This was the day to begin again, to put Eric behind her, to think about what came next. Something quivered in her, something made of enthusiasm or exhaustion, something that told her that this was the plan. This was the way.
She pulled out her phone again. This time, she gave her hand permission to pull up the pictures of Eric. There was an
ERASE ALL
button. All she had to do was hit it. That would be a good start.
Her finger hovered over the button for a moment, teasing it, just coming into enough contact. But she didn’t press down.
No. Even better. She would go through the pictures one by one and erase them manually. That was more like a ritual, more cleansing.
She would wipe out all one hundred and fifty-four of them right now, in her sleeping clothes, on her stoop, in the early morning sunshine in full view of Mrs. Foo and whoever walked by.
Picture one: a very early one of Eric, soon after they met. He was buying a sandwich and didn’t even see her take the photo. Kind of historical. She would come back to that one.
Picture two: from an early rehearsal. Same thing. She would come back to these. Better to start in the middle. Back to the main menu. Scroll, scroll…
Picture thirty-nine: Eric in the theater. Very generic. A little blurry. Erasable. She took a deep breath, clenched her free hand into a fist, and hit the
TRASH
button. Picture gone.
Or was it? Did the phone save trashed pictures? She had no idea. She backed through the menus to check. No, it did not. The picture was gone. Only one hundred and fifty-three left to go.
Scarlett managed to prune twenty-three of the pictures before the second, heavier wave of exhaustion hit. She crept back up to her room, her feet heavy. Her sister Lola was already awake and in the shower. Scarlett dropped down on her bed and listened to the water run in the bathroom next door.
It was six thirty in the morning, and Scarlett felt herself falling under. But before she gave up and just let the sleep come, she said to herself, out loud, “I am making a new start.”
Airhead
Being Nikki
By
Meg Cabot
Suite Scarlett
By
Maureen Johnson
Sea Change
The Year My Sister Got Lucky
South Beach
French Kiss
Hollywood Hills
By
Aimee Friedman
The Heartbreakers
The Crushes
By
Pamela Wells
This Book Isn’t Fat,
It’s Fabulous
By
Nina Beck
Wherever Nina Lies
By
Lynn Weingarten
And Then Everything
Unraveled
By
Jennifer Sturman
Summer Boys
By Hailey Abbott
Summer Boys
Next Summer
After Summer
Last Summer
Summer Girls
In or Out
By Claudia Gabel
In or Out
Loves Me, Loves Me Not
Sweet and Vicious
Friends Close,
Enemies Closer
Hotlanta
By Denene Millner
and Mitzi Miller
Hotlanta
If Only You Knew
What Goes Around
Love in the Corner Pocket
The Comeback
By
Marlene Perez
Pool Boys
Meet Me at the Boardwalk
By
Erin Haft
Popular Vote
By
Micol Ostow
Top 8
By
Katie Finn
Kissing Booth
By
Lexie Hill
Kissing Snowflakes
By
Abby Sher
Once Upon a Prom
By Jeanine Le Ny
Dream
Dress
Date
Making a Splash
By Jade Parker
Robyn
Caitlin
Whitney
Secret Santa
Be Mine
By
Sabrina James
21 Proms
Edited by
Daniel Ehrenhaft
and
David Levithan
Point
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This book was originally published in hardcover in 2008.
Copyright © 2008 by Maureen Johnson.
Cover photos: © Image Source Black/Jupiterimages (wallpaper) • © Image Source/Jupiterimages (key)
Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johnson, Maureen, 1973-
Suite Scarlett / Maureen Johnson.—1st ed.
p. cm.Summary: Fifteen-year-old Scarlett Martin is stuck in New York City for the summer working at her quirky family’s historic hotel, but her brother’s attractive new friend and a seasonal guest who offers her an intriguing and challenging writing project improve her outlook.
ISBN-13: 978-0-439-89927-7 (alk. paper) (HC)
ISBN-10: 0-439-89927-3 (alk. paper) (HC)
{1. Hotels, motels, etc.—Fiction. 2. Family life—New York (State)—
New York—Fiction. 3. Authorship—Fiction. 4. Actors and actresses—Fiction.
5. New York (N.Y.)—Fiction.} I. Title.PZ7.J634145Sui 2008
{Fic.}—dc22
2007041903
First Point paperback printing, May 2009
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E-ISBN: 978-0-545-23200-5