Northanger Alibi--Sneak Peek
Chapter One
Jenni James©copyright2009
“Are you kidding?” I gasped, as I bounced on my family’s multi-colored striped couch. “You want to take me?” Holy cow. “Me? To Seattle. Are you sure?”
“Yep.” Grinned the older woman across from me—her eyes twinkling merrily at my excited state. “That is, if your parents say you can go.” She smiled the sweetest smile I’d ever seen towards my mom and dad who were perched nervously on the matching loveseat.
“Please, Mom?”
I couldn’t believe one of Mom’s best friends 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 ever.
“You really want Claire to come with you?” hedged Mom. She had that deer in the headlights look across her face. You know the one that reads, ‘Dang. Now what am I going to do?’ She knew Washington was only my dream state. Dream state of mind—dream state of the union. She knew it. She knew I would totally give my right arm to go there. It was obvious since I had only whined and pleaded for us to all take a road trip up there every day for the past three years. Her only 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?” Mom was grasping at straws.
Cass? Are you kidding me? “Mo-om.” What planet of Totally Unfair did she come from anyway?
Darlene quickly intervened. “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 would bring children their age.”
Two things stuck out at me during that little speech. Two things that I’m sure were meant to excite me more, but somehow dampened my whole outlook on the trip:
“Children,” and “Promised to bring children.”
Ugh. Like they were so ugly and weird that she had to bring friends with her so they could have someone to play with?
Yeah, that didn’t sit well with me. But surprisingly it seemed to perk Mom up.
“Oh, so there’ll be another family Claire’s age there? She’ll have friends?”
“Oh, yes,” assured Darlene. “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? Great. If they’re that worried about having friends, maybe this whole going to
“And how long will you be gone for?” Mom must’ve really been warming up to the idea.
Darlene shrugged and smiled prettily. “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
The whole summer!?! Never mind the weirdo high school aged children. I am so going! A whole summer in Seattle was worth anything, anything else.
“Wow! The whole summer?” gasped Mom. “That’s a long time. What do you think Dave?” My mom turned a bit to study my dad’s face, which was a massively good sign. She only asked my dad 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 for Claire?”
Yes!
“Did you know
“Really?” She grinned at me. “Isn’t this your lucky day then? When I was a girl I always wanted to visit somewhere exotic like
“Oh no. I’m not worried. Honestly. I would trust you with anyone. It’s just I’m not used to being away from Claire that long,” said Mom.
Oh brother. I rolled my eyes and willed myself not to freak out over her extremely overprotective nature. As if I would ever do anything wrong. We’re talking me here, the good daughter.
Instantly, my mind wandered back to a few years ago and the day my sister Cassidy nearly caused my parents to have heart attacks when she agreed to meet this crazy guy secretly. Thank goodness our older sister Chloe and her boyfriend Taylor found her in time. Anyway, life at the Hart house changed from that moment on. My mom has been completely over-the-top protective of us. 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 Cass—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.
“Okay, I’ll let Claire go.”
“That’s wonderful!” gushed Darlene.
“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, but I would feel much better if Cassidy came too.”
Okay, yeah, that is rude. You can’t just invite your kids to hang out with other people when they hadn’t been included. What was she thinking? I nearly died of embarrassment until—
“Yes. Great. I have no problem taking Cassidy too.” Darlene was much nicer than I expected her to be. “Especially if it means we get to have Claire with us, then it’ll be worth it.”
“Thank you! Thank you!” I couldn’t help myself; I rushed over and gave Darlene a huge bear hug. “You’re the best!”
“Hey! What are we, chopped liver?” grumbled my dad good-naturedly.
“You know I love you. Thank you.” I ran over and gave both Mom and Dad massive hugs. “Can I tell Cass? Please? I can’t wait to see her face.”
“Sure, sure.” My dad shooed me away. “We need to work out a few minor things with Darlene anyway.”
