Page 21 of Surfside Sisters

“I’m right.”

“Why are you in love with him, then?”

“Because love is so irrational,” Isabelle moaned. “Come on, let’s find a way to go together. Pleeeeeeze?”

“Sure,” Keely agreed. “If Jasper asks me.”

—

The Whalers won the homecoming game. Tommy Fitzgerald, the quarterback, drilled the ball right to the running back three times in a row. People in the bleachers screamed themselves hoarse. Tommy was mobbed at the end of the game, and the school was wild with victory. The dance at the school gym was insane. When it slowed down, half the crowd congregated at Surfside Beach. Someone built a bonfire. Someone else blasted Queen’s “We Are the Champions,”from his iPod. Lots of people brought coolers of beer or flasks of something stronger. Up on the cliff, authoritieswere watching, the kids knew that, and they knew that most of those police had been students here just like they were now. They knew that if there was a problem, the police would rush in. They knew the police watching them understood what it was to be young, and silently shared in their celebration.

Jasper Childs was a good guy, low-key, undemanding. Keely felt comfortable with him. Isabelle and Jeff and Keely and Jasper hung around in a clump, and when people started dancing at the edge of the water, the four of them took off their shoes and danced, too, slipping and tilting in the cold sand, singing with the music, laughing for no reason. Some couples wandered away from the bonfire, into the darkness. Isabelle and Keely spun away from the guys and danced with each other, waving their arms, screaming and laughing. While other students slid into the shadows to smoke pot or get drunk, Keely and Isabelle existed in their own personal high, as if they were moving within the eye of a hurricane, as if they werecausingthe hurricane, they were so happy, soalive, it was their own spirits that whirled around them and into the night, filling the air with jubilation.

—

The day before Thanksgiving, school let out at noon. Half the families were traveling off island, the other half of the island families were preparing to meet friends and relatives at the ferries.

The ocean had turned a dark, forbidding navy blue. The wind seemed to need to push harder to swell the surly water. Keely and Isabelle walked home, kicking at the last scarlet leaves scattered like tapestries on the ground.

“So,” Keely said casually, “when does Sebastian get here?”

“He doesn’t,” Isabelle answered. “He’s going to his girlfriend’s uncle’s house in the Berkshires.”

“His girlfriend.”

“Yeah, Ebba. They’ve been a couple since the beginning of October. He’s going to bring her into New York when we go down for Christmas.”

“Oooh, sounds serious.” Keely made her voice light, jokey. She wanted to fall to her knees and howl.

“He’s a freshman. It’s probablyintensebut I doubt if it’sserious.”

Keely dug her fingernails into her palms. She felt like a wounded wolf. She needed to growl, to bite. “Sort of like how you feel about Tommy.”

Isabelle rounded on Keely. “No. Not like that at all, and you know it. I’m in love with Tommy.”

“He hasn’t even asked you out, Isabelle.”

“He will. He’smine.I know it. I can wait.”

Keely kicked at a pile of leaves, making them flutter up and drift back in place. “You’re a little bit crazy.”

“Hey,” Isabelle joked, “it’s part of the job description of adolescence, right?”

At Fair Street, they parted ways, heading home to do homework. Keely managed a bright smile as she walked away from Isabelle, but inside, her emotions raged like little kids did when they sat in shopping carts and their poor beleaguered moms didn’t let them have candy.

So Sebastian was dating Ebba.

It would have been nice if he’d emailed her to tell her so she could let go of her hope.

She’d been a fool, anyway, to believe Sebastian had romantic feelings for her.

No, she hadn’t been a fool! Sebastian had started it. He’d been—hewasa totalrat.

She hated him. No, she wouldn’t waste her time hating him. She would forget about him.

—

Keely’s mother worked all holidays so that nurses with small children could have the time off. Keely’s father didn’t mind. Friends invited him and Keely to their house for Thanksgiving dinner. Keely was happy to sleep late, loll in bed, reading something that had nothing to do with school.

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