It Had to Be You Read online

  After my dad left, I decided to bring the box of things I’d saved that afternoon to my bedroom. I was lifting up the box when I noticed something.

  Something that was missing.

  I dropped the box to the ground and started pawing through it.

  My diary.

  Where was it?

  I had put it right on top of the box.

  And now it was gone!

  But not for long.

  I knew exactly where it was!

  I stormed inside the house and went directly to Aaron’s room. He was lying on his bed, playing with his Game Boy.

  “Give it back!” I demanded in my strongest tone of voice so he’d know I meant business.

  He didn’t even look at me, too engrossed in the game of Tetris he was playing. “Give what back?”

  “You know what.”

  He sighed. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do.”

  I can always tell when Aaron is lying. He avoids looking at you straight in the eye.

  Aaron tore his eyes away from his Game Boy, staring directly at me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Emma. Now will you please get lost? I’m still mad at you.”

  I got the same results with Rob and Michael when I confronted them in the family room, blocking their view of the baseball game that was on TV. They didn’t know what I was talking about either.

  Now I was really starting to panic.

  If my brothers hadn’t taken my diary, then where was it?

  Where could it have gone?

  I was the only one in the garage today.

  The only one except…

  His name popped into my head and I gasped aloud.

  Kyle!

  Suddenly, I remembered.

  The box of stuff I had been saving had been next to Rob’s box of comics.

  My diary must have fallen into the box of comics that I had given Kyle.

  Kyle had my diary!

  Five minutes later I was standing on Kyle’s front porch, ringing his doorbell. I was definitely not dressed in my most gorgeous, as Caitlyn had suggested. Who had time for clothes or hair and makeup? I was here on a mission. To get my diary back.

  I was a nervous wreck, hoping against hope that Kyle hadn’t found my diary.

  And if he had, that he hadn’t read it!

  How would I be able to face him if I knew he’d read some of the things I’d written? It would be so embarrassing. More embarrassing than the last two days!

  The door opened but instead of facing Kyle I found myself staring down at a little boy who was around five years old. He was adorable! A mini-version of Kyle.

  “Who are you?” he asked, sucking on a green lollipop.

  “I’m Emma. I live next door.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Is your brother home?”

  “KYLE! THERE’S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR FOR YOU!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

  I heard the sound of footsteps coming down a flight of stairs and then Kyle was standing in the doorway. He must have gone to the beach that afternoon because his skin was glowing with a nice golden tan. It made his eyes look even bluer and his blond hair blonder.

  Stop! I scolded myself. Must stop drooling over Kyle! Must focus on retrieving lost diary! Once diary is retrieved, then I can return to going ga-ga over Kyle!

  “Hey, Emma.” He gave me a smile and I wondered if it was possible to be blinded by shiny white teeth. “I see you got to meet my little brother, Tommy.”

  My ears were still ringing from Tommy’s powerful lungs.

  “Yes, I have.” I gave Tommy a smile but he didn’t smile back. He sucked on his lollipop, staring at me suspiciously.

  “So what’s up?” Kyle asked.

  I didn’t know where to begin.

  I couldn’t tell him the truth.

  So I decided to lie.

  I never like lying. But this wasn’t a real lie.

  “Remember those comic books I gave you this afternoon?”

  “Kyle collects comic books,” Tommy said, crunching on his lollipop. “I can’t read yet but I can look at the pictures. Sometimes Kyle reads his comic books to me. Right, Kyle?”

  Kyle ran a hand through Tommy’s hair. “Right, Squirt.”

  “Uh, about the comics,” I said, starting to feel uncomfortable. I wanted to get this conversation over with!

  Kyle’s face lit up. “Thanks again. I haven’t had a chance to go through them yet. After I got home, I took Tommy and my little sister, Megan, to Jones Beach.”

  He hadn’t gone through the box yet! Yes!

  “I have to take them back,” I said in a rush. “They belonged to my brother Rob and I gave them away without checking to see if it was okay. He wants them back.”

