The Grass Is Always Greener Read online

  “Why?” Izzie sounded flustered. “Grams used to let me stay overnight at my friends’ houses all the time.”

  “Bill, you’re making too big of a deal out of this,” Zoe agreed.

  “This does not concern you,” Mira’s dad said tightly. A photographer kept taking pictures. Mira suspected he was from the Gazette.

  For some reason, her dad’s comment seemed to tick Zoe off. “She’s almost sixteen, Bill. You can’t monitor every move she makes. She’s not a caged bird.”

  Izzie turned to Mira’s mom while they argued. “I really can’t go?”

  Mira’s mom glanced at her husband. The cop was pulling him away and Zoe followed unhappily. “Let’s discuss this tonight, okay?” she said. “You just enjoy the parade.” She smiled as the photographer took a picture from a distance.

  Mira didn’t say anything, but she knew what her parents’ response would be tonight, and the next day and the day after that. Tenth-grade girls did not get to go away with their boyfriends overnight. Ever.

  Thirteen

  Mira had been pacing in Izzie’s room for the last fifteen minutes. If she kept this up, she was going to leave a permanent indent in the carpet. “Let’s go over this again,” Mira said as much to herself as to Izzie. “If Mom and Dad ask where you are, I’m going to say, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

  “Yes,” Izzie repeated slowly and for the thousandth time. “You’re not lying if you technically don’t know where I am.”

  “But I do know!” Mira freaked. She reached for the first thing she saw, which was Izzie’s Lambie blanket. She gave it a squeeze. “You’re going to USC with Brayden!”

  Izzie pried Lambie out of Mira’s hands while simultaneously shaking her sister. “They’re not going to ask you! And if they do ask, say anything—I’m at the community center, Corky’s—just stall. I’ll be on my way home before the big birthday dinner your mom planned.” She frowned. “I still wish we weren’t having one. Brayden will put me on a three PM bus and I should be home by seven. They will never even know I’m gone.” By the time she got there, she’d only have a few hours before she had to turn around and go home, but it was worth it to spend her birthday with Brayden.

  Mira was still skeptical. “You shouldn’t be going at all. It’s supposed to rain all day!” she ranted, looking almost comical in her pink striped pajamas. “And Ms. Mays is bringing by sample party favors. Don’t you want to see them?”

  “You pick one.” Izzie tried to sound soothing. “You’re better at that stuff. Remember when you asked me what kind of flowers we should have for the arrangements? I said daisies, and you said white anemones were better. I don’t even know what an anemone is!”

  “I do have good taste when it comes to flowers,” Mira admitted.

  Izzie stuffed her iPod and wallet in her messenger bag. “Okay. I think I have everything, so I’m going to go, and I’ll be back before anyone even knows I’m gone.”

  Mira bit her lip. “Let’s hope so.”

  Izzie hated when Mira got wound up like this. Did she really think Izzie liked lying to the family? She’d been so good about keeping her nose clean. Why couldn’t her dad and aunt see that visiting Dylan was just what she needed? Zoe said it was okay, and she was technically an authority figure, so Izzie figured that was permission enough. “Stop worrying. I’ll see you tonight.” Mira remained stiff when Izzie hugged her. Then she snuck down the stairs and closed the front door behind her. Everyone was still sleeping, which is what she normally would be doing, too. She hadn’t seen five AM on a Saturday in forever, but her and Brayden’s bus left in a half hour and she did not want to be late.

  Brayden was early. When she arrived, he was waiting by the buses with a bag from the bagel store. “Happy birthday! I brought you breakfast, but I forgot a birthday candle for your bagel.” Izzie could smell the cinnamon-raisin-swirl bagel (her favorite) from where she was standing. “I figured you were so busy sneaking out that you’d forget to eat.” Brayden kissed her before handing her a bus ticket and the bag. Inside was her bagel, her favorite orange juice (no pulp), and, because it was getting closer to Easter, a Cadbury egg (her favorite chocolate of all time). “Happy birthday,” he said again.

  “Thanks,” she said shyly. “You thought of everything, didn’t you?”

  “Everything but the weather.” Brayden looked up at the gray early morning sky.

