The Year I Became Isabella Anders (Sunnyvale, #1)

“I’m not sure he’s going to change his mind about this. Usually, I’d say yes—that his threat was one of his temper tantrums—but this time he seemed pretty dead set on you keeping your distance from me.” Determination fills her eyes. “I can make it happen, Isa. Just say you want to live with me, and I’ll make sure to get you out of that house.”


I take in her kind eyes that have dark circles under them, and her pale skin. She looks way more worn out than the Grandma Stephy I know. The fight she had with my dad today must’ve gotten to her more than she’s letting on.

“I’m fine,” I assure her as confidently as I can. “Besides, I don’t want to have to change schools and be known as the new girl for my senior year.”

“You never know. Being the new girl might give you a chance at a fresh start, which was what you and Indigo were always yammering about during the trip. Every damn night, that’s all I heard while I was trying to fall asleep.” She tries to appear annoyed, but a trace of a smile forms at her lips.

She’s right. Starting a new school could give me a fresh start, and hey, maybe I’d even make some new friends and no longer have to be Loner Girl. But putting more stress on Grandma Stephy is definitely something I don’t want to do.

“Can we talk about me living with you in a couple of weeks? Maybe after my dad’s cooled off, he might be more willing to agree to let me go.” I’m almost certain he will. It’s not like he wants me there anyway.

“Maybe.” She sounds pretty skeptical, though, which makes me wonder exactly what was said during their argument. Her shoulders slump forward as she sighs. “If that’s what you want. But only if you promise to call me the moment things get too bad.”

Things have been bad for years now, but I don’t point that out. “All right, I promise.” And just because I know it’ll make her smile, I stick out my pinkie. “In fact, I pinkie swear.”

She shakes her head, but her smile breaks through and she hitches her pinkie with mine.

The moment we pull away, my dad comes storming in.

“Get. Out.” He looks at Grandma Stephy as he points toward the exit. “Now.”

“Watch your tongue, young man.” Grandma Stephy collects her purse from a chair and slings the handle over her shoulder. “You might think it’s okay to talk to your mother like this, but it’s not. You will respect me.”

“I’ll respect you as much as you respect me,” he growls, stepping toward her. “Telling Isa what you did. You had no right.”

“I’m not going to get into this with you again,” she replies as calmly as she can. “I’m going to go home, and I’ll call you in a few days when you’ve calmed down.”

“Don’t call ever again,” he shouts after her as she walks out of the room. “And you’re never to see Isa again.”

“Dad, stop,” I hiss. “Leave Grandma alone. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

My dad’s attention whips back to me and, by the anger in his eyes, I expect him to yell at me. But when he speaks, he’s unsettling composed. “We’re not going to talk about this ever again. No mention of it, okay?”

I shake my head. “No. I’m going to mention it. A lot. And I’m going to bug you until you tell me who my mom is.”

He ignores me, his back as stiff as a board. “I’m going to go get the doctor.”

Before I can get another word out, he leaves the room.

I grit my teeth, more furious than I’ve ever been. I make another vow to myself right then and there that the second I get home, I’m going to get my hands on my birth certificate.





OKAY, SO I might have been too confident at the hospital about how easy it was going to be to get ahold of my birth certificate. I’ve been searching the house for days and haven’t stumbled across it yet. I did find Hannah’s in a trunk in my parent’s room, so logically it seemed like mine should be in there too. But nope. Not even my social security card was in there. I even tried looking for information on the Internet, but all that came up under my name was my blog and the last entry I made on it, where I broke down and rambled on about my search for my mother.

I thought about deleting the post right after I wrote it, but since I have three followers and none of them are from around here—except for Grandma Stephy—I decided it’s okay to leave it up. Plus, it felt kind of good to talk about it aloud . . . well, aloud in a way.

To add more complication to my life, Lynn and my dad have gone into Isabella Doesn’t Exist Mode. They refuse to acknowledge when I’m in the room, when I speak, or even when I ‘accidentally’ dropped a glass cup on the floor to try to get their attention. My dad did make eye contact with me a couple of times, but mostly he just stares at me like he’s seen a ghost. The look is honestly creeping me out.

If it weren’t for Hannah, I’d seriously believe I somehow got ahold of an invisibility cape and am unintentionally wearing it. But she lets me know I still exist in the visible realm, in a very, very Hannah-like way.