Table of Contents
ALSO BY
Sarah Dessen
That Summer
Someone Like You
Keeping the Moon
Dreamland
This Lullaby
The Truth about Forever
Just Listen
Lock and Key
Along for the Ride
Viking
Published by Penguin Group
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First published in 2011 by Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright Sarah Dessen, 2011
All rights reserved
Excerpt from Families Cheating at Board Games
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Dessen, Sarah.
p. cm.
Summary: Following her parents bitter divorce as she and her father move from town to town, seventeen-year-old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends until she is no longer sure she knows who she is or where she belongs.
eISBN : 978-1-101-52864-8
[1. DivorceFiction. 2. IdentityFiction. 3. High schoolsFiction.
4. SchoolsFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.D455Wha 2011 [Fic]dc22 2010041041
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For Gretchen Alva, with love and admiration
Break away from
what youve known
You are not alone
We can build
a brand new home
You are not alone
Ben Lee, Families Cheating at Board Games
One
The table was sticky, there was a cloudy smudge on my water glass, and wed been seated for ten minutes with no sign of a waitress. Still, I knew what my dad would say. By this point, it was part of the routine.
Well, I gotta tell you. I see potential here.
He was looking around as he said this, taking in the dcor. Luna Blu was described on the menu as Contemporary Italian and old-fashioned good! but from what I could tell from the few minutes wed been there, the latter claim was questionable. First, it was 12:30 on a weekday, and we were one of only two tables in the place. Second, Id just noticed a good quarter inch of dust on the plastic plant that was beside our table. But my dad had to be an optimist. It was his job.
Now, I looked across at him as he studied the menu, his brow furrowed. He needed glasses but had stopped wearing them after losing three pairs in a row, so now he just squinted a lot. On anyone else, this might have looked strange, but on my dad, it just added to his charm.
They have calamari and guac, he said, reaching up to push his hair back from his eyes. This is a first. Guess we have to order both.
Yum, I said, as a waitress sporting lambskin boots and a miniskirt walked past, not even giving us a glance.
My dad followed her with his eyes, then shifted his gaze to me. I could tell he was wondering, as he always did when we made our various escapes, if I was upset with him. I wasnt. Sure, it was always jarring, up and leaving everything again. But it all came down to how you looked at it. Think earthshattering, life-ruining change, and youre done. But cast it as a do-over, a chance to reinvent and begin again, and its all good. We were in Lakeview. It was early January. I could be anyone from here.
There was a bang, and we both looked over to the bar, where a girl with long black hair, her arms covered with tattoos, had apparently just dropped a big cardboard box on the floor. She exhaled, clearly annoyed, and then fell to her knees, picking up paper cups as they rolled around her. Halfway through collecting them, she glanced up and saw us.
Oh, no, she said. You guys been waiting long?
My dad put down his menu. Not that long.
She gave him a look that made it clear she doubted this, then got to her feet, peering down the restaurant. Tracey! she called. Then she pointed at us. You have a table. Could you please, maybe, go greet them and offer them drinks?
I heard clomping noises, and a moment later, the wait in the boots turned the corner and came into view. She looked like she was about to deliver bad news as she pulled out her order pad. Welcome to Luna Blu, she recited, her voice flat. Can I get you a beverage.
Hows the calamari? my dad asked her.
She just looked at him as if this might be a trick question. Then, finally, she said, Its all right.
My dad smiled. Wonderful. Well take an order of that, and the guacamole. Oh, and a small house salad, as well.
We only have vinaigrette today, Tracey told him.
Perfect, my dad said. Thats exactly what we want.
She looked over her pad at him, her expression skeptical. Then she sighed and stuck her pen behind her ear and left. I was about to call after her, hoping for a Coke, when my dads phone suddenly buzzed and jumped on the table, clanging against his fork and knife. He picked it up, squinted at the screen, put it down again, ignoring the message as he had all the others that had come si wed left Westcott that morning. When he looked at me again, I made it a point to smile.
Ive got a good feeling about this place, I told him. Serious potential.
He looked at me for a moment, then reached over, squeezing my shoulder. You know what? he said. You are one awesome girl.
His phone buzzed again, but this time neither of us looked at it. And back in Westcott, another awesome girl sat texting or calling, wondering why on earth her boyfriend, the one who was so charming but just couldnt commit, wasnt returning her calls or messages. Maybe he was in the shower. Or forgot his phone again. Or maybe he was sitting in a restaurant in a town hundreds of miles away with his daughter, about to start their lives all over again.