  The weather had been perfectly March-like all week. One day it was sunny, beautiful, and sixty-two degrees. The next, a cold wind blew so hard that you’d think it was December. That weekend called for all rain, which is why the street fair and Crystal Ball (which was held in a tent in town square) had been moved to the rain dates the following weekend. That changed everyone’s plans, including Brayden’s trip to visit Dylan. With Izzie’s permission, he moved his trip to her actual birthday weekend, thinking she was allowed to go. Izzie figured with all the changes, no one would remember where she was supposed to be. But that didn’t mean she still didn’t feel guilty about letting her aunt and dad down.

  “Someone said it’s supposed to rain all day.” Brayden linked his arm through hers. His blue-green eyes looked all blue in the dull light of the sky. “But I don’t care, as long as I’m celebrating your sixteenth with you.”

  Izzie had been so busy with Founders Day that she was looking forward to four hours of cuddling with Brayden herself. “Maybe we should schedule bus rides more often. It’s guaranteed alone time,” she teased as they boarded the Greyhound. The bus was only half full, so they had their pick of seats. They settled into ones near the front.

  “We could be the couple who has all our dates on a bus.” Brayden grinned. “We could pick routes blindly—that way every trip would be a surprise.”

  She laughed. “I had a hard enough time getting away for one bus trip. I’m not sure I could pull them off weekly.” She slid into the seat next to him.

  Brayden frowned. “I know. Are you sure this is a good idea? I can see Dylan anytime. I’d rather do something you want to do on your birthday.”

  “No. I’m glad we’re going there today,” she insisted. “I need to get out of EC.”

  “I know, and I want you to come, but your dad and aunt like me,” Brayden said. “If they find out where we went, I’ll be lucky if they ever let us hang out again.” Brayden slumped down in his seat and pulled his sweatshirt hood over his head as if they were being watched. Izzie assumed it was possible. The press was everywhere, but even photographers didn’t stalk on Saturdays before breakfast. At least she hoped not. He quickly texted Dylan to let her know they were on their way. “I hate that I’m going to miss your birthday dinner,” he added.

  “I told you.” Izzie nudged him. “We’re going to be together all day. I don’t need you to be at a dinner with my family, too. You should spend time with your own family.” Brayden didn’t look convinced. “If they find out where we went, I’ll deal with them,” she added, putting her knees up on the back of the seat in front of her. “Zoe thought our road trip was a great idea.”

  Brayden put his arm around her. “Ah, Zoe is playing the good cop, bad cop routine. Clever. Is that why she and your dad were bickering at the parade last weekend?” Izzie nodded. “What’s that about?”

  “I don’t know. They knew each other when my parents were dating, but my dad never even mentioned Zoe till she showed up.” Izzie gave Brayden a skeptical look as the bus began to pull out of the station. “He says it was so long ago, he forgot about her.”

  “Weird,” Brayden said. “I thought you said Zoe told all these stories at your dinner about things they had done together.”

  “She did.” Izzie couldn’t put her finger on it, but she wasn’t stupid. One of them was holding out on her. The question was, who?

  “Well, at least you two seem to be getting along now.” Brayden’s fingers tickled her hand. “That’s good, right?”

  “Yeah, but I really want to talk to her about my mom and she is always so busy. I thought her liv
ing in our backyard would make things easier, but it doesn’t.” Izzie watched the scenery whiz by. Tiny raindrops pelted the window, and it made her sad. She was tired of discussing her life. “Let’s talk about something else,” she suggested.

  “You mean there’s other stuff to talk about?” Brayden joked, but he got the hint.

  They spent the next few hours talking about school and music and even took a nap as the rain fell hard outside their window. Before she knew it, they were in South Carolina, and Dylan was standing under an umbrella at the bus station waiting for them. Her hair was in a ponytail, revealing the nautical star tattoo by the nape of her neck.

  “You couldn’t have left the rain home?” Dylan asked. She looked relaxed and happy, a sharp contrast to how she had seemed at cotillion. “I’m excited you two made it. I have so much planned your head is going to spin,” she told them as they trudged across the water-logged campus. The place made Emerald Prep look like a preschool. USC’s theater and dance building looked like a Roman temple. “I’m just mad it’s raining. I wanted you guys to see the Horseshoe. It’s part of the original campus and the buildings are gorgeous. Some are on the National Register of Historic Places.”