Which meant they needed to talk about how much it would cost. I wanted to be long gone when that conversation came up. No reason to feel guilty. “Okay!” I hollered as I skidded down the hall towards Cassidy’s room and banged on the door. “Hey, I’ve got some news. Hurry up.”
I could hear my parents and Mrs. Halloway chuckling behind me as Cass opened the door. “What’s up?”
“Oh, my gosh! You’re never going to believe where we’re going this summer,” I exclaimed as I pushed my older sister into her room and shut the door.
Cassidy laughed and swatted my hands away. “What do you mean? Are they planning a vacation, or something?”
“Something like that.” I grinned knowingly up at her.
Cass put her hands on her hips. “Okay, spill.”
It came out in one big mad gush. “Oh my gosh! So you know Darlene? Well, she totally came here to invite me to go to Seattle with her.
After my monologue I was so busy filling my shrunken lungs with air that it took me a moment to realize Cassidy wasn’t jumping around the room like I thought she’d be. Like how I would’ve been. In fact she looked downright upset about it. “Hey, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“Do I have to go?” was the last thing I expected to hear 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 are not sounding disturbed by this amazing news. I know it. No sister of mine would be looking like I had just slapped her when she heard she got to go away on a summer adventure.” 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 to let me go as it is.” No thanks to your shenanigans with Blake.
“Can you keep a secret?”
No. I’m the worst at keeping secrets. You know that. Everyone knows that. “Um, sure. What is it?” Curiosity won.
Cassidy’s frowning face looked nervously around the cluttered room—as if 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.”
Cass’s eyes were positively huge when she whispered, “I’m seeing someone.”
Huh? I was confused. “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. “Some secret that is.” I plopped on her bed. So much for something more dramatic. “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?!”
“Erm… no.” I threw a crumpled t-shirt at her. “Chloe’s not stupid. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they already knew you were seeing him anyway.”
“Are you kidding me?” Cassidy threw herself on the bed next to me, completely dejected. “Mom and Dad would so have total seizures and you know it.”
She’s probably right. “Come on, they’re not that bad.”
“Not that bad?” Cassidy flipped around and faced me. “Not that bad? You of all people should know what it’s been like living under their ‘grounding for life’ episode. Sheesh.” She fell back dramatically on the bed again. “Never mind the fact that Ethan is only one of the nicest guys ever. And so different from Blake Winter it’s a joke. They don’t even trust me to make my own judgments when it comes to guys. I’m eighteen. Really, you think they’d lighten up!”
“Cass,” I thought it imperative to point out, “It looks like they are. If this adventure vacation is anything to go by. It looks like they trust you a lot.”
“Yeah. Some trust. Banning me from the one guy I have ever really loved for a whole summer.”
“A guy they technically don’t know exists.” Good grief. Maybe I don’t want Cass to go if she’s going to be a major pity party mess. “Think of it this way Cassidy, if you manage to bring me back in one piece and prove to them that you’re responsible, you could probably—very easily—include Ethan into the picture once you get home.”
Cassidy sat up. The imaginary light bulb above her head flickered and then lit up. “I think you’re right. I bet it might work, too.” She jumped off the bed and walked over to her window. “So if I go for like a few weeks this summer—by the time I get back, everything will be a whole lot better. I mean, they have to trust me, right?” She spun around with a huge smile on her face. “It’s brilliant! Like totally mad scientist perfect. If Mom and Dad trust me enough to baby-sit you all the way in Washington, then they’ll have to trust me with everything else. He-he-hee!”
Now she’s dancing around the room.
“Come on!” she giggled. We’ve only got—what?--three weeks till summer break? We’ve definitely got to figure out what to pack!”
SHHH! Okay, so I'll be super nice and add chapter Two too... Just because I love you! But don't tell anyone. *grins* (please forgive the format!)
Chapter Two
Needless to say I left my older sister much happier than when I’d gone into her room thirty minutes earlier. We had planned everything. Down to our party clothes if we would be lucky enough to get to go out somewhere. All in all, I was pretty pleased with the idea of going with Cass, she was a lot of fun if you knew her. Some people only saw the quiet type—the type of person she’d been ever since the Blake incident—but for a few minutes there I got a glimpse of the old Cass. The Cass that probably only Ethan saw these days.
