Summer of the Geek

by Piper Banks

  “Hi,” I said softly.

  “Hi,” Amelia croaked.

  “What happened?” I asked. “Why were you in the water?”

  “I wanted to prove that I was a good enough swimmer to surf,” Amelia said. “But then I got out there, and it felt . . . it felt like I was being pulled down . . . and I couldn’t . . . I couldn’t . . .”

  Amelia broke off then, her eyes welling with tears. Her teeth were chattering, and I could see that despite the heavy gray blanket the medic tucked around her, she was trembling. I wasn’t sure if it was from cold or from shock. I leaned forward and took her small hand in mine.

  “It’s okay. Everything’s okay now,” I said.

  “I want my mom,” Amelia said. Her face crumpled, and she began to cry.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  The waiting room at the hospital emergency room had rows and rows of uncomfortable plastic seats, tables stacked with magazines three years out of date, and faded posters on the wall advertising blood pressure medication. Dex and I sat side by side, our hands clasped, both of us silent. I wasn’t entirely sure why we were waiting there—I doubted anyone would tell us anything, or that the Fishers would even want to speak to me—but the idea of leaving was unbearable.

  Someone—I wasn’t sure who—had called the Fishers. I’d given the medics Amelia’s contact information while we were on our way to the hospital, and Amelia’s mother had arrived moments after the ambulance. She ran into the waiting room, her face white with shock, demanding to see her daughter. She was escorted back to the patient area through a heavy pair of automated double doors. Mr. Fisher had arrived separately, a half hour later, looking just as shaken, although he was far more soft-spoken when he talked to the nurse staffing the counter. The nurse gestured in my direction—I suppose answering his question about who’d accompanied his daughter to the hospital—and Mr. Fisher turned to look at me. I raised a hand in silent greeting, and he nodded solemnly at me, before disappearing behind the same double set of doors.

  “This wasn’t your fault,” Dex finally said.

  I didn’t answer. My head bowed down, and my shoulders slumped forward.

  “It wasn’t,” Dex insisted.

  “I should have been watching her,” I said. My voice was so thin, I didn’t recognize it as my own.

  “It wasn’t your responsibility.”

  “But I was there. And I knew she was at the beach alone,” I said.

  “You didn’t know she was going to go swimming by herself,” Dex pointed out. “How could you have? She was supposed to be on her way home.”

  “I know how contrary she is. I should have known she’d head straight for the ocean,” I said miserably.

  “You’re not a mind reader,” Dex pointed out. “Besides, I was there, too. That makes me just as responsible as you are.”

  I knew he was trying to make me feel better, but it wasn’t working. Right now I just wanted to know that Amelia would be okay.

  “Isn’t that your dad?” Dex asked.

  I looked up to see my dad walking toward us through the waiting room. I’d called home when we first got to the hospital to let him know where I was and what was going on. Dad had offered to come right over to get me, but I told him I wanted to wait and see how Amelia was.

  “Dad?” I said, standing up so he’d see me.

  “Hi, Miranda,” Dad said, heading toward us. When he reached me, he gave me a big hug, squeezing me extra hard.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “I thought you might need some moral support,” Dad said. He smiled at Dex. “Hi, there.”

  “Hi, Mr. Bloom,” Dex said, standing, too, and shaking my dad’s hand.

  “Have you heard anything about Amelia’s condition?” Dad asked as we all sat back down on the hard plastic chairs.

  I shook my head. “No. The nurses won’t tell us anything, because we’re not family, and the Fishers haven’t come back out.”

  “Why don’t you come home?” Dad asked gently. “There’s no point in just sitting here.”

  I shook my head. “That wouldn’t feel right,” I said. “But you don’t have to stay. Dex can bring me home.” Dex nodded in agreement. After his sister picked Dex up at the beach, he’d dropped her back off at their house and then driven to the hospital. Dad shrugged.

  “I might as well wait with you for a while,” he said.

  It should have been weird sitting there in the shabby waiting room between my dad and my boyfriend, waiting for news that we might not even hear. But for some reason, it wasn’t. It was oddly comforting.

