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  They exchanged wary glances, and I laughed. As if they'd go there with their girlfriends sitting next to them. Boys were so transparent. That's why I needed a man. A tanned California man.

  Frances held up a DVD. "We got The Sure Thing. It's old, but it's about how much better California is than the ucky northeast, so we figured it would be good."

  "Cool." I helped myself to a piece of pizza and tried not to be sad that I'd miss them. It was only for the summer. We'd be back together in the fall. Unless my dad asked me to stay. Right now, I almost didn't want to leave them. I mean, my friends were the only people in my life who would notice if I disappeared from the earth. Not only would they notice, but they'd care and actually try to find me. But maybe my dad was ready for that. He had invited me out for the whole summer, hadn't he? I sighed. It still didn't make it easier to leave my friends. "You guys won't, um, forget about me while I'm gone, will you?"

  "No!" Blue flung her arms around me, and Natalie and Frances followed suit until I was being squashed underneath the pile. I screamed and hugged them back them until we were all laughing and shrieking. Somewhere between the elbows, I heard the phone ring.

  "Someone get that. It's probably my mom calling back." As if I could get it. I was totally being pig-piled.

  Theo interrupted the love fest. "It's your dad."

  "My dad!" I scrambled free and grabbed the portable phone. "Dad?"

  "How are you doing, hon?" His deep voice was so familiar, and hearing it made me miss him so much.

  I walked into the living room and snuggled up on the couch, tucking a pillow against my chest. "I'm great. I'm almost finished packing. I can't wait." It was so good to talk to him. I couldn't believe how long it had been since I'd seen him.

  "Um...Allie..." He paused, his voice trailing off like he had bad news he didn't want to share.

  Something caught in my throat. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing's wrong. It's fine." But he was totally evading. I could tell by the way his voice became softer and slower.

  "What exactly is so 'fine?'" I tucked my feet under a pillow and tried to keep my voice calm.

  "It's Heidi."

  "Your fiancée?" I thought of the gorgeous brunette my dad had e-mailed me a picture of last week. She looked way younger than my dad, but didn't everyone in California look young and beautiful?

  "Yes. She's... ah ... pregnant."

  "Pregnant?" I shrieked. "I'm going to have a little sister or brother?" Oh my gosh. That was so cool. A fresh start at a family. Yes! They'd totally need my help now! "You want me to be a nanny? I can totally do that. I'll watch her or him after school and ..."

  "Allie, hon, calm down."

  I jumped to my feet, so excited I couldn't even sit still. "But this is cool! I can't wait to get out there. Will the baby be born this summer?"

  "No, not until winter, but Heidi is really sick. The pregnancy isn't going well."

  I frowned, my sudden enthusiasm sinking fast. "How sick?" I asked suspiciously. This was it. This was the bad news. I could feel it.

  "Very sick," My dad said. "She's ... ah ... I don't think it would be a good idea for you to come out this summer."

  My gut plummeted and my skin turned ice cold. "What?"

  "I am going to have to take care of her, and she's on bed rest," he said, his words rushing, like he didn't even want to talk to me anymore. Give Allie the bad news and then get off the phone. "Neither of us can be worrying about you."

  I swallowed hard. "But I'm very independent," I protested. "You don't have to worry about me at all. I can cook. I'll be your housekeeper. I'll take care of her while you're at work. I'll make your life easier and—"

  "I'm sorry, Allie. It will be too stressful. If things change, we'll call. Otherwise, can we take a rain check for next summer?"

  "A rain check?" A rain check? For next summer? That was an entire year away. "But I'm really easy. You won't even notice I'm there." I couldn't keep the tears out of my voice. "Dad?"

  "I'm sorry, hon. It's just not the right time. I love you, and I'll call you in a couple days. I have to run. Bye." And then he hung up, not even waiting for me to say good-bye, not even checking to make sure I was going to be okay. Just "get rid of Allie and get back to the life that matters to me."

  I sat there with the dial tone humming in my ear. I couldn't believe it.

  No, I could believe it. I should have predicted it. How could I have been so stupid as to get my hopes up? After six years of excuses, you'd have thought I would have been smarter than that.

