1Chapter 1

This is it. Youre almost done, I told myself asa cold gust of wind nearly knocked me into an

evergreen. One more exam and youre home free. Well,

not exactly home, but still. No studying for four whole

weeks.

My very fingertips tingled in anticipationor

was that from the frigid cold? Either way, I couldnt

believe I was on my way to my last final of my first

semester of freshman year. It was almost over. The

week I had dreaded ever since midterms. And it

hadnt even been that bad.

Sure, Id spent countless hours on a hard-as-

granite chair in the library, surrounded by high-

lighted textbooks and nursing a rank case of

permanent coffee breath. And of course there were

half a dozen moments when my mind had gone

utterly blank and I couldnt even remember how

to spell my own name, let alone who had written

The Beauty Myth or why.