Hmm… maybe this trip will be better all around for a lot of reasons.
I softly closed my bedroom door and took a minute to just look around my room. Earlier in the year I’d turned sixteen. I was almost sixteen and a half. It was the perfect age—in the pre-Blake days—because it would have been the time when I could’ve gotten to go on my first date. Okay, so to be fair, I’m sure my parents would’ve relented and let me go on a date if a guy had actually asked me.
Yep. That was my sorry state of life. Sixteen, never been on a date, never been kissed, never held hands with a guy, never—well never, anything. Totally pathetic, right? I blame it mostly on my randomly weird parents, and the fact that after Chloe and Cassidy were born there wasn’t much magic left in the beauty wand for me.
Don’t get me wrong. I can totally hold my own anywhere. I mean, I’m pretty enough—just not knock out gorgeous pretty. Take my sisters for instance. Chloe is a stunning redhead with long perfectly placed ringlets—who’s practically engaged to the hottest guy in
Anyway, how can you compete against a blonde and a redhead? --Especially, when I’m not sure what color my completely straight hair is. Sometimes people tell me it looks dirty blonde and sometimes I’ve been told it looks brownish.
Fine. So there you have it. Me, Claire--the baby of a family of three girls—whose total existence in life has revolved around the actions and consequences of her older sisters.
With a sigh I walked around my room, seeing it as it was, almost like I was seeing it for the first time. The feeling in the room was almost surreal. It was like it knew I was about to leave and have this amazing adventure.
Aww…. Twilight. The most perfect book in the whole world. And subsequently my most favorite book of the series. Carefully, I opened up the worn paperback novel and allowed the pages to float down in a happy fan. I could feel the gentle breeze the papers made against my arm as they nestled down amongst themselves again. Almost on instinct I stopped the book to find my favorite passage. Thumbing through a couple of worn pages I easily found it. It is, hands down, the most romantic paragraph ever written. I sighed as I read the words of Edward Cullen when he tells Bella that she is the most important thing to him now and how the thought of hurting her has tortured him.
Then I quickly flipped a couple of pages until—
I came to the most poignant of all things ever said by Edward, my favorite vampire! I remember vividly shaking when I first read the words of his desperate battle within himself to not kill her. All he wanted to do was get Bella alone, but the thought of what the act of killing Bella would do to his family kept him from doing it.
Little did I know until that moment how much danger Bella had been in! Edward wanted to kill her and had thought of ways to kill her. Bella Swan. The most amazing heroine ever written.
So there it was. My deep, dark secret. The reason behind my fascination with
Since the Twilight series, I had become rather addicted and obsessed with all knowledgeable things pertaining to the world of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. There was so much to learn. The funny thing was, every time I reread one of the books I found something new--something I’d missed before.
And then it hit me. Really hit me.
I’m going to Washington.
I’m really, really, really going. Eeeh!
Honestly, can life get better than this?
Three and a half weeks later, I asked myself the same question repeatedly. Can life get better than this? I asked it as I collected my luggage and took it down to the waiting car. I asked it as I hugged and kissed my mom and dad goodbye—promising to say my prayers every night. Yeah. Say my prayers that I meet Edward. And then I asked it again as we boarded the plane.
By the time we landed I was in that complete nervous-slash-excited state of mind you get when you’re ready for your amazing adventure to begin. I didn’t realize how excited I was until I noticed I was practically run-jogging down the long ramp to get to the terminal.
Cassidy was the first to catch up.
“Why are you walking so fast, girl? The place isn’t on fire,” she panted next to me as her legs tried to match mine.
“Not yet, it isn’t. If you give me a couple of minutes more, I’m sure I can cause enough friction with these Dockers to start a fire.”
“The way you were moving, I don’t doubt it.” She chuckled.
