Authors: Paige Harbison
New Girl (36 page)
I got in the car, and had a sinking feeling as I realized I wasn’t going to see Max again. But just as I thought it, Lily exclaimed.
“Look, it’s that guy!” She was pointing at someone running through the crowd of waiting people.
It was him. I beamed when I saw him. “Go ahead, I’ll get in in a sec.”
I ran to him, and met him about thirty feet from the car.
“I thought I wasn’t going to see you again before I left,” I said into his shoulder.
“I know. I know. I’m sorry. My parents wanted to talk to the headmaster about my performance and wouldn’t let me leave. I wanted to. I had to say a real goodbye to you.”
“Me, too.”
He gave me one last, long look, and then cleared his throat. “You’d better go.”
“I know.”
Max leaned down to kiss me on the cheek, and I held him there. I turned to look at him. He moved a fraction of an inch toward my lips.
“Lily!” my mother shouted.
I turned to see Lily running up to us. “She has to go!” she said sternly to him. She then turned and marched resolutely back to the van.
I was just starting to apologize for her when Max kissed me. I felt everything fall away, and kissed him back. When we broke apart, I realized how much I was really, really going to miss him.
“We wasted time,” he said with a laugh that didn’t quite meet his eyes.
“Yes, we did.”
“Go,” he said with a sly smirk, “or that sister of yours is gonna punch me right in the knees.”
I gave him one long look, and then ran back to the van.
“Hey, Callie,” he said, when I was a few feet away.
I turned at the sound of my name. “Yeah?”
“I’ll see you next year.”
I smiled and looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“I got into Harvard.”
I walked back to him. “
What?
I didn’t even know you were trying!”
He smiled. “I didn’t want to say anything. It was a crazy dream. I didn’t think it’d actually happen.”
“That’s amazing, Max.”
He nodded. “So if you make the right choice…and pick BU, we’ll be right next to each other.”
The urge to cry happened all over again. “I already accepted.” I smiled. “I’ll see you next year.”
We both knew there was nothing more to say. I ran to him, just to feel him one last time. He kissed me and then pushed me off toward the van.
I looked at him as we drove away. He didn’t move, but just stood with his hands in his pockets.
“You certainly had your choice of them here, didn’t you?” my mom said happily. “Where to for dinner, do you think? I saw this cute little place next to the…what was it, Eastgate Hotel? We have about four hours until the flight, and we simply must have a celebratory dinner.”
I was barely listening as the school receded out the back window. I remembered Manderley as it had been on my first day. The inside had been a mystery; the outside was a breathtaking facade of ivy and promise. Any story could have unfolded within its walls. When we drove back down the narrow road, and Manderley finally disappeared from view, I felt oddly nostalgic for the place I’d been so eager to leave. I knew now that I would never be back again. It may have burned to the ground as I drove away, and I would never know.
And as I left for the last time, I could have sworn I saw a tall, thin, blonde girl standing at the entrance of Manderley.
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ISBN: 9781459220423
Copyright © 2012 by Paige Harbison
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