  “Did you just name-drop the National Register of Historic Places? That move seems a little ‘Junior League’ for you,” Brayden teased. “Emerald Cove has lots of places on that register—including our house—and I don’t think you’ve mentioned it once.”

  Dylan laughed. “What can I say? I like my school.” Dylan filled them in on her classes, her professors, and how much she liked going to a college she could get lost in. There were almost thirty thousand students, so Izzie could see how that was possible. Even in the rain, students were everywhere. When they finally made it to Dylan’s room, they looked like drowned rats. Dylan gave Izzie something to change into and threw their clothes in the dryer down the hall. Her dorm room was smaller than Izzie had expected it to be, but the decor was classic Dylan with punk rock band posters above her bed, Uglydolls for pillows, and a huge corkboard that had pictures of her friends, favorite tattoos, fortune-cookie sayings, and a school bumper sticker. “My roommate, Missy, is in California this weekend for a wedding, so we have the place to ourselves,” Dylan explained when she came back with their warm clothes. “So now that you’re dry again, what do you feel like doing? Are you hungry? It’s raining, but we can make it to my car and be at Chick-fil-A or 2 Fat 2 Fly in minutes.”

  Brayden had crashed on Dylan’s bed. He rolled over and looked at Izzie. “We have been on a bus since five thirty this morning. I’m thinking food.”

  Dylan grabbed her keys and her umbrella again. “Great. We’ll eat, hopefully the rain will stop, and then we can walk around campus. Then we’ll come back, change, and get ready to celebrate.” Dylan’s eyes glimmered. “B tells me it’s your birthday. I can think of several great parties we can hit tonight where they will definitely serenade you.”

  “Actually, Iz can’t stay. She has to take a bus back at three,” Brayden said.

  “Seriously? That’s crazy,” Dylan said. “You have to stay over.”

  “I can’t. My dad doesn’t even know I’m here.” Izzie didn’t make eye contact. She felt like a little kid.

  Dylan cheered. She reminded Izzie so much of Kylie sometimes. “You are such a rebel! I love it. Sucks that you can’t stay, but okay, don’t worry, we’ll get you back to your bus before it turns into a pumpkin. We’ll just do a birthday lunch instead.”

  The hours seemed to fly by even if the rain didn’t stop. Dylan wound up taking them on a tour of campus in the rain first and they got so wet they had to take a detour to the campus bookstore to buy sweatshirts. It was only after Izzie had plunked down money on a garnet-and-black zip-up that she realized she had no way of sneaking the jacket home. Maybe she could tell her dad that Dylan sent one with Brayden as a birthday gift. That would work, she thought as she put it on. But she still felt lousy.

  The wind had picked up and so had the storm. Izzie even heard thunder. So instead of leaving campus to eat, they decided to go to the student union. Dylan apologized that Izzie was going to miss out on the Columbia, South Carolina, birthday dining experience, but Izzie was just happy to be out of the rain. The cafeteria had food stations just like Emerald Prep, and Izzie had never met a hamburger she didn’t like. Brayden even joked he’d find a candle to stick in her burger. She had only an hour before she had to catch her bus back.

  “So how is Kylie?” Dylan asked when they were finally seated and eating. Izzie was so surprised she almost choked on a fry. “Did I say something wrong?”

  “She didn’t tell you?” Izzie asked.

  “Tell me what?” Dylan looked from Izzie to Brayden for answers. “I haven’t talked to her in weeks. She’s been ignoring my texts.”

  “That could be because she’s busy now that she’s dating Hayden, Izzie’s brother,” Brayden said. Izzie was thankful he didn’t add that she and Kylie were fighting.

  Dylan smacked the table. “How come no one tells me these things? That’s great! You must hang out all the time. I always wished my girlfriends had boyfriends when I did.” She picked up a fry. “But that never happens. Girls don’t like me around their boyfriends.”

  “I wonder why,” Brayden said under his breath, and Izzie nudged him.