We walked out into the open terminal and then stepped aside toward a pillar to wait for Roger and Darlene, our hosts. I felt a momentary stab of guilt, when I realized my actions could’ve been considered very rude. But all my fears were soon put to rest when the Halloways came bounding out.
“Well! There they are!” exclaimed Darlene loud enough to be heard by everyone around us. “Aren’t you girls excited? I’m so glad to see such eagerness. You teenagers are going to keep me on my toes, I can tell. It’s about time too.” She walked over and put her arm through each of ours and we all followed Roger as he carried both sets of their carryon luggage.
After a happy squeeze and a giggle, Darlene asked, “So are you two ready for your first real adventure?”
“Yes!” Cass and I laughingly chorused back. I had never been more ready for anything in my entire life.
Move over Seattle, Claire Hart has just landed—and I plan on taking you by storm!
So my storm had to be patient a bit as we unpacked and moved into the small cottage Roger had rented for the summer. Cassidy and I shared a pretty yellow room with two twin beds in it. There was a tiny closet tucked into the corner on the room and a large, long, white French-style dresser for our clothes. Each bed had a charming little white night stand that matched the dresser next to it, with a cute little reading lamp and personal alarm clock. I chose the bed closest to the window while Cassidy opened a narrow door that she’d found once she closed our bedroom door.
“What’s this?” she gasped.
Probably another closet. Unconcerned, I dumped my carryon on the bed and sat my wheeled luggage next to it.
“Claire. You’ve got to see this. You’re never going to believe it!” exclaimed Cassidy’s muffled voice.
I looked up and couldn’t see her anywhere. The small door was wide open. “Cass?”
“In here! In here! Hurry!”
What in the world? I quickly dropped my camera and purse on the bed and went to the door. As I peered inside my gasp echoed Cassidy’s just moments before. “No way. This is amazing.” I had to actually blink twice before I totally comprehended what I was seeing. It was the largest most decadent bathroom I’d ever seen. And at least the same size of our room, if not bigger. It was beautiful and bright, with shades of cheerful yellow and pink and white bouncing off the walls and the soft plush rugs beneath our feet.
Just then, Darlene knocked on our bedroom door and peeked her head into the bathroom. “This place is great, isn’t it?”
I was about to go off about how awesome the claw-footed bathtub was, but she went on--
“So girls, Roger’s classes don’t start until Monday, and since it’s only Friday, what do you say we do a bit of sight-seeing while we’re here?”
“Really?” I gasped. “That would be awesome.” Even Cass looked excited.
“Roger and I thought we’d ask the President of Northwest Academy and his family to come, too. “What do you think?”
The weird kids? My smile waned. The ones that needed friends? “Sure, why not.”
“ We promised them we’d bring someone anyway. And this time they have two pretty girls to meet instead of just one.”
“Who’s this? You promised we’d meet someone?”
I’d forgotten I hadn’t told Cassidy anything about the loser teenagers. In hidden disgust I walked past our host and slumped down on my bed. I’d let Darlene tell Cass the good news. I had all but blocked out the horror of Darlene’s explanation when I heard Cassidy’s massive intake of breath. With a grin I peeked over and caught her panicked look just before she smiled happily back at our host, not relaying any of the warning flags I’m sure were popping out all over her head.
Hahaha. It was funny actually. Since Cass was older, I was sure she could come up with even more reasons to be freaked out over our new friends. Hehehe! It almost makes up for the fact that we might have to spend the whole day with them. Almost.
So I admit it. I totally prayed for rain. Like big time rain. You know good enough to cancel our sight-seeing tour and put off the inevitable meeting as long as possible.
Well, needless to say, that even though it did sprinkle, it wasn’t enough rain to keep us away from meeting the paragons of awkwardness. In fact we were all standing on the slightly damp grass in front of the Space Needle watching them walk toward us.
All right, I admit it. Anthony and Eleanor Russo weren’t that bad. I mean, sure, there was something there that just didn’t sit right. Something in their movements or the way they talked. I don’t know, it seemed stilted—not natural. Kind of Stepford-y, if you catch my drift. But other than that, I couldn’t complain.