  We’d been waiting for just over two hours when the heavy double doors opened and the Fishers came out. They both looked pale and tired. Mr. Fisher took Mrs. Fisher’s arm and led her over to where Dad, Dex, and I were sitting. I stood up as soon as I saw them approach. Dad and Dex quickly got to their feet, too.

  “How is she?” I asked when the Fishers reached us.

  “Amelia’s fine,” Mr. Fisher said. “She’s resting right now, but I think they’re going to release her and let us bring her home today.”

  Relief flooded through me. She was fine. Amelia was okay. I drew in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh.

  “That’s great,” I said. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “Actually, we’re the ones who should be thanking you, Miranda,” Mrs. Fisher said. “I had no idea Amelia snuck out of the house. I heard the piano music, and I . . . I just assumed . . . I didn’t even check on her.”

  Her voice broke, and her eyes filled with tears. Mr. Fisher put an arm around his wife’s shoulders to steady her.

  “If you hadn’t been there, I don’t know what would have happened,” Mrs. Fisher continued.

  I couldn’t bear hearing this undeserved praise. I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything. I was just sitting there. I wasn’t watching her. I hadn’t even realized she’d gone in the water until she got into trouble. And even then, Dex is the one who saved her,” I said, gesturing to Dex. “He’s a lifeguard.”

  “You’re the one who went in after her?” Mrs. Fisher asked Dex.

  Dex nodded, and Mrs. Fisher lunged at him, pulling him into a bear hug.

  “Thank you. Thank you so much,” she said.

  Dex looked a bit embarrassed when she finally let him go. A faint rosy blush spread over his nose and cheeks, and he rumpled a hand through his hair.

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “I’m Richard Bloom, Miranda’s father,” Dad said, reaching to shake Mr. Fisher’s hand. “I’m very glad to hear that Amelia’s well.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Mr. Fisher said. “We’re very thankful that your daughter and her friend were there for Amelia today.”

  “But you don’t understand,” I blurted out. “It was all my fault.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” Mrs. Fisher said gently. She reached out and took my hand, which should have been weird, but was actually sort of nice. “Amelia told us what happened. She used very bad judgment. And you had no idea what she was going to do, or what would happen as a result. We’re just glad that you were there with this young man.” Mr. Fisher smiled warmly at Dex. “And that you were there to ride to the hospital with her. She told us what a comfort that was for her.”

  “She did?” I said.

  “She did,” Mrs. Fisher confirmed. She smiled at me, although tears still glittered in her eyes. Mrs. Fisher squeezed my hand and released it. “What happened today was my fault, Miranda, not yours. If I’d been watching her more carefully, she would never have been able to sneak out of the house.”

  “Amelia is pretty crafty,” I said fairly.

  “I know she is,” Mrs. Fisher said with a faint laugh. “She’s too smart for her own good.”

  “I know what that’s like,” my dad remarked.

  Mrs. Fisher wasn’t done, though. She took in a deep breath, let it out, and said, “I owe you an apology, Miranda. I should never have fired you. I’ve just been
so caught up in the idea of Amelia having this great talent . . . I somehow let it take over everything else.”

  “It’s okay,” I said quietly.

  “No, it’s not okay,” Mrs. Fisher said. “I’m not letting myself off the hook that easily.”

  Mr. Fisher put an arm around his wife’s shoulders again. “We need to spend some time together as a family, I think.”

  “Speaking of which, we should be going,” Dad said. He smiled at me. “The Fishers probably want to go back in to be with Amelia.”

  “Right,” I said. I hesitated. “I don’t suppose I could see Amelia, could I?”

  “She’s sleeping right now,” Mrs. Fisher said apologetically. “That’s why we were able to step away for a moment.”

  “I understand. But could you tell her hi from me?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Mr. Fisher said.

  My dad waited for me in his car while I said good-bye to Dex.

