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IT’S PRECISELY SIX FIFTEEN WHEN THE BUS PULLS INTO Wilmington. It takes another fifteen minutes to disembark and make our way through the station to the city bus stop out front. A twenty-minute ride to Odessa and we’ll be home. Before seven. Just as I told my mother I would be. The line of people waiting for the red line bus grows from five to ten. The minute hand on my watch swings past 164
twenty minutes, then twenty-five. I search the street for the bus but don’t see it. “This bus is never on time,” the lady next to me says. Panic distorts my voice. “I told my mom I’d be home at seven. It’s almost seven!” “What are ya gonna do?” she asks the air. Perry looks at me and shrugs. Then he walks out in the street and peers down the road. He doesn’t see anything, but he says, “It’ll be here any minute.” The lady beside us just chuckles. Between flashes of panic, I’m furious. We make it all the way back to Wilmington on time, and now we’re going to be late? Suddenly, Aunt Marty’s cell rings from inside my backpack. I freeze. “Should I get that?” I ask Perry, my stomach in spasm. “How should I know?” It rings again. “Quick! Help me think of an excuse,” I say. “Why am I late?” Perry blinks. “The bus hasn’t come yet.” I glare at him. He frowns at me. The phone rings again. Steeling myself, I fish it out of my backpack, press the SEND button, and say, “Hello?” “Where are you?” Aunt Marty’s voice is flat. Emotionless. “The bus is late. I’m in Wilm—” “Get home as soon as you can, Ruth.” 165
Page 3:
Mary Hogan
Page 6 and 7:
15 IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN
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SHE WALKS INTO CLASS TEN MINUTES AF
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“DUCK.” That’s the first word
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“Wasn’t the president’s daugh
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“If it isn’t P. Nerdy in his ga
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IT WAS DELICIOUSLY WARM OUT, ONE OF
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The two of us were trapped in a mat
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you see all four of them? They’re
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MOM HAS HER FEET PROPPED UP ON OUR
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Mom—her kinky reddish-gray curls
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ping powerhouse, Odessa, Delaware,
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when I’m in love with a boy who h
Page 31 and 32:
four, but it felt like forty. We le
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a giant looping ramp. Suddenly, I s
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and Destruction” lectures. “Eve
Page 37 and 38:
Before I could figure out what to s
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I laughed, too. Tried to look as ca
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“Do you have these in red?” she
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what everyone else did. “These cr
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sure they’d been ironed. Everythi
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in front of other males, about not
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“WE CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR A DAY ?
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“Who told you?” my mother asked
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The last thing I saw were Aunt Mart
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Far back in the corner of my closet
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emember it. Like the soft, warm com
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asking Aunt Marty for advice about
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un both hands down the front of her
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Mom is speechless. Her hair is a kn
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She slams the freezer door shut in
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WE’RE TOO LATE. BY THE TIME I BRI
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“We have company!” he exclaims.
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ack). He’d round a corner, wearin
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I’d say, “Sure,” without worr
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I wiggle my freshly painted toenail
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“Thanks,” I say, calling after
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But—and this is a humongous but
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Arthur turned into a puppy. I kept
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IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN TH
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the wall that separates the living
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about your birth.” “What have y
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“She was the only member of my fa
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Quietly, she repeats, “There is o
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Swiveling, she turns her back on me
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corn. I want to bury my face in it
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“Check this out,” Perry says, s
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We sit. On the white couch. Like tw
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Aunt Marty steps back and watches o
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“I want my daughter to be prepare
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AUNT MARTY’S CAR SMELLS LIKE HER
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loop of their relationship going. I
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“I know.” Truth be told, it’s
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sunscreen, and something I can’t
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Only, when I see Frankie, she hands
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IT’S THE SMELL OF CINNAMON AND BU
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Aunt Marty beams. She races ahead,
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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 and 152: your nose, one eyebrow or the other
Page 153 and 154: “Tell your mother the truth.” M
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: that. Things are flying smoothly ag
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
Page 203 and 204: “Hey,” he says to me, nodding a
Page 206 and 207: ETERNAL THANKS TO THE AMAZING Amand
Page 208 and 209: THE SERIOUS KISS PRETTY FACE
Page 210 and 211: Copyright PERFECT GIRL. Copyright
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