He stood and put his arm around me. “You’re my baby sister. Why don’t you stick to being that. Not my mom or my loan officer.”
“I can do that.”
He smirked. “I don’t know that you can, but we’ll both work on our weaknesses.”
“Deal.” I looked up at the skylight above us. “Your house really is cool. Maybe I’ll have to crash here when I come back to visit.”
“I charge rent.”
I slapped his arm and he laughed.
I clutched my roll of pennies as I pulled into the zoo parking lot. I was fifteen minutes early to work. I scanned the parking spots, hoping that Seth hadn’t arrived yet. If he had, my job would be a lot harder.
I didn’t see his car. What if he didn’t arrive at all?
If he didn’t, I’d find another way. I was going to fight for him. That’s who I was. When I put my mind to something, I gave it my all. I’d been doing that for everyone else in my life lately, but not for myself.
Carol was standing alone by the café and I was happy for that. I needed her to help me in.
“Hey,” I said.
“Maddie,” she said. “I missed you on Saturday.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t give you notice.”
“It’s okay.” She scanned her clipboard.
“Has Seth checked in yet?” I asked.
She smiled at me. “No. He wasn’t here Saturday either.”
“He wasn’t?”
“No. Is he coming today?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I hope so.” I bit my lip. “Can you do me a favor?”
“I can try.”
“Can you put me with Seth today in the Farm?”
She laughed. “Now you’re going to make the requests?”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s usually Seth. Can you assign me with Maddie? Is Maddie here yet? For the last six months that’s all I’ve been hearing.”
“For the last six months?” Tingles spread down my body, causing the hair on my arms to stand up. “Really?”
“Yes, really. That boy has a big crush on you.”
“Me too. I mean, I have one on him, too.”
“The zoo, making love connections.” Carol laughed. “Yes, I’ll put you in the Farm with Seth today. You actually need to work, though.”
“I always work.”
She wrote my name down. “I know you do.”
“And … will you not tell him that I’m here? I want it to be a surprise.”
She shook her head. “Young love. Yes, I will keep your secret. You better hurry before he shows up.”
I looked over my shoulder, worried she’d seen him, but there was nobody. “Thank you!”
I tore open the roll of pennies as I headed toward the path. Every fifteen steps or so, I placed one coin, heads up, on the ground. I didn’t do them in a straight line, but at various spots along the trail—some off to the right, some in the center, some to the left. It was possible he wouldn’t see them or notice them right away, but he’d have to notice at least a few. There were fifty of them.
Then I waited, inside the barn, on a stool, by the true-to-real-sized fake cow. It was an educational cow that had signage all around it telling the kids about itself. “You think this will work?” I asked her.
She had nothing to say in response.
The last five pennies were inside the barn and I could see them glinting in the light shining in from the open doors. I hoped they were my lucky pennies today. Or that Seth considered them lucky when this all played out. I was getting more and more nervous by the second.
The barn smelled like manure and I gave a side eye to the pigs. Perhaps this wasn’t the best place for this.
I checked my phone. It was too late to change location. He should be arriving any minute now. If he came today. “Please, come today, Seth,” I whispered. I didn’t want to wait another minute.
And I didn’t have to.
Seth appeared, looking at the ground, obviously following my trail. My heart immediately raced to life at seeing him. He bent down and picked up the next penny. I could tell he had a handful by the way his hand was positioned.
I stepped out of the alcove and into view.
His head whipped up. “You scared me,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
He held up his hand. “Did you do this?”
“I wanted you to have the best day ever.”
“If it’s better than last week, I’d be happy.”
My nervous heart seemed to drop with that statement. “I’m so sorry. I ruined a perfect night. I was awful. It wasn’t about you. So many things had been happening to me, and I had just found out people were using me, and I took it out on you. This whole thing is new for me and I haven’t handled it well. And I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
“So you trust me now?” He looked hopeful or maybe skeptical, I couldn’t tell.
I closed my eyes. “I think I always trusted you. I didn’t trust myself.”
“What changed?”
“Well, I lay down, emptied my mind, and relaxed each muscle until it felt like I’d melt into the floor. Then I let it all go. All the expectations, all the worry, all the things other people want for me but I didn’t want. And I figured out what I thought. I was staring at a certain lucky penny when I did this. That might’ve influenced me a bit.”
He shook his head. “You have a really good memory. I think those are the exact words I used.”
“I know. It’s freakish. I’m sorry.”
“No, not freakish. Just you.”
“Thanks?”
“So what did you figure out, Madeleine?”
“I don’t want to lose you. I want you in my life.”
