Beach Lane by Melissa de La Cruz

said triumphantly.
    “Nice to meet you. How do you know Eliza?” Charlie inquired, to be polite.
    “Oh, we wor—” Mara began.
    “She’s my roommate!” Eliza interjected, thinking quickly.
    “How do you like it?” Charlie asked.
    “It’s not too bad. The kids can be a pain, and our room is really small, but otherwise it’s all right,” Mara said. “Our boss is kind of demanding, though.”
    “That’s what we call our house mistress.” Eliza laughed shrilly. She gave Mara frantic warning eyes. “ Boarding school is très lame.”
    Boarding school? “Uh . . . right,” Mara said hesitantly. “Yeah. Boarding school. The uniforms suck.” What was going on here? “But, um. Eliza’s the most popular girl there,” she was inspired to add.
    “Well, that’s not a surprise,” Charlie said, looking keenly at his ex-girlfriend. Charlie looked at women the way he measured Thoroughbreds—the flanks, the teeth, the shoes, and Eliza passed with flying marks on all counts. He was still smarting from their breakup. The Charlie Borshoks of the world didn’t take too kindly to being dumped out of the blue. But Eliza Thompson was easily still the prettiest girl in East Hampton.
    “We should get together sometime,” he said to Eliza, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
    Eliza’s eyes misted at his touch. Was she being forgiven? Was Charlie going to let her back into his life? Was everything going to be perfect again? Would he rescue her from that roach-infested attic and book them a suite at the Bentley Hotel?
    “Looks like you guys are gonna get back together after all,” Mara said after Charlie had left.
    “God, I hope so. Charlie’s parents have the biggest yacht!” Eliza said, oblivious to how shallow she sounded.
    “But what was THAT all about—us being friends from school?” Mara asked. “And why is Jacqui an exchange student?”
    “It’s like this . . .,” Eliza said, biting her lip. Should she tell them? Could she trust them? They had covered for her so far. Who knew Mara could lie like that? They had made her look good in front of Charlie. Maybe she owed them the truth, even without an empty vodka bottle pointing in her direction.
    Eliza pulled them to the quietest corner she could find—behind the column, near where several glassy-eyed club kids passed a suspiciously fragrant rolled-up cigarette. She told them the whole story—Buffalo, bankruptcy, and the boarding school fiction.
    “I just don’t want my friends to know, especially Charlie, that I’m working here this summer . . . you know? As an au pair . . .”
    Mara and Jacqui looked at each other. What was the big deal?
    “I know it’s stupid, but I just want to have fun this summer. Is that okay?” she pleaded.
    Jacqui yawned. Eliza’s confession meant nothing to her. Let the girl tell everyone she was the Queen of England, what did it matter to her? Mara found it harder to understand. There was no shame in living in Buffalo. Hey, she was from Sturbridge. Eliza obviously had some issues, but Mara knew it wasn’t her place to tell her that.
    “So you guys won’t tell anyone?” Eliza asked.
    They nodded. Her secret was safe with them.

you call this progress?
    IT WAS FINALLY TIME FOR THE FIRST WEEKLY PROGRESS report, even if the girls had been working at the Perrys for almost three weeks. Laurie assured them this time Anna and Kevin would expect them in the screening room at ten o’clock Sunday morning. The girls were nervous as they left their attic room and walked over to the main house.
    They had good reason to worry. The kids were getting on their nerves, constantly comparing them to their predecessors. “Astrid made us spicy tuna rolls.” “Camille always let us stay up till ten.” “Tara was so much prettier than you.” The little girls had been late for ballet twice because Mara was the only one who got up early enough to take them and she was always getting lost in the side streets.
    Plus they were all a little on