  "Allie? You okay?" Frances was standing in the doorway, her face all scrunched up in concern.

  I tossed the phone on the couch and smiled at her. "I have great news!"

  She narrowed her eyes, totally not buying my excitement. "What?"

  "I don't have to go to L.A.! I'm going to hang with you guys this summer. Isn't that great?" It was great. No way was I going to let my dad ruin my summer. Forget him. And next summer if he asked me back? I'd bail on him at the last second. Hah.

  Frances frowned. "I thought you wanted to go to LA."

  "I was talking myself into it because I had to go. You know I was bummed to miss out on the farm stand thing." I swallowed hard and kept a grin on my face. "This will be great."

  Her brow furrowed into little worry lines. "But Mr. Novak said his staff was full. That there was no room."

  For an instant, I felt my smile slip. What if I was stuck at home all summer? In this horrible, empty house with no air-conditioning? Then I recovered. Mr. Novak was male. I could talk males into anything.

  Except my dad apparently, but he wasn't male. He was a jerk.

  "I'll call him." I headed for the kitchen and the phone book, delighted to find only three Sam Novaks. "There. I'll call each of them."

  Frances's eyes were wide. "You're going to call him at home?"

  "Of course. This is a crisis. I can't miss out on spending the summer with you guys." Plus, if I had to spend the entire summer alone I knew I would totally freak out. I decided to start at the bottom. A woman answered. "Is the Mr. Novak who lives there the one who teaches Latin?"

  "Yes, it is. Who is this?"

  I gave Frances the thumbs up. "One of his students. Can I talk to him?"

  "He's not here. Can I take a message?"

  Oh, wow. I hadn't thought of that. "Um ... yeah ... I was calling about the farm stand. I wanted to work for him."

  "Sorry, sweetie, but it's full. You're the seventh person who has called him today, but there's no more space."

  "But..." I was horrified by the tears that sprung to my eyes. I immediately spun around so Frances couldn't see. "You don't understand. All my friends are doing it."

  "Then you should have signed up with them." Her voice was gentle, but unyielding.

  "But I couldn't." I swallowed to crush the emotion rising in my throat. "I was supposed to go see my dad and he cancelled on me five minutes ago even though I've barely seen him in the last six years and he has this fiancée and I can't go and my mom's never home and I don't want to be alone all summer and ..." I realized I was sobbing now, and I immediately shut my mouth.

  Well, except for when I had to open it to suck in air. Heaving sobs were not the most dignified.

  "What's your name?" The woman's voice was sympathetic and it made me want to start crying again. I hated sympathy. I was fine. Totally fine.

  "Allie Morrison."

  "What's your phone number?"

  I gave it to her.

  "I'll talk to Sam when he gets home, okay?"

  "I have to be able to work there. I'll even do it for free. I'll do anything. I just can't stay here." How desperate did I sound? I never begged. Ever.

  "He'll call you," she said gently, "but it might not be until tomorrow."

  "Okay. I'll wait by the phone." I hung up and turned around. All my friends plus Colin and Theo were standing in the kitchen watching me.

  I immediately wiped the tears off my cheeks and raised my chi
n. "I think we need to put in a different movie, don't you? I'm not feeling in a pro-California mood anymore."

  Without waiting for a response, I grabbed a gallon of ice cream from the freezer and a spoon from the dish drainer and marched into the family room.

  Mr. Novak had better not let me down.

  Chapter Two

  The call came on Sunday night. I'd been diving for the phone every time it rang all weekend, but all I'd had the pleasure of were marketing pitches for consolidating my student loans or getting a new mortgage, neither of which was high on my list of concerns.

  Until eight fifty-one on Sunday night.

  I grabbed the phone that had become my enemy and slammed it to my ear. "What?" I had deteriorated to hostile answering techniques to try to get the telemarketing people to hang up out of fear before starting their spiels. I had lost all hope that Mr. Novak would call me back. He was probably too afraid to let me down. Instead he was going to avoid facing me. Even more pathetic than my dad.

  Adults suck.

  "Allie? This is Mr. Novak."

