The Boy I Love Read Online Free Page B

was finally happening now instead of just in daydreams, and that everything for the next three years might just work out okay. So I spent an unusual amount of time in front of the mirror, straightening my hair. Unfortunately, I have never been any good at doing hair, so I ended up givingup and pulling it into a high ponytail. I didn’t put on any makeup, partly because Dad wouldn’t allow it and partly because after my ride with Mom, my cheeks were nicely pink. I put on my Anthropologie dress and knew I would feel good about myself till I saw Allie walk out the door looking like a supermodel. Here’s what I’ve found works best in such moments of jealousy: Just stop and admit that’s what you feel. Don’t fight it or try to give it a different name. It may be ugly, but if you don’t resist it or make excuses for it, it passes pretty quick.
    My main worry when I came down the stairs was that Dad would send me back up to change. Through the screen door I could see my parents and Holly standing together at the bottom of the porch steps. They all sounded just sad, Holly’s voice full of tears. Her back was to me, but I could see her wave her hand in a sweeping gesture toward our land.
    â€œMaybe it’s just as well,” Holly was saying. “It was all built on blood anyway, blood and shame. Maybe we should just let it go.”
    â€œBut the horses.” I could hear my mom’s voice catch, not wanting to argue with Holly, but not able to stop protecting what mattered most to her—her horses, her strays. Speaking of which, a one-eyed tabby who’d have nothing to do with anyone but Mom wound its creaky body around her ankles as she spoke. “Where would all the horses go?” my mom said, and my dad put his arm around her shoulders.
    What were they talking about? Giving up our farm ? I froze at the thought, and at not wanting them to know I was listening.
    I heard Holly say, “I love what you do here, Elizabeth, I truly do. But wouldn’t it be better, more fitting, if we just gave the place back to the people who worked it? We could track down all the ancestors of all the slaves and just deed it over.”
    â€œYou can’t give away what you don’t own anymore,” Dad said. His voice sounded dark, and I thought that was a very odd thing to say. Whose else would this place be if not ours? I hated the way Dad’s shoulders slumped, and the way Mom’s neck tensed, and I couldn’t stand hearing another word. I pushed the door open with as much noise as I could make, knowing my presence would stop the conversation cold.
    The three of them turned. Holly whistled. “Look at you, pretty girl.”
    Dad shot her an evil look, and I held my breath. But he didn’t say anything about my outfit, so we all piled into Holly’s car—which was generally free of dog hair and farm implements and therefore a much more pleasant ride—and headed to the party.
    *   *   *
    I was so glad that Holly came with us. If it hadn’t been for her, my dad would have insisted on walking over to the dunes and checking out the party himself. I realized thiswhen we pulled up to the beach access and he took off his seat belt at the same time Allie and I did.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” I asked. “You don’t need to get out of the car.”
    â€œThat’s your opinion,” Dad said. Allie and I looked at each other, panicked. If Dad was going to escort us to the party like we were a pair of three-year-olds, there was no point in even going. We would be laughed out of the party, the school, maybe even the entire state.
    â€œOh, come on, Joe,” Holly said. “Do you have no memory at all? Let the girls go to their party without you embarrassing them to death. We’re just going to be gone a couple hours. What could happen?”
    â€œIt’s funny you of all people would say that,” Dad said,