  Kyle’s face froze. “Take them back?”

  “No!” Tommy shouted, throwing his half-eaten lollipop at me. It stuck to the front of my shirt. Great. Now I had a lollipop stain to go with my tomato stain. “You can’t have them back. You can’t! They’re Kyle’s! KYLE’S!!!” Tommy threw himself down on the floor and began kicking with his feet. In a matter of seconds, his face turned beet red as he started screaming, “MOMMY! THERE’S A MEAN GIRL WHO’S TAKING AWAY KYLE’S COMICS!!!”

  “But I have to get them back,” I said, trying not to sound desperate and wondering why I was explaining myself to a five-year-old who was having a temper tantrum.

  Tommy jumped back on his feet. “I don’t like you! You’re mean. MEEEEAN!!!”

  With those final words Tommy ran back into the house, still screaming that I was mean.

  Even though I had just met Tommy, his words cut into my heart. Little kids always loved me and now here was one who hated me.

  “So Rob wants his comics back?” Kyle asked, the smile on his face gone.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Then how come he didn’t ask for them himself?”

  “What?”

  “When I was taking out the garbage after dinner, I saw Rob in your driveway and I thanked him for the comics. He told me to enjoy them. If he wanted them back, why didn’t he just ask for them himself?”

  This is why I never lie. Because there’s always the chance of getting caught!

  I didn’t know what to say that would make sense. I guess I could tell Kyle the truth but I felt it was a little too late for the truth. I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he was embarrassed. Actually, he didn’t tell me to ask for them back. He was mad that I gave them away so I thought I would surprise him by giving them back.”

  “So why didn’t you just say that?”

  Kyle didn’t give me a chance to answer. He turned his back on me and headed into the house. When he returned, he handed me the box of comic books. Was it my imagination or had he shoved them at me? He certainly hadn’t handed them over gently.

  “If you’d just let me explain,” I began. “This time I promise to tell you the truth.”

  “Save it, Emma. You wanted the comics back and now you have them.”

  And with those final words, Kyle closed the front door, leaving me all alone on his front porch.

  As I walked down the front steps, back to my house, I heard the sound of tapping behind me. Thinking it was Kyle, I turned around eagerly.

  But it wasn’t Kyle.

  Instead it was Tommy, his face pressed against the living room window, sticking his tongue out at me.

  I felt horrible.

  I was going to have to make things up to Kyle in some way, but how?

  I’d definitely have to pick Caitlyn’s brain tomorrow when we were shopping.

  As I had suspected, my diary had fallen into the box of comics. It was wedged all the way at the bottom on its side. After retrieving it, I began tearing the pages into teeny tiny pieces. Aaron’s been known to go through my trash and I never underestimate him.

  When I had finished destroying my diary, I decided to go online and check my high school email account. All incoming f
reshmen at North Marshall High were assigned one and when I inherited the Dear Daisy column I was told that whenever a question was sent to Daisy, I would be sent an automatic email. Even though classes didn’t start for another month, I wanted to make sure it was working. So I sent an email from my home account to my high school account.

  When I accessed my email, I was stunned to find not only the email I had just sent, but an automatic email as well.

  Which meant that someone had already posted a question to Dear Daisy!

  My mouth dropped open. Who could be writing to Daisy in the summer?

  All sorts of horrible scenarios raced through my mind until I calmed myself down and went to the Dear Daisy blog.

  When I opened up the email from Romeo14, I was stunned to see it was from a guy!

  Hey! So I was just checking out the NMH site for the first time and I came across your blog. Are you like the Dear Abby of our school? My grandmother loves reading her. I think Dear Abby is dead though and someone else writes the column. Is that the deal with you or are you for real? Anyway, I’m not sure if anyone’s even checking this blog, since it’s the summer, but I figured I’d give it a shot. So, uh, if anyone’s out there, I need advice! I met this beautiful girl but she gave me the cold shoulder. Is it worth pursuing her? Romeo

  I exhaled. Phew! This I could handle. I didn’t even have to think about an answer. My fingers quickly flew over my keyboard.

