The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han Page B

pro. "Tennessee? New Mexico? We have to go far so I can get good practice."
    He closed his eyes and laid his head back. "Just take a left out of the driveway," he told me.
    "Yessir," I said, turning off the AC and opening all four windows. It was so much better driving with the windows down. It felt like you were actually going somewhere.
    He continued giving me directions, and then we pulled up to Go Kart City. "Are you serious?"
    "We're gonna get you some driving practice," he said, grinning like crazy.
    We waited in line for the cars, and when it was our turn, the guy told me to get in the blue one. I said, "Can I drive the red one instead?"
    He winked at me and said, "You're so pretty, I'd let you drive my car."
    I could feel myself blush, but I liked it. The guy was older than me, and he was actually paying me attention. It was kind of amazing. I'd seen him there the summer before, and he hadn't looked at me once.
    Getting into the car next to me, Jeremiah muttered, "What a freaking cheeseball. He needs to get a real job."
    "Like lifeguarding is a real job?" I countered.
    Jeremiah scowled. "Just drive."
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    Every time my car came back around the track, the guy waved at me. The third time he did it, I waved back.
    We rode around the track a bunch of times, until it was time for Jeremiah to go to work.
    "I think you've had enough driving for today," Jeremiah said, rubbing his neck. "I'll drive us home."
    I didn't argue with him. He drove home fast, and dropped me off at the curb and headed to work. I stepped back into the house feeling very tired and tan. And also satisfied.
    "Someone named Cam called for you," my mother said. She was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper with her horn-rimmed reading glasses on. She didn't look up.
    "He did?" I asked, covering my smile with the back of my hand. "Well, did he leave a number?"
    "No," she said. "He said he'd call back."
    "Why didn't you ask for it?" I said, and I hated the whininess in my voice, but when it came to my mother, it was like I couldn't help it.
    That's when she looked at me, perplexed. "I don't know. He wasn't offering it. Who is he anyway?"
    "Forget it," I told her, walking over to the refrigerator for some lemonade.
    "Suit yourself," my mother said, going back to her paper.
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    She didn't press the issue. She never did. She at least could have gotten his number. If Susannah had been down here instead of her, she would have been singsongy and she would have teased and snooped until I told her everything. Which I would have, gladly.
    "Mr. Fisher called this morning," I said.
    My mother looked up again. "What did he say?"
    "Nothing much. Just that he can't come this weekend."
    She pursed her lips, but she didn't say anything.
    "Where's Susannah?" I asked. "Is she in her room?"
    "Yes, but she doesn't feel well. She's taking a nap," my mother said. In other words, Don't go up and bother her.
    "What's wrong with her?"
    "She has a summer cold," my mother said automatically.
    My mother was a terrible liar. Susannah had been spending a lot of time in her room, and there was a sadness to her that hadn't been there before. I knew something was up. I just wasn't completely sure what.
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    chapter twenty -three
    Cam called again the next night, and the night after that. We talked on the phone twice before we met up again, for, like, four or five hours at a time. When we talked, I lay on one of the lounge chairs on the porch and stared up at the moon with my toes pointed toward the sky. I laughed so hard that Jeremiah yelled out his window for me to keep it down. We talked about everything, and I loved it, but the whole time I wondered when he was going to ask to see me again. He didn't.
    So I had to take matters into my own hands. I invited Cam to come over and play video games and maybe swim. I felt like some kind of liberated woman calling him up and inviting him over, like it was the kind of thing I did all the time. When really, I was only doing it because