Friends ForNever Read Free

know you have a long drive back,” I told them.
    â€œAnd don’t let the door hit us on the way out, huh?” Paul said with a laugh. “Do us a favor, okay? Lie to us and tell us you’ll miss us?” He put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze.
    I hugged him back. “You know I will. I’m just so excited to finally be here!”
    Mom gave me a big hug and kiss. “Remember—you promised us a minimum of two letters a week.”
    â€œI know. I promise. And you guys send me lots of e-mails too. Especially if you have any big news.” I smiled knowingly at her.
    Paul gave me one last kiss. “We love you, kiddo. Have a great time.”
    â€œI love you guys too. Bye!” I walked out the door with them and waved as they walked down Middler Line. I was a little sad to see them go, but I could hardly wait to have my first long conversation with Nic.
    When I went back inside, she was sitting on her cot, giving me the look I knew so well—one eyebrow raised, one corner of her mouth twisted down in a frown.
    â€œWhat’s up?” I plopped down on the end of her cot. With my parents out of the way, Libby now focused on helping Patty make up her bunk.
    â€œPaul. Your new ‘dad.’” Nicole made quotation marks in the air with her fingers. “All that hugging and kissing and ‘we love you, kiddo’? Darcy, how can you stand it?” She grabbed my arm sympathetically. “Who does he think he is?”
    â€œOh come on, Nic. He is my stepfather now, you know.”
    â€œExactly. With the emphasis on step . Is he going for a Father of the Year Award or something? Richard never acts like that with me, thank God. And he and Mom have been married for three years.”
    â€œPaul’s just the huggy type,” I explained. “I don’t mind it. He’s not my father, but he’s still a member of the family.”
    â€œWow, he didn’t waste any time, did he? He and your mom have been married—what? Three months? And now you’re all one big happy family?” Nicole rolled her eyes like she couldn’t believe Paul would be so bold.
    â€œIt’s four months, and yeah, we are one big happy family. You say that like it’s a bad thing.” I couldn’t believe it! Here Nicole and I were, together for the first time in six months, and we were . . . not exactly fighting, but close.
    Nic shook her head and smiled. She must’ve been thinking the same thing about where this conversation was going, because now her tone was completely different. “It’s so great to finally see you! You’re already tan. And your hair—I love it longer.”
    The tan I couldn’t do much about. Blake and I both have Mom’s Italian complexion. My hair had been short last summer, but I’ve been letting it grow. It’s dark brown and it curls like crazy, but the longer it gets, the more it straightens out. I’ve always envied Nic’s pencil-straight, caramel-colored hair. She can wear it up, down, in braids, or in a ponytail, which was how she had it today.
    â€œThanks. Cute earrings,” I said, looking at the tiny hearts in her ears. “Hey, those look familiar. Did I give those to you?”
    Nicole laughed and touched her earlobes. “Not exactly. You left them at my house when you came for New Year’s Eve, remember? I was going to mail them to you, but I never got around to it. Then I planned to bring them to camp, but I was so afraid I’d forget them that I stuck them in. Want ’em back?”
    â€œDon’t worry about it right now.” We both laughed. Last summer I’d come home with half of Nic’s clothes in my trunk, and she had a bunch of mine. We swap back and forth so much we sometimes forget which clothes are whose.
    â€œAre you trying to torture me or something?” Nicole asked. “Ten minutes we’ve been together and you still