Perfect Girl - Weebly
Perfect Girl - Weebly Perfect Girl - Weebly
I start over. “I want to share an amazing experience with the boy that I love.” Saying it out loud almost makes me faint. “Go on,” says Aunt Marty. “Everything is planned out,” I say. “We’re going straight there and coming straight home. I’ll be back by seven. You don’t know me that well, Aunt Marty, but I’m not the type to do anything stupid. Perry isn’t, either. We’re both good kids, good students. We can handle this. I swear, we can.” As I speak, I see the wheels of her brain turning. “Straight there? Straight back?” she asks. “Yes.” “You’ll be home by seven?” “Definitely.” Aunt Marty squints at me. She looks at me long and hard. Then she leans over and encircles me with her arms, hugging me tightly. “You’re wrong, Ruthie,” she says. “I do know you well. You’re everything your mother and I dreamed you would be.” For the first time since she arrived, I hug my aunt for as long as I want, unable to wipe the sappy smile off my face. “I have two conditions, however,” my aunt says, pulling away from me. “Number one, take my cell and call me instantly if anything happens. Anything at all.” “You got it. What else?” 144
“Tell your mother the truth.” My shoulders sag. “I can’t.” “Look, Ruthie, your mother and I are just finding our way back to each other. The last thing we need is for her to find out you’ve lied to her and told me the truth.” Now I have no trouble looking Aunt Marty right in the eye. “I know my mother trusts me. And Perry. She knows I can handle it. But right now, Mom can’t handle it. She’s freaking out because I’m growing up. She would never let me go to Washington, because she’s not ready to let go of me. She wants to, but she can’t. Not yet. And I don’t have enough time to wait for her emotions to catch up with what she knows is right.” Flabbergasted, Aunt Marty sits back in her chair. “When did you get so smart?” I’m a bit stunned, too. It’s the first time I’ve been able to put into words what I’ve known in my heart all along. “I know it’s wrong to lie,” I say. “But in this case, I also know it’s right.” Aunt Marty gazes at me a long time before she quietly says, “I never intended to hurt your mother.” “I know.” “Sometimes being yourself means upsetting people who need you to be someone else.” Man, did I know that, too. “Have a great time with Perry, Ruthie. You deserve it.” 145
- Page 101 and 102: Aunt Marty steps back and watches o
- Page 103 and 104: “I want my daughter to be prepare
- Page 105 and 106: AUNT MARTY’S CAR SMELLS LIKE HER
- Page 107 and 108: loop of their relationship going. I
- Page 109 and 110: “I know.” Truth be told, it’s
- Page 111 and 112: sunscreen, and something I can’t
- Page 113 and 114: Only, when I see Frankie, she hands
- Page 115 and 116: IT’S THE SMELL OF CINNAMON AND BU
- Page 117 and 118: Aunt Marty beams. She races ahead,
- Page 119 and 120: Lilah impatiently asks, “What siz
- Page 121 and 122: “Nothing,” I say. “Good. Now
- Page 123 and 124: Shop, the Gap, Tower Records, Banan
- Page 125 and 126: Serrano is as excited to see Celest
- Page 127 and 128: “A Cosmopolitan, please,” Aunt
- Page 129 and 130: Celeste and Frankie excitedly bob t
- Page 131 and 132: ultimate ego trip.” Caressing my
- Page 133 and 134: oth heart and soul. Trust me. That
- Page 135 and 136: “That’s why I’m here in Odess
- Page 137 and 138: IT’S ABOUT NINE O’CLOCK WHEN WE
- Page 139 and 140: fill my daughter’s head with garb
- Page 141 and 142: “You don’t hate me, Fay. You ha
- Page 143 and 144: My mother moves even closer to me,
- Page 145 and 146: something in Wilmington, but the st
- Page 147 and 148: I can barely breathe. “You busy S
- Page 149 and 150: “Props?” “You know, setting s
- Page 151: your nose, one eyebrow or the other
- Page 155 and 156: THROUGH THE BUS WINDOW, WE BOTH WAT
- Page 157 and 158: “Let’s jam!” he shouts. The G
- Page 159 and 160: scope out each mouth-watering possi
- Page 161 and 162: “We’ll make it,” Perry says w
- Page 163 and 164: appears on the pay line, an astrona
- Page 165 and 166: “We can’t.” “We must!” I
- Page 167 and 168: completely. My body jingles like a
- Page 169 and 170: fantasies. The reality of it is . .
- Page 171 and 172: that. Things are flying smoothly ag
- Page 173 and 174: twenty minutes, then twenty-five. I
- Page 175 and 176: the blood throbbing through my temp
- Page 177 and 178: Aunt Marty brings my mother Little
- Page 179 and 180: speaks to the coroner about Mr. Art
- Page 181 and 182: emember most about Mr. Arthur. It d
- Page 183 and 184: “Me?” At that moment, I realize
- Page 185 and 186: of the talking.” Then she added,
- Page 187 and 188: my head: For fourteen years, I’ve
- Page 189 and 190: As I look at my mother standing the
- Page 191 and 192: This year, three weeks after Mr. Ar
- Page 193 and 194: last pool of syrup with my last for
- Page 195 and 196: much smaller) head. “So do I.”
- Page 197 and 198: WE HAVE ONE LAST FAMILY DINNER—TH
- Page 199 and 200: makeup somehow remains perfect), Au
- Page 201 and 202: in Dover Mall as often as Mom will
“Tell your mother the truth.”<br />
My shoulders sag. “I can’t.”<br />
“Look, Ruthie, your mother and I are just finding our<br />
way back to each other. The last thing we need is for her to<br />
find out you’ve lied to her and told me the truth.”<br />
Now I have no trouble looking Aunt Marty right in the<br />
eye.<br />
“I know my mother trusts me. And Perry. She knows I<br />
can handle it. But right now, Mom can’t handle it. She’s<br />
freaking out because I’m growing up. She would never let<br />
me go to Washington, because she’s not ready to let go of<br />
me. She wants to, but she can’t. Not yet. And I don’t have<br />
enough time to wait for her emotions to catch up with what<br />
she knows is right.”<br />
Flabbergasted, Aunt Marty sits back in her chair.<br />
“When did you get so smart?”<br />
I’m a bit stunned, too. It’s the first time I’ve been able to<br />
put into words what I’ve known in my heart all along.<br />
“I know it’s wrong to lie,” I say. “But in this case, I also<br />
know it’s right.”<br />
Aunt Marty gazes at me a long time before she quietly<br />
says, “I never intended to hurt your mother.”<br />
“I know.”<br />
“Sometimes being yourself means upsetting people who<br />
need you to be someone else.”<br />
Man, did I know that, too.<br />
“Have a great time with Perry, Ruthie. You deserve it.”<br />
145
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