“You have to name the baby something unique,” I say. “There is a boy at my school named Estaine. How cool is that? And I love my name.”
“Estaine. I like it,” Nora says.
“Oh, so you’re finally agreeing it’s a boy,” Dad says. “And I’m not naming my boy Estaine. That just makes him sound like a prissy rich kid.”
“Actually, Estaine at my school is so not prissy,” I say. “Though, he’s definitely rich. His name is, seriously, Estaine Rinaldi.”
“Uh,” Nora says.
“But he’s my friend. He’s kind of awesome,” I say.
“Just friends, though. Right?” Dad asks.
“It’s okay if he’s more than a friend,” Nora says. “You’re sixteen now. I was sixteen when I had my first serious boyfriend. I dated a guy from my junior year of high school up until my junior year of college.”
“Why’d you break up?” I ask.
“I got the chance to study abroad. In Rome,” she says. “I thought about turning it down, but I realized I wanted to go to Rome more than I wanted to be with the guy. I broke things off and knew if we were meant to be, someday we’d get back together. A year later, when I came back, he was engaged to another girl. And then I met your father. The rest is history.”
Nora is only twenty-five and my father is thirty-seven, but I think they’re perfect for each other. My dad was pretty unhappy before he met Nora. I mean, he always put on a brave face for me, but when he met her, his life changed. And now he’s starting a family with Nora, and it’s perfect. The best part is I get to be in their family, too. I love Nora and I know she feels the same about me.
“That’s so romantic,” I tell Nora, letting out a girly sigh. “It would be nice to have a boyfriend in high school. Like, somebody to go to homecoming and prom with. Speaking of, I met this guy.”
“Tell me more,” she says.
“How did you already meet a guy? You’ve been there four days. What kind of school did we send you too?”
I laugh. “His name is Brooks. He doesn’t actually go to East Raven. He goes to West Raven. Which is our rival school. So, like, I’ve been hiding from my friends the fact that I’m talking to him. But. Oh. My. Gosh. He is so hot. Like... his face belongs on a billboard hot.”
I would say his body belongs on one, too, but I’m pretty sure that would freak my dad out.
“Send me a picture,” Nora says.
“Okay,” I say, putting my phone on speaker. I send her the selfie he took the night I met him.
A few seconds later, I hear her phone go off.
“Wow. He’s cute,” Nora says.
“Let me see,” my dad says, then grunts. “He looks too old for you.”
“He’s a junior. Which means he’s my age,” I say. “And I’m sure he comes from a respectable family.”
“Uh huh,” Dad says, not convinced. “I need his first and last name. I’m going to do a background check on him and his family.”
“Dad...” I groan.
“What? I’ve got to make sure they’re not Democrats,” he says.
I laugh. “Dad, you sent me to school in Massachusetts. I’m pretty sure that everybody here is Democrat.”
Dad is silent for a moment, probably reconsidering his decision. A few days ago, I might have used this to my advantage, and convinced him send me to school somewhere in a warmer climate, but now that I’ve started making friends, I don’t want to leave.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re democrat or republican,” Nora says. “Your father and I will be nice to the boy either way. Promise.”
“Thanks,” I say, imagining that Nora is giving my dad a stern look. She’s a hopeless romantic and has been waiting a long time for me to finally be interested in a guy. Correction—a real life guy. I’ve had lots of TV or movie crushes on fictional characters, but never on a guy in real life.
“I’m proud for you, Phoenix,” Nora says.
“Thanks,” I say again. “So, I’d better get off here. Curfew is at ten, so I need to get back to my dorm.”
“Goodnight,” Dad says. “We love you.”
“Love you guys, too.”
When I hang up the phone, I have one simple text from Estaine.
ESTAINE: We need to talk.
No.
No, we don’t.
I ignore the text and finish walking to my dorm.
Wednesday, August 23
Easier said…
For breakfast the next morning, I go super early, grab food and eat it in my dorm room. There is absolutely no way that I can face Estaine after last night. He most likely thinks that I’m a pathological liar. I have no idea what I’m going to say to him. Unfortunately, lunch is a completely different story, and the only open spot at the table when I get there, is the one right beside him.
Seriously?
I look at the table for a second or two, debating my options.
Should I run away?
But Teagan spots me and waves me over. I take a deep breath and just suck it up. I’m going to sit there.
And I look at everybody at the table besides him.
I realize that I am being completely immature and irrational, but I don’t know what else to do. Avoid. Ignore. And hope that eventually he will just forget that he ever saw what he did.
Or, I can tell him the truth.