The Sweetest Thing by Christina Mandelski Read Free Book Online Page A

big red bow on it.”
    I turn to him. “Stop it, okay. I don’t care about a car. It’s just …” I don’t want to go. I don’t want my dad to go. I’ve almost found Mom. Maybe I could have a real family again.
    At least have both parents in the same place. Why doesn’t he understand that? “Never mind. He can’t go to New York City. I’m gonna talk him out of it.”
    We stop at the water fountain. “You wanna know what I think?”
    “No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me anyway.”
    He bends over and takes a drink, then stands up and smiles at a waving freshman girl who clearly has a humon-gous crush on him.
    “I think you fear change.”
    “I do not fear change.”
    “No, you’re wrong. You are most definitely afraid of change. But you must remember, Grasshopper,” he says in his best kung fu accent, “sometimes change is good.”
    I have to laugh. “Oh, right. I haven’t had enough change in my life? Huh, Grasshopper?”
    He nudges my side. “Maybe it’s time for the good kind of change.”
    53

    I laugh again. But as we pass the glassed-in administra-tion offices on the right, all talk of grasshoppers and change vacates my brain. Ethan is exiting the office, and he steps right into my path.
    “Oh, sorry,” I say, attempting to move out of his way. As I do, I stumble on a crack in the linoleum. I start to fall and prepare for extreme embarrassment. But I don’t make it to the floor, because Ethan reaches down and rescues me. He’s holding my arm.
    My eyes travel from his feet all the way up to his blue blue blue eyes. I am a powerless dust mite being sucked in by one of those fancy British vacuum cleaners. No hope for me
    “Hey, Cake Girl,” he says, like we talk every day.
    “Hi . . . um, hey,” I say in a voice that’s somewhere between a croak and a squeak.
    “You okay?” he asks, still holding my arm.
    No, I am not okay. I’m going to die right now. “Yeah, thanks. I’m good.”
    “Good.” He lets go and winks at me. I watch him walk away, and when he turns back around and smiles, I snap my head in the opposite direction. Real smooth.
    Jack blows through the front door of the school so hard it slams into the wall. “If you were going for cool, you blew it big-time,” he says as I catch up with him on the front steps.
    I smack his arm. “Thanks a lot. Real supportive.”
    He smirks. “You want me to support your liking that guy? Sorry, but that ain’t happening.”
    54

    “Jack?” I smile. “I thought you wanted me to change? A date would be a change!”
    “Date? Do you ever listen to me? That guy will date you, get what he wants, and then move on to the next available sucker.”
    I’m not smiling anymore. “Oh, so now I’m a sucker?”
    We stare at each other.
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “It was implied.” I hoist my bag up on my shoulder.
    “God, Jack.” I say, and walk away. “I’m going to work.”
    “I saw the way he looked at you, Sheridan. You’re on his radar. Just be careful,” he shouts to my back.
    I wave him off and wind my way down salty, wet sidewalks. Pretty odd for the middle of April. But “pretty odd”
    fits perfectly with the rest of this bizarre day.
    I turn down our alley and all of a sudden the day gets infinitely weirder. Blocking the whole road is a line of shiny black limos. My feet do an about-face. I’ll head back around to Main Street and just go to the bakery. Home can wait.
    “Sheridan!” It’s my father. “Sheridan!”
    I keep walking in the opposite direction, trying to control myself. I can hear him running through the crusty snow.
    “Hey, stop!” He catches up and touches my shoulder.
    He’s wearing jeans and a University of Chicago T-shirt. Almost looks like a normal dad; not like a soon-to-be celebrity.
    “Hey, what’s up?” I say, but don’t give him a chance to answer. I point backward with my thumb and swallow.
    55

    “Gotta get to work.”
    “I talked to Nan. You’ll be late. There are some people I