  Oh, great. Perfect timing for me to answer the phone with an attitude. "Hi. Sorry about how I answered the phone. I thought it was a telemarketer." I tried to squash the hope that surged in my chest. He was calling to tell me no, and I needed to prepare myself for it. I'd already decided that if he turned me down, I was going to use my guilt credit card and fly myself to London to live with Louisa. She'd understand that I couldn't stay here anymore, not without her and my friends.

  "Kate talked to me," he said.

  "Kate?" Did I know a Kate?

  "My wife. You spoke to her on Friday."

  "Oh, right. Kate. She's very nice." His wife? It might be a little bit harder to win him over with my flirting if he were married. Not that I had the energy to flirt. I was too emotionally drained after having my heart explode every time the phone had rung for the last forty-eight hours. At first, I'd been hoping my dad would call back to say he'd changed his mind. Then I'd realized I was being stupid again and decided to settle for a call from Mr. Novak telling me I could work at the farm stand.

  Then I'd finally decided that no one was going to call me at all.

  And now? I had hope again, which made me a fool.

  "My staff is full, Allie," Mr. Novak said.

  It can't be! "But I have to do it. Please. I'll work for free and I'll do an awesome job and you won't regret it." See what hope does? Makes you beg. Makes you desperate. Makes you ashamed to be so pathetic.

  I could hear Kate telling him something in the background. "It's not easy work," he said.

  "So what?" Just because I wear cute outfits and have my nails done doesn't mean I can't do real work. At the very least, I was pretty sure I could get some of the boys to do it for me if I couldn't. I didn't want to go to London. I wanted to hang out with my friends. I had to get this job. "I can handle it, I promise. Please, please, please, please."

  He covered the mouthpiece and I heard voices murmuring. Was Kate on my side? If so, I'd love her forever. After what felt like an eternity, he came back on. "Are you doing this for the boys or for the work?"

  "The work. I have plenty of boys in my life." Well, not really. You could never have too many boys, and I wanted to do it so I could hang with my friends and meet boys, but I wasn't about to admit that to Mr. Novak. "I need to do something of value this summer." And I needed something, anything, to distract me from the fact that my dad had given me the ultimate rejection.

  I hate my dad.

  There was a long silence. "If you'll work hard, then you are welcome. If you slack off, I'll let you go.

  All right! "Don't worry, Mr. Novak. I won't let you down." Yahoo! I couldn't wait to tell my friends!

  "Tomorrow at seven-thirty."

  Seven-thirty? I had to be at work at seven-thirty? This was summer. I was supposed to get up at ten o'clock in the morning, grab some OJ, then head to the beach to lie in the sun.

  "Is there a problem with the hour?" He sounded totally resigned, like he knew it was just a matter of time until I let him down.

  Well, forget that. He wasn't going to get rid of me as easily as my dad had. "No, not a problem at all. I'll be there." I wasn't about to get myself fired after I'd had the job for only thirty seconds. "See you tomorrow."

  I hung up and stared at the phone. I was totally excited and relieved, for sure. Summer: salvaged. But I was also a little worried. This was the first job I'd ever had. I'd never even babysat before. Much as I was doing this for the boys and my friends, it looked like I was also going to have to work.

  Which was fine.

  How hard could it be?

  Maybe if I was really successful and did a great job, my parents would realize I actually had some value. Wouldn't that be a kicker? Boys, friends and getting my parents to actually notice me?

  Oh, yeah. This was still going to be the summer that changed my life, but now it was going to be on my terms.

  * * *

  On Monday, June twenty-fifth, I dressed with extra care for my first day of work. I carefully applied makeup, and I curled my hair so my new blond highlights accentuated my face. I painted my toenails and fingernails to match the melon-colored camisole I was wearing, and I chose my extra short white shorts. My new designer sandals were the perfect touch, and their open toes showed off my tanned feet perfectly. My mom's answer to the news that my dad had cancelled on me? Dropping me off at the mall to buy myself expensive things.