A slow smile spread across his face but he stayed where he was, across the barn from me. He looked at the handful of pennies he still held. “Am I about to get lucky?”
My cheeks went hot. “Well … I … ”
“That came out wrong.” He put the pennies into his pocket.
“I think it came out right.” I took a few hesitant steps forward.
“I want you in my life, too,” he said.
“You do?”
“I’ve wanted it for a while now and I didn’t think you were interested and then it seemed like you were.”
“I was. I am.”
“Is there a reason we’re talking to each other from fifty feet apart?” he asked.
“I wanted to give you space.”
“I don’t want space,” he said.
And then we were both moving toward each other until we crashed in a hug at the center of the barn.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered by his ear.
He kissed my neck, then my cheek, then my lips. I kissed him back, holding on to his shoulders like I was going to lose him again.
He pulled back and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “The pig barn? That was your ideal location for this? It really stinks in here.”
I threw my head back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that until after.”
“And now we’re going to have to shovel manure after this?” he asked. “I have a pocketful of pennies that should help us bribe our way out of manual labor.”
I smiled. “You make work fun.”
“That was a yes, wasn’t it?”
“We can get one of those lemonade slushies when we’re done.”
“I just want to do more of this when we’re done,” he said, taking my face in his hands and kissing me again.
“I can get behind that plan, too,” I said. His lips tasted like a cherry Jolly Rancher. “You taste good.”
“You too.” He backed me up against the railing to the pigpens and kissed me some more.
I put my hands on his chest to separate us slightly. “I need to tell you something. Maybe I should’ve told you first.”
“You won the lottery again?” he asked, his eyes sparkling.
“Funny.”
He shrugged. “I thought so.”
>
I took a deep breath. “I’m going to Stanford.”
“Oh. Stanford?”
“Yes. But I really want to stay together … um, if you want to. You are perfect for me. I think we balance each other out well. And long distance won’t be too bad, right? And I’m going to try to come back two weekends a month to see my family, and you, if you want.” I was talking too fast, letting my nervousness show. I shut my mouth.
“I want.”
“You do?”
“Of course, Maddie.” Seth grinned. “I tried to get your attention for over six months. You think I’m just going to let you go after all that work? I don’t work that hard for anything.”
I laughed. “So then maybe you can come see me sometimes, too? I talked to a financial advisor yesterday. He put my money in investments and we worked out a budget and I told him travel back and forth was important to me. And we have a fund set aside specifically for that. And there are other funds for other things of course, but the point is, I can afford to fly you up.”
“I could drive up. It’s only six hours.”
“Six hours and two minutes of time I’d rather be spending with you. Will you let me bring you out to see me at least one weekend a month?”
“That will be hard for me.”
“To see me? To travel?”
“To take your money.”
I kissed his hand. “I know. But think of it as me buying myself a gift.”
He laughed. “I’m your gift?”
“Yes … And … will you let me loan you some money for college?”
“You don’t have to. I got a scholarship.”
Joy jolted through me. “You got a scholarship?”
“I did.”
I threw my arms around him. “When did you find this out?”
“Yesterday.”
“I’m so happy for you.”
“Me too.”
“So see, it will work out. It will all work out,” I said.
“It will. I have fifty pennies’ worth of luck to back us up.”
“Luck is for losers,” I said. “We’ll have hard work.”
“Says the girl who won the lottery.”
“Says the girl who won you.”
Thank you thank you thank you. If it were acceptable, I’d just fill the next two pages with those two words. That’s how grateful I feel to be writing books, and to have people reading my books. It’s still so very surreal to me that people want to read what I write.
So, to my readers who have stayed with me through all my books: THANK YOU!!
To my agent, Michelle Wolfson, who makes it possible for what I write to be read by others: Thank you! I thought maybe we’d get tired of each other after a while, but we haven’t . . yet. Just kidding, I really didn’t think that. You are awesome and you’re stuck with me.
To my editor, Aimee Friedman, who makes what I write better and more readable: Thank you! I love how you push me and see my vision for things. It’s fun to work with someone who gets me.
And to the rest of the Scholastic team: David Levithan, Monica Palenzuela, Charisse Meloto, Rachel Feld, Lauren Festa, Vaishali Nayak, Yaffa Jaskoll, Kerianne Okie, Susan Hom, Lori J. Lewis, Meaghan Hilton, Jennifer Ung, Olivia Valcarce, Anna Swenson, Ann Marie Wong thank you! Thanks for taking a chance on me and for the support!
Thy Dinh Bui and Marissa Huynh: Thanks for being willing to educate me and for being willing and available to read my book. Thanks for your feedback and thoughts. I appreciate it so much.
