Hidden by Helen Frost

Author:Helen Frost
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466896369
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

I’ve Decided

Darra

Mom writes that she’ll call on Thursday. I have to be at the office when

she calls, ready to tell Mrs. Seeger

what I’ve decided. The letter says,

I’d have to get the day off, and I should take the car in first. I

need to get a new battery. I wish she’d have

the car painted, but she thinks the battery

is more important. She says she’ll try to get the door fixed. She heard

about a place she might be able to afford.

I think: How long have I been climbing

across the driver’s seat because that door hasn’t opened since Dad

left, unless I kick it exactly right? And then I think:

I could stay at camp another two weeks if I want to.

I knew the my-dad’s-a-CEO-what’s-yours? conversation would come

up sooner or later. Usually I can avoid

answering. (“It’s hard to explain,” I say.)

I lie if I have to. (“My dad’s self-employed. He works at home

designing computer software.”) But today

when Savannah asks what my father does,

in that second it takes me to decide what to say, Wren interrupts, and I

don’t have to answer. Savannah, she asks,

what do they make at your dad’s company?

I’m pretty sure she did that on purpose. No one noticed how she turned

the conversation away from me. Savannah

finishes bragging about her dad. Then Wren

talks about her mom, who teaches college—it sounds like she goes off

on a lot of interesting trips, but Wren doesn’t

talk about that too long. She changes the subject

before anyone asks me any more about Dad, helping me avoid the

question I hate most. I look at her.

If I leave on Saturday, I’ll never

get to know her—the girl from back then, those two days on TV,

trapped in our garage. But more: who she is now.

I’m going to tell Mrs. Seeger I’ve decided to stay.

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