Revenge of the Geek (28 page)

“Honestly, I thought you’d be happier about this,”Sadie said, later that evening. She and I were sitting in a booth at Go Fish, eating fried grouper sandwiches served with generous amounts of French fries and pineapple-laced coleslaw.

“I’m still trying to adjust to the news. You did sort of spring it on me,”I said.

“But you’ll be able to move home! Get out of the beach house and away from Peyton!”Sadie said. “I thought you hated living there. What is it with that woman and the color white? Everything’s white. The walls, the furniture, even the cat. Frankly, it’s a bit creepy.”

“Peyton likes white,”I said. “And I don’t think Madonna can help what color she is.”

“Who’s Madonna?”

“The cat,”I explained.

“Anyway, darling, aren’t you thrilled? We’ll be together again! Just the two of us back in our bachelorette pad. Won’t it be wonderful?”Sadie enthused.

“Absolutely,”I said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

But the truth was, I wasn’t at all sure what to think. A little over a year ago, I’d been furious at Sadie when she took off for London and left me behind. Back then, I barely knew my dad and couldn’t stand my stepmother and stepsister. But over the past year, a lot had changed. My dad and I had grown a lot closer. And Hannah had become one of my best friends. True, Peyton and I didn’t have the best relationship in the world, but even that had gotten better over time.

And besides, I was still angry at Sadie. She’d deserted me. And now that she was back, she just assumed that everything would be the same as it was before she left. That I’d be perfectly happy moving back in with her. But I wasn’t at all sure that’s what I wanted to do.

“I was thinking that now that I’m back, we should make every Saturday night our bohemian night,”Sadie was saying, waving her fork around with enthusiasm. “We’ll throw big parties and invite all sorts of different people over, and have long, intellectual discussions about the important topics of the day. How does that sound?”

“Actually, Mom, I think we need to talk about this,”I said.

“About the boho nights? Okay, fine, although I think it’s a fabulous idea. We could even have theme nights. Art night, music night, interpretative dance night,”Sadie said. “And since when did you start calling me Mom?”

“No, not about the party nights. I think we should talk about my living arrangements,”I said.

“Why? You’ll move back home with me, darling. That’s where you belong,”Sadie said. “Now. Should we order dessert? Because I know we shouldn’t—I’m watching my weight—but I have to say, I’ve been dreaming about having a slice of authentic key lime pie for over a year.”

Sadie waved down the waiter. When he came over, she twinkled up at him.

“One slice of your
fabulous
key lime pie, and two forks, please,”she said. Then she looked back at me and said, “So, tell me all about the dashing young Dex. Is he coming home for Thanksgiving?”

That night, I took Willow for a walk on the beach. I didn’t tell anyone I was going out. Ever since Sadie’s surprise arrival, there’d been a weird vibe in the house. Hannah was in her room, talking on the phone, and Dad and Peyton were still sitting in the living room, having a low, murmured conversation. So Willow and I slipped through the house, unheard and unseen, and headed out through the back door.

The beach was deserted, although a full moon hung low in the sky, illuminating our way. Willow picked her way daintily across the sand, stopping only occasionally to smell something interesting that had washed up on the beach.

Even though I was caught up in my thoughts, I couldn’t help noticing how beautiful the pale sand looked in the moonlight, and how dark and mysterious the water was at night.

What am I going to do?
I wondered. Everyone seemed to just assume that now that Sadie was back, I’d move back in with her. My dad was sad but resigned, and Hannah had shut herself away in her room. Even Peyton seemed oddly subdued, and I would have thought she’d be overjoyed at the news that I was on my way out of the beach house. Then again, Peyton and I had been getting along a lot better in recent months.
Maybe we’ve finally gotten used to each other
, I thought. Gotten used to sharing a house; sharing a family.

Willow tugged on her leash as she bowed her head to nose at a patch of seaweed. I waited while she sniffed it over thoroughly before deciding that no, the seaweed was not hiding a bacon sandwich.

What would happen if I just told Sadie no?
I wondered. If I told her I was going to stay at the beach house, and live there until I graduated from high school. Would she be upset? Would she fight me over it?

The moon was casting a golden reflection down on the water that rippled with each passing wave. The ocean always reminded me of Dex, even at night. I expected to turn around on the beach and see him there, his eyes glinting, his mouth quirked up in a smile. Steady, reliable Dex, the one person I could always count on.

Willow tugged again gently at her leash. She’d spotted something in the distance—a bird? A plastic bag?—and was eager to investigate it.

“Okay, girl. We’ll go check it out,”I told her.

As we set off to hunt whatever it was, I realized suddenly that I was wrong. Dex
wasn’t
the only person I could count on. I had lots of people I counted on. Charlie. Hannah. Dad. Even Finn (although how much anyone could count on Finn for anything without having to bribe him first was open for debate).

And then there was me. I’d learned I could count on myself. I’d proven that to myself just this school year. After all, everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. My boyfriend had moved away. Someone I’d trusted had deliberately set out to hurt me. My best friends hadn’t backed me up. My first article for
The Ampersand
had been a failure. I’d been plagued with feelings of jealousy and insecurity.

But even after going through all of that, I was still here. I was happy and whole and a stronger person than I’d been a few months ago. I was standing on my own two feet, moving forward, ready to face whatever it was that was ahead of me.

And if I can count on myself
, I thought,
nothing I face in the future can be all that bad
. That was what being fearless meant.

“Bring it on,”I said out loud. “Bring it on!”

Willow paused in her hunt to look up at me questioningly.

“It’s okay, girl,”I said, patting her head. “I’m just letting the future know I’m ready for anything.”

Piper Banks
lives in South Florida with her husband, son, and smelly pug dog. You can visit her Web site at www.piperbanks.com.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one