One thing was for sure, they were a whole lot cuter standing in front of me than I thought they’d be. Their whole family was. Just this perfect white-collar, yuppie type family. They each had beautiful smiles and beautiful eyes and beautiful clothes.
There were four all together. Mom, Ilene. Dad, Jonathan—both of them looked really young, but they must’ve been in their early forties. And then there was Anthony, who went by Tony, he’d just turned seventeen, and Eleanor—Nora—who we later found out was his twin sister.
They were nice too. Almost too nice. I enjoyed talking to Nora the most, because she seemed just a little bit more real than Tony.
“Have you ever been to
“No. Does this vehicle really go in the water too?”
“Of course. Wait, you’ve never been on these before, have you?” She smiled at me and then climbed into a row and patted the bench next to her. “You’re going to love this tour. It’s really nice.”
“Nice?” How could anything that looks as odd as this be described as nice. Crazy, yes, but nice?
Cassidy and Tony sat down on the bench across the aisle.
“Fun,” she amended. “It’ll be a lot of fun.”
Now fun I understood. “Cool.”
“Just wait. It’ll drive us all around
There’s that word again. Nice. See? Something just wasn’t right.
Nora’s brother must’ve overheard her explain the duck tour to me, because he leaned over the narrow walkway between the two benches and asked, “You didn’t tell Claire about the part where we go all the way under the water did you?”
Huh? Under the water? I looked out of the sides of the duck-slash-boat thing. There were no windows. Just open air, supports, and a roof. The boat would fill up in seconds. “Are you kidding?” I asked him.
Tony’s eyes moved from Nora’s behind me to mine. It was the first time I had actually made real eye contact with him.
Wow. He’s—he’s really cute! And erm… close.
Leaning over like he was, Tony was only about a foot from me. “It’s just for a couple of seconds. It’s not like you’ll drown, or anything. You did read the brochure, right? It told you to make sure you only brought waterproof stuff on board.”
What in the--? I glanced down at the pamphlet in my hand and back up at him--totally thinking he was serious--until I caught a playful glimmer flash across his light brown gaze. “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes, and tried to push him back toward Cassidy. My hand collided with solid steel. At least that’s what his shoulder felt like to me. Not that I had touched a lot of guy’s shoulders before, but Tony’s felt pretty strong. Really strong, actually. Almost too strong. That’s weird.
He must’ve seen my face change because he nervously chuckled and then quickly leaned back into his seat.
Another couple of passengers moved in between us down the aisle and broke the fragile eye contact I had with Tony.
“What’d you say to Claire?” Cassidy asked him.
As I sat forward and tried not to think about his shoulder I heard Tony murmur something to Cass. A second later she burst into laughter.
Ha. Ha.
“Don’t mind, Anthony,” whispered Nora. “He’s always trying to tease people. You should see the stuff he does to me.” She shuddered dramatically.
It was the first normal thing I’d seen her do. And come to think of it. Tony’s teasing was pretty normal too. Maybe there was hope for them yet.
I didn’t have much time to think about it after that, since the boat thingy started up. For the next hour and a half I lost myself completely to the crazy, zany tour. Even the tour guide captain was hilarious. I couldn’t believe it when he first had us singing along with him. It was awesome to hear the whole crew of thirty, or so people joining in too. Talk about wild. He made even the most boring sights like regular cafes and businesses seem exciting and totally fun. I couldn’t wait to explore them after the tour was over.
When we plunked into the water the energy level, which had been huge before, jumped to colossal proportions. It was incredible to have the opportunity to see
It was then that it hit me. Really, truly hit. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I’m here! I’m in
So, my first full day in
Of course, the day was great, but the evening and the dinner at the Space Needle turned out to be a way different story. Believe me--I need a whole chapter to tell that one. Who knew Tony would turn out so completely different? I mean honestly, I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted how our adventurous day would end. But now that I’ve had some time to ponder it—looking back, I see the signs were there all along. I just hadn’t been wise enough to put them together…