Ever After (East Raven Academy Book 1)(25)

“His dad?” Estaine asks.

“Um, yeah. His dad was married to my mom,” I say.

“Wait, so how did both of your parents die?”

“Plane crash,” I answer.

“Okay. So your parents were on a plane together?” he asks.

“Um...”

You know, one thing I always liked about myself was the fact that I always tell the truth. Or I try to. I hate lying. I’m terrible at it. But right now, I need to be a good liar. I need to come up with a story that is believable. But I can’t.

My phone starts ringing, which pretty much gives me the perfect excuse to avoid. I pull out my phone and see the name Dad with his face flash across my phone screen.

“I should take this,” I tell Estaine.

But he’s looking at my screen. And he’s probably thinking about how my dad definitely isn’t dead. And probably that I look a lot like my dad, because I do.

So, I do what any normal person would do.

I run.





9pm.





The rest is history.





“Hey, Dad,” I answer, sounding very out of breath. But it’s not from the running I just did. Nope. It’s from the fact that I now have to think of one epic lie to get myself out of the mess that I just got myself into. I can’t exactly tell Uncle Matty and Jake. If I did, I’m pretty sure if I did, I’d have a one way ticket straight out of Massachusetts.

“Hey, pumpkin,” Dad says. “You’re on speaker with me and Nora.”

“Hey, Nora,” I say, then add, “Hi, little brother or sister.” I look at the date on my phone. “Wait, wasn’t your appointment today? To find out the gender.”

Because, seriously. I see all these cute baby clothes and I need to know if it’s a boy or a girl. I am going to spoil my little brother or sister.

“It was,” Nora answers. “But the baby refused to change positions. So we still don’t know if we’re having a he or she.”

“Darn,” I say. “Sounds like the baby is going to be stubborn.”

“Like his older sister,” Dad says.

“We don’t know the baby is a him,” Nora says. “You could be calling our daughter a him, right now.”

I just laugh.

Dad and Nora have had this argument since she first found out she was pregnant. Nora thinks it’s a girl, Dad thinks it’s a boy. Me, I have no idea. I just know that I’m excited for January so I can meet the baby. I hope all of this terrorist nonsense is behind us so I actually can be there for the baby’s birth. I would never want to do anything to put my sibling in jeopardy.

“They also said they were a couple of days off on my due date,” Nora says. “Looks like she will be making her arrival on January first. Hopefully. I really hope I don’t go over my due date.”

“Aw, she’s gonna be a New Year’s baby,” I say.

Dad groans. “Now you’ve got Phoenix calling the baby a girl.”

“Have you guys picked out any names yet?” I ask.

“Not yet,” Nora answers. “Your father and I can’t seem to agree on any names.”

“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?”