  “I am texting her right now to tell her we’re together,” Dylan declared, and Izzie reached out to stop her. “Oh right! She’d tell Hayden. God, you’d think I’d be better at lying after all the practice I had growing up in EC.” Dylan put the phone away, to Izzie’s relief. “I miss Kylie. That girl is as real as they come. Next time drag her down here, too.”

  Suddenly Izzie wasn’t hungry. This was the longest she had gone without talking to Kylie since the third grade. That time, they’d had a stupid fight over who had the best pizza in town—Harborside Pizza (Izzie) or Roma (Kylie). Roma went out of business, but what good was being right if her best friend wasn’t there to share that pizza with? She quickly changed the subject. “You really seem to like USC.”

  “I love that I can be part of the crowd here.” Dylan looked around the cafeteria. “I know a ton of people already, and yet I don’t think I know anyone in here at the moment. I don’t have to be on all the time. I needed that after a few months in suffocating EC.”

  Izzie understood what Dylan meant. In Emerald Cove, everybody seemed to know everyone’s business. Some days Izzie wished she could blend into the wallpaper and disappear, but that wasn’t going to happen when she was living under the microscope of a senatorial campaign.

  A crack of thunder rattled the student union, and everyone looked out the windows. “Wow, it is really coming down.” Dylan frowned. “I hope the frat parties aren’t canceled. Last time it stormed like this, some of the roads flooded. There was no bus service for days.” Her eyes widened. “Oh shoot. You better check on your ride.”

  Izzie felt her throat tighten. Brayden was one step ahead of her. He fumbled for the return ticket in his pocket and dialed the number on it for times and route information. When she saw his brow crease, she knew she was in trouble. “They’ve suspended bus service indefinitely due to flooding,” he said, sounding worried.

  “Bummer.” Dylan took another bite of her burger. “At least now you get to stay!” Dylan obviously didn’t realize the severity of the situation, but Izzie did. Her dad was going to flip. Dylan’s phone buzzed. “And good news on the party front—my friend Mack says his frat is ready to go, rain or shine.” She laughed at something on her phone. “They’re calling it a hurricane party and are asking everyone to come in raincoats.”

  Izzie was no longer listening. She had to hear the bus-company message to believe it, but the calm voice on the recording didn’t lie. All bus service in Columbia had been suspended because of flash flooding on major highways. Service would be restored as soon as possible and they apologized for any inconvenience.

  Any inconvenience? It was a huge inconvenience!

&nbs
p; “What am I going to do?” Izzie asked Brayden. He looked green himself.

  “Say you’re staying at a friend’s house,” Dylan suggested. “They’ll never know.”

  Kylie was out. If she said she was with Violet or Nicole, her dad or Aunt Maureen would come get her. Her aunt was probably cooking a birthday dinner right now, and she was going to miss it! This lie was getting too complicated to keep up with. “I’m going to call Mira,” Izzie told Brayden. She walked to the quietest corner of the cafeteria. Rain and wind were pelting the windows. She knew without even calling what her dad was going to say. First he was going to be disappointed; then he was going to be mad. She hated the disappointed part more. But she had no choice. If she didn’t show up tonight, they would call the police.

  Unless…

  Izzie quickly scrolled through the contact list on her phone and thought for half a second before calling. “Hello?” a voice answered on the second ring.

  “Zoe!” Izzie felt relief at the sound of her voice. “Thank God you picked up!”

  Music was playing in the background. “Izzie!” She sounded giddy. “What’s up?”

  Izzie clutched the phone tightly. “I have a problem. I went to USC today with Brayden and…” She heard someone laughing in the background. “Are you having a party?”

  “Don’t tell your dad. Some friends of mine couldn’t get out on JetBlue because of the weather so they’re crashing.” Her voice was muffled for a second. “I’ll be right there!” she told someone. “Are you having fun?” Her voice sounded crackly and far away, and Izzie wondered if they were going to lose their connection because of the storm.

  “Yeah, but listen, Aunt Zoe, I can’t get home.” Her aunt was laughing at something and Izzie wasn’t sure she heard her. “The buses aren’t running because of all the rain, and they don’t know when they will start up again.”

  “What?” Zoe was laughing so hard she could barely understand her. “I’m sorry, Izzie. My friends are toddlers. Go away so I can talk to my niece! Yes, I have a niece!”