So Over It
SO
over
it
Books by Stephanie Morrill
T
HE
R
EINVENTION OF
S
KYLAR
H
OYT
Me, Just Different
Out with the In Crowd
So Over It
The Reinvention of Skylar Hoyt, book 3
SO
over
it
the
reinvention of skylar hoyt
STEPHANIE MORRILL
© 2010 by Stephanie Morrill
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
E-book edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3321-9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
For my daughter, McKenna Noelle.
Thanks for being your sunny, silly, creative self.
Love you, girl.
Contents
My eyes, innocently grazing the new releases at Blockbuster, locked on Connor Ross.
I would’ve avoided him, especially since he stood there with Jodi, but we held eye contact too long to pretend we hadn’t noticed each other.
We exchanged awkward smiles—what else could we do?—and moved closer.
“Hey,” I said, being my usual creative self.
“Hi.” His smile hung crooked. It didn’t always. Just when he felt uncomfortable. Connor hadn’t flashed me a straight smile since March. Three months and six days ago.
“Hi, Skylar.” Jodi infused her voice with warmth.
I managed to raise the corners of my mouth. I couldn’t trust myself to speak actual words to her. Even when I said simple things like, “Hi,” it always sounded angry and bitter. Two things I felt, but had no intention of her knowing.
“What are you guys doing here?” I asked, then nearly cringed. Hello—what else would they be doing at Blockbuster? Connor acted nice about it. “Trying to find a movie that’ll make everyone happy.”
“Not an easy task.”
“Cevin’s the real toughie,” Connor said with a grin.
Both Jodi and I laughed—Cevin’s the Ross family’s dog—then stopped and looked at each other. So awkward.
“Well. I better go.” I waved the case of my selected movie, as if to prove my hasty departure had nothing to do with them, that I was, in fact, ready to leave. “Abbie’s waiting in the car.”
Connor took a step closer to me, blocking my exit. “So, you leave Thursday, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“I bet you’re excited.”
“Yeah.”
“Chris says your family’s going with you? That they’re staying for a couple weeks?”
“Yeah.”
“It’ll be good for Abbie to get away.”
“Yeah.” Okay—time for a new word. “She’s nervous about the flight.”
“I’m sure.”
I loved his eyes, so round and expressive. Looking into them now made me long for a few months ago, when he looked at me with obvious tenderness. Now he always seemed on guard. Why? Did he think if he looked at me normally, I wouldn’t be able to control myself? That I’d lunge for him and confess my undying passion? Please.
I’d
broken up with
him
.
My cell phone sang from my back pocket, and I realized we’d been standing there staring at each other. Connor’s face reddened and mine would’ve too if not for my dark skin.
“I’ve got to take this,” I said, though if I hadn’t been with them, I’d have pushed Eli’s call into voice mail.
“If I don’t see you before Thursday . . .” Connor didn’t seem to know how to complete his thought.
I took several steps backward, toward the checkout counter. “Have a good summer, guys.”
“You too,” Jodi said with a big smile.
I scanned her face for signs of triumph. After all, she’d gotten what she wanted. While Jodi and Connor weren’t officially dating, they appeared to be taxiing for takeoff. An afternoon movie with the family? It didn’t get more “girlfriend” than that. And surely Jodi felt my spending the summer in Hawaii was the final nail in the coffin of my relationship with Connor.
I
did. Or at least I hoped it’d be the final push to me finally putting the past where it belonged—in the past.
But no matter how hard I tried to make something sinister of Jodi’s smile, she seemed genuine.
Connor didn’t smile, not even his crooked one. He looked like maybe he had something else to say, but he let me walk away without even a good-bye.
I turned and answered my phone with a curt, “Hey.”
“We still on for tonight?” Eli asked. In the background I heard distinctive pool sounds—shrieking kids and splashing. “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Okay. Later.”
“Later.”
I glanced over my shoulder as the cashier rang up my selection. Connor and Jodi’s heads bent over a movie, reading the back blurb. From what I’d heard—convoluted gossip passed down from Madison—Jodi was totally smitten. She thought she and Connor could have a real future together.
Connor’s feelings seemed murkier. No one knew what he thought.
I needed to look away. I couldn’t get caught staring at them. But then Connor’s head tilted discreetly, and he looked over his shoulder at me. His eyes shone with regret. Same as I felt in my heart but didn’t admit to anyone. Not even my sister, Abbie.
I waved and forced a smile, then grabbed my movie and headed into the steamy afternoon.
Abbie looked just as sour when I got in the car as she did ten minutes ago when I got out. Maybe sourer.
“Did they have it?” she asked.
I tossed the movie to the floor. “Yep.”
“It took you so long, I thought you must be trying to pick out a different one.”
I ground my teeth and started the car. Each day it got harder and harder to ignore Abbie’s mood. She rarely said anything blatantly mean. Instead, she sulked and sighed and draped cloaks over her insults.
I rammed the gearshift into reverse. As I waited to turn onto the busy road, Abbie noticed what I’d hoped she wouldn’t.
“Isn’t that Connor’s car?”
I glanced at the familiar Chevy Tahoe. “Looks like it.”
“Was he inside?”
I hesitated only a second. “I didn’t see him.”
“You’re leaving for Madison’s already?” Mom asked as I entered the kitchen. She stood at the counter, transferring leftover takeout into Tupperware. Even doing mundane tasks like handling discarded food, she still managed to look beautiful and regal.
“Yeah.” I hitched my overnight bag higher onto my shoulder. “Where’s Abbie? I wanted to say bye.”
“I’m right here.”
I turned to the living room. Abbie’s hand waved over the back of the couch.
“I’m heading out,” I said, stepping to where I could see her sprawled on her side.
“Yeah, I heard.”
Owen slept beside her, turned into her body. After three months, you’d think I’d be used to seeing Abbie in a mother’s role, but sometimes the surprise of it still hit me. Especially on days when she skipped makeup and braided her hair in two tails. She looked even younger than fifteen-almost-sixteen.
“See you tomorrow, pal.” I stroked his silky dark hair, but he didn’t stir. Looking at him, I suddenly didn’t want to spend the night at Madison’s, away from him. And what would he be like in two months when I returned from Hawaii? Technically we’d only spend six weeks apart since they’d be there the first two, but even just six weeks . . . He changed so often, so rapidly, I ached to think of what I might miss.
“Aren’t you going?” Abbie asked.
“Right.” I dropped a kiss on Owen’s forehead. “Bye.”
An early evening rain shower had come through, stealing away the humidity. I rolled my windows down as I drove, appreciating the fresh summer smells and cool breeze. Perfect outdoor weather—warm enough for shorts, cool enough for long sleeves as the sun set.
Lisa stood at the end of her driveway, dressed in one of her usual way-too-tight ensembles. After I’d pulled alongside the curb, she slid into the passenger seat with a mischievous grin. “You look nice.”
“Same thing I’ve had on all day.”