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“I just walked through the door, Mom,” I say. “Give me a break.” She gives me a look. “Want a fish stick?” she asks. “I’m having a little afternoon snack.” “God, no.” “Will you get me another one, then? They’re in the toaster oven.” My eyes bug out. “Have you been sitting there all day waiting for your servant to come home?” Mom slides her glasses on top of her head. “As a matter of fact, Ruthie, you’re twenty-two minutes late. You know how I worry when you dillydally.” Groaning, I dump my backpack on the matching wing chair beside my mother, which doesn’t match because she tried to reupholster it herself and gave up when it looked all pinched, like it was wearing fabric belonging to a much smaller seat. Nothing in our house matches—not the roadkill-brown sofa with the olive-green-and-aqua afghan Mom knit (the wool was on sale), not the “neutral” area rug that long ago lost its neutral status, not the stack of flea market dinner plates in our kitchen cupboard that looks like a heap of pancakes about to topple over. Not even the curtains. One is a faded rose print, the other a plaid. “Do you ever feel so totally stuck in your life it’s like quicksand sucking you straight into hell?” I ask. 16
Mom—her kinky reddish-gray curls exploding from her head like old bed springs—blinks her eyes at me. I see her brain clicking. My heart races. Is it possible I’m going to have an honest, soul-baring moment with my mother? “Don’t forget the tartar sauce,” she says. Groaning even louder, I grab my pack and shout, “Hell!” Then I stomp out of the living room and up the stairs to my room. How am I ever going to escape my fourteen-going-ontwelve existence and keep <strong>Perfect</strong> <strong>Girl</strong> away from Perry Gould and inspire him to stop viewing me as one of the guys if my only role model knits baby blankies for a living, and probably never even had sex?! The woman who’s supposed to guide me into adulthood thinks hunger is nature’s way of telling you how large your body was meant to be. She believes coloring your hair is “lying” and makeup is for clowns. Plus, she considers pop culture to be mind poison. We don’t even have cable! I have to watch MTV at Celeste’s house. My computer has a dial-up modem. We might as well be Amish! She can get her own tartar sauce. On my way up the stairs, I pass Mr. Arthur, the seriously ancient tenant who rents the third floor of our ramshackle house. “Something smells yummy,” he says. “Hell, hell, hell, hell,” I say with each step upstairs. 17
Page 3: Mary Hogan
Page 6 and 7: 15 IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN
Page 9 and 10: SHE WALKS INTO CLASS TEN MINUTES AF
Page 11 and 12: “DUCK.” That’s the first word
Page 13 and 14: “Wasn’t the president’s daugh
Page 15 and 16: “If it isn’t P. Nerdy in his ga
Page 17 and 18: IT WAS DELICIOUSLY WARM OUT, ONE OF
Page 19 and 20: The two of us were trapped in a mat
Page 21 and 22: you see all four of them? They’re
Page 23: MOM HAS HER FEET PROPPED UP ON OUR
Page 27 and 28: ping powerhouse, Odessa, Delaware,
Page 29 and 30: when I’m in love with a boy who h
Page 31 and 32: four, but it felt like forty. We le
Page 33 and 34: a giant looping ramp. Suddenly, I s
Page 35 and 36: and Destruction” lectures. “Eve
Page 37 and 38: Before I could figure out what to s
Page 39 and 40: I laughed, too. Tried to look as ca
Page 41 and 42: “Do you have these in red?” she
Page 43 and 44: what everyone else did. “These cr
Page 45 and 46: sure they’d been ironed. Everythi
Page 47 and 48: in front of other males, about not
Page 49 and 50: “WE CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR A DAY ?
Page 51 and 52: “Who told you?” my mother asked
Page 53 and 54: The last thing I saw were Aunt Mart
Page 55 and 56: Far back in the corner of my closet
Page 57 and 58: emember it. Like the soft, warm com
Page 59 and 60: asking Aunt Marty for advice about
Page 61 and 62: un both hands down the front of her
Page 63 and 64: Mom is speechless. Her hair is a kn
Page 65 and 66: She slams the freezer door shut in
Page 67 and 68: WE’RE TOO LATE. BY THE TIME I BRI
Page 69 and 70: “We have company!” he exclaims.
Page 71 and 72: ack). He’d round a corner, wearin
Page 73 and 74: I’d say, “Sure,” without worr
Page 75 and 76:
I wiggle my freshly painted toenail
Page 77 and 78:
“Thanks,” I say, calling after
Page 79 and 80:
But—and this is a humongous but
Page 81 and 82:
Arthur turned into a puppy. I kept
Page 83 and 84:
IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN TH
Page 85 and 86:
the wall that separates the living
Page 87 and 88:
about your birth.” “What have y
Page 89 and 90:
“She was the only member of my fa
Page 91 and 92:
Quietly, she repeats, “There is o
Page 93 and 94:
Swiveling, she turns her back on me
Page 95 and 96:
corn. I want to bury my face in it
Page 97 and 98:
“Check this out,” Perry says, s
Page 99 and 100:
We sit. On the white couch. Like tw
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
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“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 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
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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