To the lovely Santa Ana Zoo: Thanks for the fun! I tried to include a lot of the zoo’s charm in the book. I did have to change some things a bit to fit my story, but I hope I was able to convey the feel and tone of this awesome zoo.
As always, thanks to my husband, Jared West, and my fabulous kids, Hannah, Autumn, Abby, and Donavan. I totally won the Awesome-Family Lottery when I was blessed with them. I love that they are mine.
I have some amazing writer friends, who are always around to help me when I need them. So much love to: Candice Kennington, Jenn Johansson, Renee Collins, Natalie Whipple, Michelle Argyle, Sara Raasch, Bree Despain.
And to my non-writer friends who I love and who keep me grounded: Stephanie Ryan, Rachel Whiting, Elizabeth Minnick, Claudia Wadsworth, Misti Hamel, Brittney Swift, Mandy Hillman, Emily Freeman, and Jamie Lawrence.
Last, but not least, my amazing extended family: Thank you, Chris DeWoody, Heather Garza, Jared DeWoody, Spencer DeWoody, Stephanie Ryan, Dave Garza, Rachel DeWoody, Zita Konik, Kevin Ryan, Vance West, Karen West, Eric West, Michelle West, Sharlynn West, Rachel Braithwaite, Brian Braithwaite, Angie Stettler, Jim Stettler, Emily Hill, Rick Hill, and the twenty-five children that exist between all these people.
The letter that I had retrieved from beneath my desk in Chemistry was now unfolded on top of my desk.
Track 8 on Blackout’s Blue album? I haven’t listened to that one yet. I only have their first album. And even though it goes against my reverse psychology theory of how I handle life, if you think it’s good, I’ll try it out. Any other bands I should add to my “shutting out the world” playlist? I could use some of that to deal with my life right now. Does that make me sound pathetic? I’m not, most of the time. I’m actually a pretty fun guy when not at home.
Guy? I blinked. My pen pal was a he? My eyes went back to the notes written on the desk—to the line that had made me think he was a girl. It was still there. His claim that he had dibs on wanting to be Lyssa when he grew up. So it had been a joke? He liked to joke.
He was a guy. A guy who liked the same music as me and was bored in Chemistry and had a sense of humor. We were soul mates. I smiled a little, then shook my head. The guy was bored and was writing me letters to pass time. He wasn’t asking me out or anything.
I realized my brain had stopped mid-letter. I read the rest.
So what should we chat about that’s not so depressing? I’m open to suggestions. Perhaps one of the following topics: Death, cancer, global warming (or is it climate change now?), animal cruelty …
I turned over the page, but that was the end. We’d filled up an entire page with our back and forth communication. Which meant I got to keep this page. I folded it nicely and stuck it in my bag.
I stared at the new, clean sheet in front of me, and then wrote:
How about we discuss the fact that you’re a guy. Let’s get married and have cute Indie Rock babies.
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing and dropped that sheet of paper in my backpack by my feet. I wasn’t even going to mention the fact that he was a he. I was going to pretend I knew all along. Because it changed nothing.
I finally got a chance in the chaos that is my house to listen to The Crooked Brookes. Brilliant. Track 4. I must’ve listened to that one five times in a row. I wasn’t sure I could trust your taste in music before, but you have now proven yourself. I will listen to anything you suggest. I’ll include a list of my favorites at the bottom of this page. Do you play any instruments? I’m a self-taught not-very-good-but-thinks-she-is guitarist. Okay, you’ve convinced me, we can start a band together. Unless you play the guitar, too. Sorry, but I won’t fight you for solo time.
I re-read what I wrote three times. It was me, but I wasn’t sure I should be me. I didn’t have the best track record with guys. But at least on paper he could read it in a smooth, confident voice, not in the way I would’ve delivered it in person: awkwardly.
It didn’t matter. Why was I suddenly worried about how he would perceive me? I wished I hadn’t found out he was a guy. This had been fun until I learned that piece of information. I had actually been looking forward to Chemistry for the last week. Something that had never happened before. And I would continue to look forward to it. We still had anonymity on our side.
Kasie West is the author of several YA novels, including The Distance Between Us, On the Fence, The Fill-in Boyfriend, By Your Side, and P.S. I Like You. Her books have been named as ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant
Readers and as YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. Kasie lives in Fresno, California, with her family, and you can visit her online at www.kasiewest.com.
Copyright © 2017 by Kasie West
All rights reserved. Published by Point, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, POINT, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, August 2017
Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll
Cover photography by Michael Frost, © 2017 Scholastic Inc.
e-ISBN 978-1-338-05802-4
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Kasie West, Lucky in Love
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