NorthangerAlibiInterior

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-one

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Three

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Five

About the Author

Persuaded

Dream Come True

“Are you kidding?” I gasped as I bounced on my family’s multicolored striped couch. “You want to take me? Me? To Seattle? Are you sure?”

“Yep.” The older woman across from me grinned. “That is, if your parents say you can go.” She smiled the sweetest smile I’d ever seen toward my mom and dad, who were perched nervously on the matching loveseat.

“Please, Mom?”

I couldn’t believe one of my mom’s best friends had just asked me to go with her and her husband on his business trip this summer—to Seattle, of all places! Seattle was only my favorite dreamiest vacation spot ever.

“You really want Claire to come with you?” Mom asked Darlene, clearly hedging. Mom had that deer-in-the-headlights look on her face—you know, the one that reads, “Dang. Now what am I going to do?” She knew Washington was my favorite state and that I would totally give my right arm to go. I had only whined and pleaded every day for the last three years for my parents to take us on a road trip up there.

My mom’s problem was letting her baby go. And why she still considered me her baby, I’ll never know.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t be happier taking Cassidy?” she asked.

Cass? Are you kidding me?
“Mo–om.”
What planet of Totally Unfair did she come from, anyway?

Darlene shook her head. “Actually, I was really hoping for a younger girl, since the president of Seattle’s Northwest Academy—where most of the meetings will be held—has a couple of children in high school. Cassidy is older than that, right? I promised them the next time I came, I’d bring children their age.”

Two things in that little speech stuck out at me—two things I’m sure were meant to excite me but that somehow dampened my whole outlook on the trip: “children” and “promised to bring children.”

Great. Are the kids so ugly and weird that Darlene has to bring friends with her so they’ll have someone to hang out with?

Yeah, that didn’t sit well with me. But surprisingly, it seemed to perk Mom up. “Oh, so there’ll be another family there with children Claire’s age?” she asked. “She’ll have friends?”

“Oh, yes,” Darlene said. “They will be so grateful to have her there, you have no idea. They are practically desperate for friends.”

“D–desperate for f–friends?”
Um, can we say warning flag, anyone? If they’re that worried about having friends, maybe this whole going-to-Seattle-thing wasn’t the greatest idea after all.

“And you’ll be gone for how long?” Mom really must’ve been warming up to the idea.

Darlene shrugged and smiled. “I don’t know. It all depends on how quickly Roger can pick up the training he needs. It could take anywhere from three to four weeks all the way up to eleven or twelve weeks. Claire could be in Washington the whole summer.”

The whole summer? Never mind the weirdo high-school-age children. I am so going! A whole summer in Seattle is worth enduring anything—anything at all.

“Wow! The whole summer?” Mom gasped. “That’s a long time. What do you think, Dave?” She turned a bit to study my dad’s face, which was a massively good sign. She only asked for his opinion if she wasn’t willing to say no herself, and the chances of my dad saying no were slim.

“I think we should let her go.” He smiled over at me, and my heart soared. “Who knows when another opportunity like this will come around?”

Yes!

“Did you know Washington is one of the places Claire has always wished she could go?” Dad asked Darlene.

“Really? Isn’t this your lucky day then? When I was a girl, I always wanted to visit somewhere exotic, like Hawaii. I’ll never forget the moment I learned Roger had arranged our honeymoon there.” She leaned back and laughed softly. “Oh, I shrieked and shrieked and danced around the room. My poor fiancé didn’t know what to do with me.” She glanced back over at my parents. “I’ll bring Roger over later. Maybe we’ll treat you guys to dinner or something—we’ll see. But I promise we’ll definitely get together so we can work out the details. I hope you know you can completely trust us.”

“Oh, no. I’m not worried, honestly,” Mom said. “I would trust you with any of my girls. It’s just I’m not used to being away from Claire that long.”

Oh, brother.
I rolled my eyes and willed myself not to freak out about her extremely overprotective nature.
As if I would ever do anything wrong. We’re talking me here, the good daughter.
My mind wandered back a few years to the day my sister Cassidy nearly caused my parents to have heart attacks when she agreed to meet this crazy guy in secret. Thank goodness our older sister Chloe and her boyfriend Taylor found her in time. In that moment, life at the Hart house changed, and my mom has been completely over-the-top protective of us ever since. It’s like she never trusts us anymore. Not that I blame her. I mean, we all thought Blake was pretty cool until he tried to disappear with Cassidy. Then we got a bit freaked out.
Why is it that all it takes is one evil person to ruin everything?