  As much of a jerk as my dad was when he was around, he'd earned a ton of money as a surgeon. My mom scored in the divorce and I got the benefit of no parental supervision and all the funds I needed to entertain myself. Being the neglected offspring of divorced selfish jerks rocked.

  Not that I was going to think about my dad. He had lost the right to occupy any of my thoughts.

  All I was going to focus on was how fantastic today was going to be. My first day of work at Sam's Farm Stand. This summer was going to be great.

  * * *

  Blue's mom opened the door for me when I arrived at their house. "Hi, Allie! We're so glad you're coming." She inspected my outfit, and her smile faded. "You're going to work in that?"

  My friends appeared behind her. They were all wearing sneakers, jeans and T-shirts. And baseball hats—courtesy of Blue's mom and her skin cancer warnings, no doubt. They each had a little backpack, which I assumed carried lunches their moms had packed.

  I should have thought of that. I hoped I wasn't going to starve today. Apparently, there were some benefits to having a mom around to remember these things, but my mom had to be at work at seven, and she had an hour commute, so I never saw her in the mornings. She used to leave me notes and breakfast, but that hadn't happened in a long time.

  Which was fine with me. I didn't need her.

  "We're going to work on a produce farm," Frances said pointedly.

  "Yeah, what's with that outfit?" Blue asked.

  I looked down at my adorable white shorts and flattering top. "What's wrong with it?"

  "You're going to ruin those sandals in the mud," Blue said.

  My shoes had cost over two hundred dollars, and they looked good. High fashion, yet comfortable for a long day on my feet. "I think they'll be perfect."

  "And your clothes are going to get filthy," Natalie said. As a cross-country runner, Natalie was the mud queen. Every day after practice she came in muddy, sweaty and grimy.

  "So I'll wash them." I was one of those people who were gifted at being able to keep anything clean. Probably because I hated doing laundry and no one else was going to do it, so I tried to minimize the dirty clothes pile. "Let's just go."

  I followed my friends out to Blue's mom's Suburban, but she caught my arm. "Allie?"

  Uh-oh. That was her Mom tone. "What?"

  "Do you want to stay with us for the summer?"

  I looked up at her, surprised by the offer. "Why?"

  "Blue told me what happened with your dad. I don't want you to be alon
e at home if your mom isn't around, since Louisa is gone too."

  I scowled, and swallowed the lump that had popped up in my throat. What was up with Blue telling her mom? I was fine. Why did everyone think I was upset? So my dad blew me off. So my mom was off dating instead of being a mom. So what? I didn't care. I liked having the house to myself.

  Besides, now that Theo was dating Frances and Colin was dating Blue, going over to the Waller household actually made me feel more lonely. Even with my best friends, I was now an outsider.

  "Thanks, but I'm okay. My mom's been busy lately, but she's around." I mean, I like Blue's parents and stuff, but they are always trying to pseudo-adopt me. I don't need to be adopted. I'm fine.

  Blue's mom didn't look like she believed me, but she was way too laid-back to push the issue. "Well, if you change your mind, let me know."

  "Thanks." I climbed into the back of the Suburban and fell into a conversation about how many boys and of what age would be at the farm stand. Much more important stuff than discussing my need for a family, which was totally stupid.

  Mr. Novak came out to greet us when Blue's mom drove into the dirt parking lot. He was wearing jeans and boots and a navy T-shirt with "Sam's Farm Stand" on the front. Sunglasses were perched on top of his head.

  Was he hot or what? Drool-worthy.

  Blue elbowed me. "This is your teacher? He's gorgeous."

  "Yeah. Too bad he's married." And he was looking at me like he wasn't sure I should be there.

  I immediately folded my arms across my chest and gave him my "I'm powerful so don't mess with me" look. It was almost the same as The Attitude, but the latter was for attracting boys, or more precisely, making them think you weren't sure whether you were going to speak to them, which of course, always made them want you. Mr. Novak wasn't my appropriate Attitude target seeing as how he was old, but it was important for him to know he'd hired someone who could withstand whatever he was going to throw at me. So I gave him some Attitude mixed with disdain. That should do it.

  "I'm thinking I want to go to your school next year. I think I want to learn Latin," Blue whispered.