Unmaking Hunter Kennedy by Anne Eliot Page A

“What’s he like?”
    Oh, sort of exactly like Hunter Kennedy?!!
    Vere bit back a giggle, shoving her toothbrush into her weekend bag and answered, “I don’t know yet. You know how it is. Hard to break the ice at first. Awkward mostly.”
    At least some of what she’d said wasn’t a complete lie. Vere’s heart sped up and then clenched. Twisting with guilt.
    Best friends tell best friends when famous rock stars moved in next door, don’t they?
    GuardeRobe was one of Jenna’s many rock-band-religions.
    She probably followed Hunter Kennedy on Twitter! If Jenna ever found out Vere had kept this information from her, she’d make Charlie’s reaction to Hunter Kennedy seem puny and quiet.
    She’d also murder me. Never speak to me again. EVER.
    Which would be easy, because I’d be dead from the part where she’d murdered me.
    “Did you work on your mom to relent and let me drive up to the cabin? At least for Sunday night?” Jenna whined. “It’s such a long weekend.”
    “No. You’re banned. Mom’s convinced that Charlie and I are going to be this guy’s new besties. That’s the project. She wants us to bond with him minus any other friend distractions. She says you and I would disappear and ignore him. Probably true.”
    “Gah. Bummer. You? Bonding with a guy? Has your mom forgotten exactly who you are? Is the guy hot at least? What’s his name?”
    “Dustin. Dustin McHugh.”
    “He sounds hot. Scottish last name hot.” Jenna’s tone had turned hopeful.
    Vere laughed. “Yeah. About that. You’ll have to see him for yourself. He’s not...your type. And he’s sure not my type.” She snorted, not needing to fake the annoyance in her tone, remembering how he’d called her a gnome-stick-tumbleweed. “He’s more of a—”
    “He’s ugly. Admit it.”
    “Not ugly—just—different. Kind of tall. Seemed nice once we broke through the stiff introductions. Charlie’s not into it though. He and Mom got in a fight about Dustin’s presence screwing up Charlie’s precious senior year. ”
    “Gah. Guy must be hideous if your brother had to battle.”
    Vere sidestepped the lies again. “However he looks, I think it will be good for me to try to make friends with him. You know, to have a guy-best-friend."
    "Are you serious?"
    “Yeah. It might help me get over my problem. And we could use him like some kind of bodyguard. Um...he’d be good for that.”
    Jenna sighed, “What would a bodyguard do for us? Battle our invisible boyfriends?”
    Vere laughed. “Heck yes. Invisible boyfriends can get really out of hand.”
    “Hmm.” Vere could hear the pout in Jenna’s tone. “As if you need friends other than ME. You’re lucky I’m not feeling jealous. I can tell from the sound of your voice that you’re serious about his potential—and that he’s a total, hideous geek whom you will probably never love more than you love me.”
    “Hey. That’s not nice. You haven’t even met him.”
    “Fine. But I reserve the right to veto this new friend. We have enough problems trying to be cool without you adopting a social charity case into our lives. Your parents and Nan can’t expect us to hang out with him all the time, can they?”
    “Yes. They expect us to hang with him. Hopefully he will be half-cool because I’m not going to hurt Nan’s feelings, or his. Nan says he’s here for the year, but Dustin’s hinted it might only be for a few weeks. I’m not sure of his exact deal, but I’ll find out.”
    “Ugh. You do that. And tell your mom she sucks for not letting me go,” Jenna whined again.
    “I’m sorry.” Vere was surprised how quickly Jenna had bought into the idea of Dustin McHugh the possible freak. Maybe everyone else would do the same.
    She yanked a small duffel out of the hall closet, grabbed her swimsuit off the bathroom rack, some other favorite hoodies and shoved the whole pile into the bag. “What will you do without me?”
    “I’m going to sit here alone, eating ice-cream,