Where the Truth Lies by Jessica Warman

Author:Jessica Warman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2010-08-18T20:00:00+00:00

Renee and I part ways before I go into my dorm; she’s off to watch one of her mom’s movies with the still-awestruck and homesick seventh graders. When I reach my room, I find all three of my roommates waiting for me. None of them looks pleased.

“You’ve been out with Renee again, haven’t you?” Stephanie demands. Her bad mood has not faded since she returned from winter break. She hasn’t been willing to talk about it, but I’ve been spending plenty of time with Ethan at chorus practice, since we’re both soloists. We even have a duet together. I haven’t told Del yet.

Ethan has this incredible tenor voice that gives me chills every time I hear him sing. And the song itself is beautiful. The whole situation—after-school practices, looking into each other’s eyes while we sing—could almost be romantic. You know, if I wasn’t carrying Del Sugar’s love child.

Anyway, according to Ethan, it was a pretty grim holiday. He and Steph stayed with their mom in her new condo, and everybody cried pretty much the whole time. On Christmas Eve, a courier showed up with a boatload of presents for Ethan and Stephanie from their dad, and they all cried harder before deciding to return the presents, unopened, to their old house—where their father is now staying with his new mistress and her three-year-old daughter. Yuck.

So I don’t blame Stephanie for being angry or resentful. I can’t imagine for one second how she must be feeling. That’s just the thing, though—I’m supposed to be her best friend. I’m supposed to be there for her regardless, even if all I do is listen. That’s what Renee has been doing for me, and I haven’t even asked for it.

“I’m sorry,” I say, locking our door behind me, trying to think of what to tell them. If I admit I was with Renee, they’ll want to know what we were up to. “I was with Del.”

Despite whatever concerns they might have about him, both Franny and Grace find the whole secret-love situation with Del to be terribly romantic.

“Ohhhh,” Grace says, nodding in understanding. “Where did you go?” Before I can answer, true to form, Grace rushes on. “You went to a motel. Didn’t you? Oh my God, they went to a motel, guys.”

I narrow my eyes at her. It occurs to me that it’s beyond hypocritical for me to even pretend offense. “We went to the movies.”

Stephanie blinks at me. “You did? What movie?”

“Um, at the Mystic Theater, they’re running It’s a Wonderful Life until the end of the month.” I happen to know this is true.

Grace is getting ready to take a shower. “Well, we miss you. I know you’re in love and everything, but we are the Quad.”

“I think it’s romantic,” Franny says.

“Yeah, it’s real romantic. Weren’t you two about to take showers before dinner?” Stephanie is looking at me oddly. What does she know? She can’t know anything. How could she?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.