Well, one thing was for sure—Dad’s answer really helped Mom warm up to the idea of me going to Seattle, because she said suddenly, “Okay, I’ll let Claire go.”

“That’s wonderful!” Darlene gushed.

“Really?” I nearly fell off my chair. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. But . . .”

I knew I wouldn’t get off that easy.
“But?”

“I know this may seem rude, Darlene, but I would feel much better if Cassidy came too.”

Okay, yeah, that is rude, I thought. You can’t just bring your kids along to hang out with other people when they haven’t been invited. What is she thinking?
I was about to die of embarrassment until I heard—

“Yes, great. I have no problem taking Cassidy too, especially if it means we get to have Claire with us.” Darlene was much nicer about it than I expected her to be.

“Thank you! Thank you!” I couldn’t help myself—I rushed over and gave Darlene a huge hug. “You’re the best!”

“Hey! What are we, chopped liver?” my dad said good-naturedly.

“You know I love you. Thank you.” I hugged my parents. “Can I tell Cass, please? I can’t wait to see her face.”

“Sure, sure.” Dad shooed me away. “We need to work out a few minor things with Darlene anyway.”

That meant they needed to talk about how much it would cost. I wanted to be long gone when that conversation happened—no reason to feel guilty. “Okay!” I hollered as I skidded down the hall toward Cassidy’s room. Then I banged on the door. “Hey, I’ve got some news. Hurry up.”

I could hear my parents and Mrs. Hadley chuckling behind me as Cassidy opened the door. “What’s up?”

“Oh my gosh! You’re never going to believe where we’re going,” I exclaimed as I pushed my older sister back into her room and shut the door with my foot.

She laughed and swatted my hands away. “What do you mean? Are they planning a vacation or something?”

“Something like that.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Okay, spill.”

It came out in one big gush. “Oh my gosh! You know Darlene? Well, she came here to invite me to go to Seattle with her. Can you believe it? I’m totally dying here. Mom got overprotective and demanded that you come too—which I was seriously mortified about—but it doesn’t matter because Darlene said yes! You get to come too, to Washington, for at least three weeks but maybe even the whole summer! How cool is that?”

After my monologue, I was so busy catching my breath that it took me a moment to realize Cassidy wasn’t jumping around the room like I thought she’d be. In fact, she looked downright upset about it.

“Hey, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Do I have to go?” That was the last thing I expected to come from her lips.

“Are you kidding? You mean, ‘Do I really get to go,’ right?”

“No.” Cassidy shook her head. “Do I have to go? Like, will Mom let you go without me?”

“There is something seriously wrong with my ears. I know you’re not sounding disturbed by this amazing news. I know it.”
Sheesh. What is this world coming to?
“And yes, to answer your question, I think Mom would totally freak out if you didn’t come too. It was hard enough for her to let me go as it is.”
No thanks to your antics with Blake.

“Can you keep a secret?” Cassidy asked quietly.

No. I’m the worst at keeping secrets. Everyone knows that.
“Um, sure. What is it?”

She frowned and looked nervously around the cluttered room as though she was checking to see if we were alone. With a gulp, she leaned forward and whispered, “Promise me you won’t tell anyone, okay? Promise?”

Only people I can absolutely trust.
“Promise.”

Her eyes were huge. “I’m seeing someone.”

Huh?
“That’s your secret? You’re seeing someone?”

She looked perturbed. “Well, yeah. That’s a big secret!”

“That you’re seeing someone?” I snorted and plopped on her bed. “You’re talking about Ethan, right?”

Cassidy’s jaw dropped. “How in the—? Where did you—?”

“Chloe told me like a year ago.”

“No way.”

“Yeah. She told a lot of people. That’s way old news.”

“What? Did she tell Mom and Dad?”

“Um . . . no.” I threw a crumpled T-shirt at her. “Chloe’s not stupid. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they already know anyway.”