weed, confusion, and guilt. “Me and Chanel, and now you too. We're all going to Yale—all three of us!”

  Whoopee!

  “Thanks for telling me,” Porsha snapped. She'd imagined sharing a celebratory bottle of champagne with Chanel on the Edwards' private beach. Then she'd give in and call Kaliq's cell and he'd kidnap her from the party and make wild love to her on some other beach.

  So much for her imagination.

  Kaliq was still standing in the bathtub, his bare feet sprinkled with weed. She reached out and turned the shower nozzle on full blast, raining freezing cold water all over his head. Then she yanked off Chanel's towel and tucked it under her arm, slamming the door in their lying cheating faces as she left the bathroom.

  Lexique or whatever the fuck her name was drifted into the pool house in her annoying Missoni tunic, her braids bouncing against her braless breasts, just as Porsha was headed out the door. “He's in der, yes? My lover, my Kaliq?”

  Porsha bared her teeth with evil satisfaction. “Oh, yes. He's waiting for you in the bathroom,” she told the stupid French bitch, slamming the pool house door behind her and making a beeline for the poolside bar.

  There seemed to be more guys under the tent than girls. Kash, Lloyd, and Marc from the Raves were mingling with the Emma Willard seniors, handing out cigars and copies of their new single, “Twisted Little Sister,” starring none other than Bree Hargrove on vocals. The girls had taken off their T-shirts and were all wearing bright, pastel-colored bikini tops.

  Jaylen was trying to talk Rain, Lauren, Alexis, and Imani into joining him at military school. “It doesn't really matter where you go to school. What matters is how much fun you have,” Porsha heard him say. “Just think how fabulous it would be if we were all together!”

  Porsha went over to the bar, grabbed a half-full bottle of Absolut, and carried it over to the pool.

  “Hey, no glass around the pool!” Imani shouted through her bullhorn.

  Porsha ignored her and climbed up the ladder to the high-dive. She let her towel drop, and padded out to the end of the diving board. A naked diva in a diamond-studded turban, swigging her favorite beverage.

  Ignoring the shocked murmurs of her classmates and the delighted jeers of the guys beneath the tent, Porsha took a moment to rewind. She and Kaliq were obviously over—again, and so were she and Chanel—again. She was living in Brooklyn of all places, with Yasmine, a shaven-headed girl she'd never spoken to until about a week ago. And she was finally, finally into Yale.

  Most of her life had been an endless loop of repetition, filled with the same people, parties, and predictability. Even her dreams had been predictable, and she liked it like that. Now she wasn't sure what to expect.

  She lifted the bottle to her lips and took a giant swig before setting it carefully down on the diving board. Then she raised her arms up straight as arrows, stood on tiptoe, and dove in. Holding her breath, she glided beneath the blue-green water, delighting in the silence. Behind her, the diamond-studded turban bobbed to the surface.

  When she really thought about it, this whole year had been a series of highs and lows, with more lows than highs. But so what if her life wasn't turning out the way she'd imagined it in the movie in her head, and her entire supporting cast had turned out to be assholes? She was about to move the film to a completely new location and could hire an entirely new cast. And nobody knew how to steal the show better than Porsha did.

  Her dark head broke the surface with a dramatic, noisy splash. The others stared, tittering from underneath the tent, but Porsha paid them no mind. Floating on her back, she chanted a goofy little rhyme to cheer herself up.

  “Two, four, six, eight, only nineteen days till I graduate!”

  Author's Note

  Are Chanel and Kaliq a couple? If not, what exactly are they?

  Will Porsha ever speak to them again? Will she get revenge?

  Will Porsha and Yasmine continue to cohabitate now that Tahj is always hanging around?

  Will Mekhi continue to be a normal kid—sort of? Will he meet a normal girl?

  Will Bree get into boarding school? Will she stay out of trouble until she gets there?

  Find out in the 8th book of the Upper East Side series, which is out now! Also, if you'd like more updates and interaction with me you can contact me at the following:

  Email: [email protected]

  Twitter: AshValentine__

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  Website: ashleyvalentine.bigcartel.com

  I'd really appreciate your feedback so please leave reviews and tell me what you think!

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  Did you love Upper East Side 7? Then you should read Upper East Side 8 by Ashley Valentine!

  Welcome to New York City's Upper East Side, where my friends and I get everything—and everyone—we want. Snagging the latest Marc Jacobs bag or your best friend's boyfriend isn't pretty, but it's always steamy.

  It's almost graduation and our lives are really heating up. Everybody's into college and it's obviously time to party—as if we hadn't been doing that already! Will Porsha and Kaliq's love affair continue? Or will Kaliq and Chanel hook up in New Haven and leave Porsha alone in the city? And as for the juiciest scoop of all, what's this we hear about Bree leaving Emma Willard to go to boarding school? Only time will tell how everyone will end up, but one thing's for sure: love is in the air, and it smells a lot like Gucci Envy.

  Also by Ashley Valentine

  Bridgeport Academy

  Bridgeport Academy #1

  Upper East Side

  Upper East Side 1

  Upper East Side 2

  Upper East Side 3

  Upper East Side 4

  Upper East Side 5

  Upper East Side 6

  Upper East Side 7

  Upper East Side 8

  Upper East Side 9

  Upper East Side 10

  Upper East Side 11