  Dear Romeo: Girls who are icy don’t play nicey-nicey. I suggest you say adios to this ice princess and find yourself a girl with a warm, loving heart! xoxox, Daisy

  After sending Daisy’s reply, I turned off my computer and turned on the TV, flipping to Soap Net, my favorite channel. All My Children was just starting and I wanted to see what Erica was up to today. But even though AMC is my favorite soap, I had a hard time watching. Thoughts of Kyle kept slipping into my mind and stayed there until I turned off the lights and tried to go to sleep.

  Chapter Four

  The following morning Caitlyn and I were among the very first in line for the House of Fashion summer sale. We’d gotten a ride from Rob before he’d gone to his job as a golf caddy at the country club. Naturally he had to grumble and complain when I asked if he could drop us off. Like it was such a big deal! The mall is right on his way to the country club.

  Usually Caitlyn and I will take the bus to the mall, but we wanted to get there super early. Definitely before House of Fashion opened its doors. Believe me, if I could have avoided traveling in Rob’s car, I would have. That’s because his car, like his bedroom, is a pigsty. Scattered on the floor of his car are wrappers and soda containers from fast-food restaurants. There’s the usual sports equipment, as well as unwashed T-shirts, socks, and shorts. The air in his car stinks—sorry, there’s no other way to say it!—and when we’re driving I keep my window rolled down, even when it’s hot in the summer. He won’t let me touch his radio and instead of listening to my favorites like Kelly Clarkson or Beyoncé, we have to listen to the sports station.

  After Rob dropped us off at the mall, Caitlyn and I walked inside. We were expecting the mall to be pretty deserted since it was so early, but as we got closer and closer to H.O.F., we could see that a line had already formed outside its grated front.

  “I can’t believe other people got here before us!” Caitlyn exclaimed as she counted the number of shoppers ahead of us. “There are at least ten people and it’s not even nine o’clock.”

  “Maybe some of them work for the store,” I suggested.

  “Then why haven’t they let them inside?”

  I shrugged. “Let’s look at the bright side. At least we’re not at the end of the line.”

  Since Caitlyn and I had arrived, another twenty-five girls had gotten in line behind us. And the line kept getting longer and longer.

  “Looks like we’re going to have some serious competition,” Caitlyn said worriedly, chewing on her lower lip.

  “But we have the advantage,” I reminded her. “They don’t have a shopping strategy the way we do.”

  Caitlyn and I had been coming to H.O.F. for the last week, scoping out the store. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m hyper-organized. We’ve been to these sales before and you need to have a game plan. If you don’t, you’re toast. We had a plan. I’d make sure of it. Caitlyn had grumbled—she hates shopping without buying and we’d been to H.O.F. three times in the last week—but I knew she’d thank me once she had a shopping bag of reduced-price merchandise.

  We knew the entire layout of the store and we already had our eye on a couple of things. Dresses were in the back of the store while skirts and jeans were at the front of the store. Sweaters, blouses, tops, and vests were in the middle of the store. The shoe department was on the second floor, as well as accessories like purses, belts, scarves, and jewelry. Fall wear was also on the second floor, as well as the last of the summer merchandise.

  There were two skirts that I was going to make a beeline for as soon as the doors opened. A girl can never have enough jeans so I would be stocking up on those. Then I would move on to a couple of tops that I thought were cute before finally tackling the shoe department.

  When I shop, I shop with a mission. I keep in mind what I already own and try to add to my wardrobe by mixing and matching so I can come up with as many outfits as possible. This is because I have to be selective. As much as I would love to buy everything that I try on, I can’t afford it. Unlike some of the girls I go to school with, who already have their own credit cards (!) or get to use their parents’ cards, it doesn’t work that way at my house. My brothers and I have always had to earn the things we want. We get a weekly allowance, but we also have part-time jobs. I babysit, while Michael works at a video store and Aaron delivers pizzas. When Rob’s away at college he works at the campus bookstore.

