Page 6 of Surfside Sisters

One afternoon when they were twelve, Keely and Isabelle sat on the rug of the screened porch, designing and cutting out the figures and the clothes for their Women in History paper doll project.

Keely had labored over an extremely fancy ball gown and was cutting it when it tore.

“Rats!” Keely cried. “It took me forever to make that dress!”

“Silly, just tape it together. On the back. No one will notice.”

“Where’s the tape?”

“You know, in the kitchen by Mom’s address book.”

Keely jumped up and went into the living room and through to the kitchen.

“Can’t find it!”

“Sebastian probably took it.”

Keely headed up the stairs to Sebastian’s room. She assumed he wasn’t home—he was seldom home, except for dinner—so she hurried down the carpeted hall, threw open the door of Sebastian’s bedroom, and stepped inside.

Sebastian was at his desk, a big fourteen-year-old boy with long hairy legs sticking out of his soccer shorts.

“Oh.” She scrunched up her shoulders. “Sorry. I need the tape.”

“Fine.” Sebastian found it on the far side of his desk. “Here.”

Keely approached him to take the tape in its black dispenser. She couldn’t help noticing the pad on his desk with the intricate pencil drawing of the Nantucket harbor.

“Did you do that?”

Sebastian shrugged. “Yeah.”

Without asking permission, she stepped closer, studying the sketch. “This is cool. And I love the whales you put near Great Point.” She was so astonished she forgot to be in awe of him. “I didn’t know you could draw this well.”

“No one needs to know.” Sebastian pulled a blank sheet of paper over his drawing.

“Oh. Okay.” Keely carried the tape dispenser in both hands as she left the room.

“Close the door,” Sebastian said. “And don’t come in here again without knocking.”

As Keely took hold of the brass doorknob and pulled it shut, Sebastian said, “And don’t tell my parents. Especially don’t tell Izzy. She can’t keep a secret.”

“Okay.” Keely shut the door. Then, on an insane whim, powered by courage she didn’t know she had, she pushed the door open again and went into the room. “But, Sebastian, why is that a secret? Is it a present for someone?”

“Ha. Right.” Sebastian gave Keely a look that seemed almost friendly. “My parents want me to play team sports. Not sit alone in my room doodling.”

“But that’s not doodling! That’s art!” Keely protested. “And Izzy and I sit in our own rooms all the time. We’re writing a book.”

Sebastian’s mouth crooked up in a half-smile. “Cool. So just keep it a secret for me, okay, Keely?”

He said her name.

Keely went hot all over, pleased and surprised and funny feeling. Of course he knew her name! She was such a total freak!

Too embarrassed to speak, she nodded and left the room—pulling the door shut tight. She returned to her paper doll dress with the tape and also with an odd happiness in her stomach. She shared a secret with Sebastian, one that not even Isabelle knew.

Keely and Isabelle started high school.Big change,Keely thought. Like a bucket of water thrown at her face. The door to her grown-up life was opening.

Her classes fascinated and terrified her. She was torn between wanting to be smart and wanting to be cool. Girls who’d been boring in first grade were suddenly super cool. Cool was hard to achieve. Everything was so new, so weird, sofunny! Keely and Isabelle always got stern looks from teachers when they giggled behind their hands in class.

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