  “Do you mind getting a ride home with your dad?” Dex asked. “I have to get back to the pool. Jessie covered my shift, so I have to go take hers. If I leave now, I might just be able to make it.”

  “Absolutely,” I said. I smiled up at him. “Thanks for waiting with me. I didn’t realize you were missing work.”

  “No problem. Jessie didn’t mind,” Dex said, taking my hand. He hesitated. “So, we’re good, right?”

  “We’re good,” I said. I let out a small laugh and looked at the ground. “And I was so sure you were going to break up with me today.”

  “I thought you were going to break up with me,” Dex said.

  “I’m glad we were both wrong,” I said.

  “Me, too,” Dex said. He rested one hand lightly on the back of my neck, and the other on my waist, and drew me toward him, resting his forehead against mine, so that our eyes were only inches apart. I could make out every feathery fine point on his eyelashes. Suddenly Dex drew back, looking wary. “Wait—where’s your dad?”

  “He’s in his car back over there,” I said, gesturing behind me.

  “Can he see us?”

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  “Good. Because I don’t want him to see me do this,” Dex said, leaning forward to kiss me.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Charlie came over that evening. I was feeling so wrung out that I was already in bed when she arrived, even though it was only seven o’clock. I leaned back against a pile of pillows with the snowy white duvet draped over my lap. Charlie camped out at the foot of the bed. She’d brought a bag of chocolate-covered pretzels as a treat, and we took turns reaching into the blue foil bag for the candy.

  After I finished telling Charlie about Amelia nearly drowning, I filled her in on everything that had been going on with me and Dex—his leaving for school, my fears that he was breaking up with me, that for one wild moment I’d considered asking him to stay, but instead encouraged him to go. Then, even though I felt like I’d been talking for hours at that point, I went on to tell her that Sadie had asked me to move to London. I wanted to get it all out at once, and not hold back any secrets.

  “Wow,” Charlie said, her eyes wide. She shook her head. “How did I not know any of this was going on?”

  “You’ve had a lot on your mind lately,” I said. “And I didn’t say anything.”

  “Yeah, what’s up with that?” Charlie frowned at me. “Why didn’t you tell me you were considering moving out of the country? That’s not exactly a small thing.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have. I guess I wanted to figure out what I was going to do first,” I said.

  “And what are you going to do?”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea,” I said. “Right now I’m so tired, I just want to curl up and sleep for a hundred years.”

  Charlie shook her head and popped a pretzel in her mouth. She looked thoughtful as she chewed and swallowed it.

  “Isn’t it easier to make up your mind now that Dex isn’t going to be here?” she asked. “He would have been one of the reasons you stayed, after all.”

  “That’s the weird thing. Even though I’ve tried really hard not to let him affect my decision—I want to go or not go because it’s what’s best for me—I know he has been a factor. A big one. But once I found out he was going away, it didn’t seem to change how I felt about London. I’m just as unsure about it as ever,” I said. “Don’t you think that’s strange?”

  “Nah,” Charlie said, reaching for another pretzel. “You’ve been talking about writing for The Ampersand for years, ever since we were at Geek Middle. Now that you’ve finally got your spot, I’m sure it would be hard to give it up. And then, of course, there’s me.” She patted her chest modestly. “Your best friend in the whole world. You’d be heartbroken to have to leave me.”

  I grinned at her. “That’s true.”

  “And I seriously don’t think I could survive another two years at Geek High without you,” Charlie said. She shuddered. “What a hideous thought.”

  “You’d still have Finn,” I reminded her.

  “Right,” Charlie snorted. Her eyes flashed.

  “Uh-oh. What happened?” I asked.

  “Are you sure you want to hear this?” Charlie asked. “I’d understand if you weren’t up to listening to me moan about my pathetic love life right now.”

  Tired of dwelling on my own crisis, I jumped at the chance for a distraction. “No, tell me. What happened?”

  Charlie held up one hand, touching her thumb and index together to form a zero. “A big, fat nothing is what happened,” she said. “The brilliant plan that couldn’t fail? Well, it failed.”

