Free Payback by Melinda Metz - Fingerprints - 7 Page A

“Maybe you could talk to him, Em. He might have some suggestions about summer reading that would help you get a jump at UCLA.”
    “Sure,” Rae volunteered. “He lives for that kind of stuff.”
    “I’m ful ,” Emma announced. She left the table without another word.
    “I apologize fo-” Mr. Reese began.
    “Don’t apologize for me,” Emma muttered as she went through the dining-room door. She shut the door behind her before he had time to respond.
    “You know what, I’m pretty ful , too,” Mandy said. “Or at least ful to the point that I think it’s time for me and Rae to retire to my ro om with a pint of New York Super Fudge Chunk.” She stood up. “Is that okay?” she asked, starting to sit down again.
    “Fine,” her father answered, staring down at his plate as though there was a secret message hidden there.
    “Okay, then. Come on, Rae. To the kitchen,” Mandy said, her voice ful of false cheeriness.
    “To the kitchen,” Rae repeated. She fol owed Mandy.
    “New York Super Fudge Chunk is Emma’s fave,” Mandy said when they reached the fridge. “I figure it wil at least get us into her room.” Mandy pul ed a pint of ice cream from the freezer, then opened a drawer and grabbed three spoons. “Here we go.”
    Mandy took the lead again. She barged into Emma’s room without knocking. Not the way Rae would have gone. “I brought ice cream,” Mandy announced. She plopped down on Emma’s perfectly made bed, then tossed a spoon at her sister.
    Emma caught it, hesitated a moment, then sat down next to Mandy. “Don’t pick out al the white chocolate,” she warned.
    “I’m eating some of it,” Mandy answered. She patted the bed next to her, and Rae headed over and sat down. “I met this guy,”
    Mandy blurted.
    No segue. No finesse. Mandy and Rae had made a plan to work the conversation around to guys, yeah. But talk about obvious.
    She’s nervous, Rae reminded herself. She’s completely freaked out about the Emma-and-Zeke situation.
    “ Yo u met a guy?” Emma asked. She pried a chunk of white chocolate out of the rock-hard ice cream.
    “Yeah. I met a guy. He’s real y cute. And he’s the same age as me. And he rides a skateboard,” Mandy said in a rush.
    She’s talking about Jesse, Rae thought. She would have known that even if Mandy hadn’t mentioned the skateboarding part.
    She’d seen the way Mandy was looking at Jesse at the Chick Filet. Rae’d felt that same expression on her own face when she looked at Anthony.
    “And you know what the best thing is about him?” Mandy hurtled on. “He makes me feel like I can do anything. Is that how you fe el about Anthony, Rae?”
    It really sounds like she memorized a script. Rae shot a look at Emma. Emma didn’t seem to have realized she was being set up. At least not yet.
    “Yeah. Anthony’s always total y behind me,” Rae answered. “Whatever I want to do, he wants to help. Like swimming-” Or like helping me figure out what my power was, Rae added silently. “He’s teaching me to swim because I love taking long baths, but I was afraid to step into even the shal ow end of a pool.”
    Again, too much information. But it didn’t come out sounding rehearsed, at least. It came out too dorky to be rehearsed.
    “Is that how it is with Zeke?” Mandy asked.
    Here we go, Rae thought.
    But Emma seemed eager to talk about Zeke. “When I’m with him, I don’t know, it’s like there’s a heat lamp switched on inside me. And when I’m not, the lamp’s off and everything is grayer and colder.”
    Mandy shot Rae a glance that was easy to read, a look that shouted out, Oh my God. Mandy’d clearly come to the same conclu sion Rae had-Emma was completely gone, completely gaga, completely in love with Zeke.
    Mandy jammed her spoon into the ice cream so hard that it knocked the carton out of Emma’s hand. “Sorry,” she muttered. She leaned over, grabbed the carton, then returned it to Emma. Rae thought she saw Mandy’s fingers