  That’s not to say that when it’s our birthday or Christmas, Mom and Dad don’t splurge on us. They do. It’s just that they want us to learn how to save and spend our money wisely.

  My brothers like to call me a shopaholic.

  To a certain degree, it’s true.

  I love shopping.

  Oooh, shopping! I’m getting tingles just thinking about it.

  The fun of discovery!

  The joy of trying on new clothes and seeing how they look!

  The thrill of victory, walking out of a store with a shopping bag full of clothes that are yours!

  My favorite novels are the Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic novels, starring Becky Bloomwood. Yes, I identify with Becky and her love of shopping. But unlike Becky, I have total control over my spending.

  “What are you going to do about Kyle?” Caitlyn asked, breaking into my thoughts.

  I had filled Caitlyn in on the latest with Kyle on our drive to the mall.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do you like him?”

  “How can I like him? I hardly even know him! He just moved in next door.”

  “But you think he’s cute, right?”

  “Yes,” I admitted, remembering Kyle’s blue eyes and his dazzling smile. “I think he’s cute.”

  “Maybe when we finish up here, we can head back to your house. Maybe we’ll run into him. I’m dying to meet him.”

  For some reason, I felt a pang of jealousy at those words. Which was crazy. What did I have to be jealous about? Nothing. Besides, Caitlyn had a crush on Aaron, although I couldn’t understand why.

  But I wondered, Would Kyle like Caitlyn better than me? Would he think she was prettier?

  “Isn’t that the top you were looking at the other day?” Caitlyn asked, pointing to a yellow wrap chiffon blouse in the window.

  “Shhh!” I scolded Caitlyn, slapping down her hand while looking around to make sure no one else had seen what she’d done. “Lower your voice.” One of the first rules of shopping during a sale is to not let the other shoppers know what you’re interested in. If someone else knows you want it, they’re going to go after it! Sounds crazy, but it’s true.
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  “It looks like they’re getting ready to open the doors!” Caitlyn squealed excitedly as the line in front of us began moving and the heavy metal grate in front of the store slowly rose upward.

  Once the doors opened, the line rushed straight into the store. Within seconds it was a madhouse! Girls were everywhere: running, shrieking, and grabbing, grabbing, grabbing!

  Hangers were flying off the racks.

  Stacks of sweaters and jeans tumbled to the floor.

  Lines were already forming outside the dressing rooms.

  Each and every girl was on a mission.

  Including me!

  I began gathering up the clothes I was interested in. Everything was where I remembered.

  Except for the top in the window.

  It was gone.

  I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It was just like the top I’d seen Mischa Barton wearing in the latest issue of In Touch. Why hadn’t I snatched it up first?

  But just because the top was gone, that didn’t mean I still didn’t have a chance at it. I’d been to too many of these sales not to know how they worked. Sometimes when someone picked up an item, they later decided they didn’t want it, or after trying it on they didn’t like the way it looked and they just tossed it onto a rack.

  If I kept my eyes open, there was a good chance I’d spot my blouse.

  For now, I had plenty to try on. I headed off to the nearest dressing room with my haul, joined by Caitlyn who had a stack of her own.

  We spent the next two hours trying on outfits. Luckily, Caitlyn and I are both the same size, so we were able to pass clothes back and forth to each other. If there was something I’d picked out and I didn’t like the way it looked on me, Caitlyn tried it on. And vice versa. Plus, since we’re always borrowing each other’s clothes, we got to double our wardrobes. It was like we were doing twice the shopping for half the cost!

  Finally, we each decided on what we were going to buy. In my pile I had a plum velvet jacket, an ultraglam white cloth coat, a pair of jeans painted with tiny butterflies, a sky blue blouse, a short, pleated skirt in a purple-and-black plaid, a chocolate brown fake suede skirt, and a fake cashmere turtleneck sweater in black.