  “Finn wasn’t overcome with jealousy?” I asked sympathetically.

  “Oh, he was. Just not for me,” Charlie said gloomily. “It turns out that Phoebe knows all about Hannah’s trick. After she left the bowling alley the other night, she apparently called her ex-boyfriend for a ride home and then went out for a coffee with him the next day. At Grounded. When she knew Finn was going to be there.”

  “That’s so obvious,” I said, my estimation of Phoebe going down a few notches.

  “I know, right? But apparently it worked. Finn flipped out, and he and Phoebe had a big talk, and now they’re back together. Thus proving that Finn is as big an idiot as I’ve always said he is,” Charlie said contemptuously.

  “I thought you were in love with him,” I said.

  “I am. But that’s in spite of his idiocy,” Charlie said, not noticing that she’d just finally admitted that she was in love with Finn. “And meanwhile, Luke won’t stop calling me. I finally gave in, and agreed to go to the movies with him tomorrow night.”

  “Is that good or bad?” I asked.

  “It’s terrible! I don’t like Luke in that way. Which means, of course, he’ll probably fall madly in love with me, because that’s what guys always do—they go for the wrong girl,” Charlie said. “It’s practically a given.”

  “Not always,” I said, thinking of Dex and the kiss we’d shared earlier that day. The memory caused a whoosh of happiness tinged with sadness to spread through me. It wasn’t the last time I’d see Dex—we still had weeks together before he left for school. But it felt like the beginning of a good-bye. I wondered if that was what it would be like from now on—if every moment we spent together, every kiss we shared would be bittersweet. I sighed and hugged my pillow to my chest.

  Charlie just rolled her eyes. “It’s probably a good thing Dex is going away to school. At least you won’t be so nauseatingly happy anymore.”

  “Hey!” I said. I whacked her with my pillow.

  Charlie just ducked and giggled. “It’s true! When I’m feeling bitter, I need to have bitter people around me.”

  “I’m not bitter. I’m sad,” I said.

  “I’ll take what I can get,” Charlie said. “Hey! Stop hitting me!”

  I put the pillow down and leaned back again. “You never know. Finn might surprise you.”

  “I don’t think so,” Charlie
said, shaking her head sadly. “If he really had feelings for me, he wouldn’t have run back to Phoebe.”

  “But Finn still doesn’t know how you feel about him. He thinks you see him as just another friend. If you told him how you felt—”

  “Absolutely not,” Charlie said, cutting me off. She flopped on her back. “I would just be setting myself up for complete and utter humiliation.”

  There was a knock on the door, and then Hannah opened the door a few inches wide. “Hey,” she said. “How did your driving test go?”

  “I passed,” I said.

  “You did!” Charlie sat bolt upright. “You didn’t tell me that!”

  “I sort of forgot in all of the excitement,” I said. “Why are you out in the hallway, Hannah? Come on in. Charlie brought chocolate-covered pretzels. Although I know you probably won’t eat them, will you?” I rolled my eyes at Charlie. “Hannah thinks she’s fat.”

  “That’s crazy talk,” Charlie said.

  The door opened an inch wider, but Hannah still didn’t come in. I could barely see her, hovering out there.

  “Something sort of happened at the photo shoot today,” she said.

  “How did it go?” I asked. Then, seeing Charlie’s confusion, I explained, “Hannah was hired to model for an ad campaign for UFO Computers. It’s actually a really big deal that she was picked,” I added, feeling an unexpected rush of pride for my stepsister.

  “Very cool,” Charlie said, clearly impressed.

  “No, it was not cool,” Hannah said. She finally opened the door all the way and stepped through.

  The first thing I noticed was her hair. It was silver. And not its usual pale, silvery blond. It was now a metallic silver, complete with sparkles. And there was something odd about her face, too, although I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. She was clearly distressed. Her eyes glittered with tears, and her mouth was a tight, pinched line.

  “Cool hair,” Charlie said appreciatively.

  “It’s not cool. It’s horrible!” Hannah said. Her voice broke on the word horrible.