Tangled Read Free Page A

asked me first, so I thought he was joking. I actually chortled and said, “Ha! No! I’ll have iced tea.”
    When he asked Skye, she nodded serenely and he filled her flute. But by that point, I couldn’t take it back and say, Oh, hey, I’m a big fat follower and I want some too.
    I guzzled my first glass of iced tea and they brought me another. Skye slowly sipped her drink. Luce talked about plans and how she thought we could hang out at Paradise tomorrow and explore the island the nextday. Luce must be almost fifty, but she looks thirty. She’s beautiful and petite and her blond hair is silky smooth. Skye’s dad died before she was born, and my mom has told me that Luce has no interest in finding a husband. Not like she needs someone to support her. She owns an apartment in New York City and a house in the Hamptons, and they obviously have extra cash to fly first class to vacations like this.
    The waiter came back to our table. My mom and Luce ordered the snapper and fried plantains. Skye got chicken salad with ginger-carrot dressing on the side. I was eyeing the creamy seafood risotto, but now that Skye ordered salad I couldn’t exactly get a trough of fatty carbs. So when it was my turn I pretended to study the menu really hard in an attempt to look like I wasn’t copying and then I ordered the chicken salad. Dressing on the side.
    As we were eating, Luce asked my mom about my brother. Then my mom asked Skye about her acting and Skye and Luce began talking about Janet, Skye’s manager. They all sipped their champagne. I downed a third class of iced tea.
    Toward the end of dinner, I went to the bathroom. When I got back to the table, Skye was gone. Our dishes were cleared and my mom and Luce were glancing atthe dessert menu.
    “Where’s Skye?” I asked, settling into my chair.
    “She went back to the room,” Luce said. “She’s been working so hard recently. She’s just exhausted.”
    “Is she getting over Matt?” my mom asked.
    “You knew about Matt?” I asked.
    My mom nodded.
    “I think she is,” Luce said. “He still calls her, but Skye says she doesn’t want to get back together.”
    “How’s homeschooling going?” my mom asked.
    What? I wondered.
    “Oh, fine,” Luce said. “She’s planning to take the GED exam this summer.”
    “Skye’s not at Bentley anymore?” I asked. I was shocked. For our whole lives, Skye has gone to an elite private school called Bentley Prep. It’s the kind of school you see in shows about girls who wear teensy pleated skirts, toddle around in thousand-dollar heels, and have legs that, miraculously, never need shaving. Not that I’ve ever visited Bentley, but I’ve looked at the pictures online.
    “She wanted to have more flexibility,” Luce said to me. “More time to concentrate on her career.”
    As my mom and Luce drained their champagne flutes, I wondered what it must be like to be seventeen and have a career . The only work I have is my Saturday night babysitting gig where I watch princess movies with the four-year-old girl and, no matter how carefully I fasten the baby’s diaper, he always ends up peeing on my leg.
     
    That first night, as everyone else was sleeping, I lay awake in my bed. Of course I was awake. I slept all afternoon and drank four glasses of caffeinated iced tea. Brilliant move, Jena.
    Skye was asleep, so I turned on my light and opened Dandelion Wine . I was at this part where a guy, Leo, decides to build a Happiness Machine that’ll make people delighted to be alive. I slipped my everything book off the bedside table and jotted down Happiness Machine . I tried to picture what I’d have in my Happiness Machine. A boyfriend? Definitely. But not like Leora’s boyfriend, who laughs when he burps and acts like his farts are a gift from God. I want someone mature and kind, someone who loves me for who I am.
    Of course, by chapter thirteen, Leo’s Happiness Machine goes bust and anyone who sits in it weeps uncontrollably.