The Shore (44 page)

“We're going to be late,” said Claire.

“With me driving? Never,” Jodi said.

“Okay, we're going to be dead,” Claire gasped as Jodi crossed three lanes and a truck to make the exit ramp to the airport.

“Not an option,” said Jodi.

When they slammed into the short-term parking, Linley said, “You did say, Jodi, that Poppy had addressed your speed problem?”

“One speed issue at a time,” Jodi retorted. She tapped her watch. “Tick, tick, tick.”

Claire looked across the roof of the car at Jodi. Jodi sighed. “Yes, I have a problem. Yes, I'm going to address it. Am addressing it. Have quit. Will have my work cut out for me. . . .”

“Okay,” said Claire.

Linley was hauling luggage and ass toward the terminal.

“Listen, keep in touch, okay?” Jodi said.

“I will,” Claire promised. “And I won't be gone that long.”

“You did mention that,” Jodi said. She grabbed another suitcase, and she and Claire hustled after Linley.

Finn appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, almost mowing several people down with the large, carefully-wrapped-to-airline-requirements
object he'd just pulled from his illegally parked van, where Barrel was barking from the window.

“Mermaid Claire,” he said. “Good, I caught you.”

“Finn?” Claire said.

“Here,” he said. And thrust the object at her. Claire saw Linley and Jodi laughing. “It's a surfboard,” he explained. “For you. I picked it out and it was just ready this morning.”

“Finn. Oh, Finn,” Claire cried, and hugged him hard.

They kissed one last time. Then Finn said, “I have a lesson. Got to go. See you on the next wave.”

“See you,” Claire said, hugging the surfboard now and laughing and crying at the same time.

“Tick, tick!” shouted Jodi, and Claire, with one last look at the disappearing van, went to catch her plane.

The surfboard slowed them down, but Claire still made it. Outside the security gates, she felt herself wanting to cry again.

“Don't get mushy,” Linley ordered. “It's just the end of one summer, not the end of all things.”

“No,” said Claire. “Besides, I'll see you back at school.”

“And we'll find a house.”

“And continue the party,” said Jodi.

Linley pressed something into Claire's hand. “For when you get up in the air,” she said.

And then Claire had gone through the scanners and was boarding the plane, waving one last time at Jodi and Linley.

The plane banked and climbed. Claire unclenched her fist
and looked down. It was what Linley had called a “no-fear-of-flying” pill.

Linley was staying on a few more days at the house with Max and Finn and Jodi and Poppy. Then she'd be back east for school and she and Claire would look for an off-campus house and some new roommates. Max would be heading back to India to study to become a monk.

Linley would be okay. Never happy with losing Max, but who was happy all the time? She'd deal with her sister being gone probably all her life. But now she'd deal.

Jodi and Poppy were going to live together, a summer romance that had legs after all. Finn would stay in the old house on the beach until Linley's uncle got back later in the fall. Then he and Barrel would move on.

The land fell away.

Claire looked down at the pill. It seemed like only yesterday that she'd been so terrified and stoned stupid as they'd flown into the sunset.

She tipped her hand, and the pill fell out and rolled away under a seat. Gone.

Claire leaned back and waited to place her drink order. It had been quite a summer. She wasn't the same girl who had been on that first plane. She wasn't sure who she was, but she wasn't that girl.

One thing I do know for sure, though,
Claire thought, and smiled.

I'm not afraid of flying anymore.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Todd Strasser
is the author of more than 130 books for teens and middle graders including
The Diving Bell
and the Help! I'm Trapped In . . . series, as well as numerous award-winning YA novels including
The Accident, The Wave, Give A Boy A Gun, Boot Camp,
and
If I Grow Up.
His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and several have been adapted into feature films. He has also written for television, newspapers, and magazines such as the
New Yorker, Esquire,
and the
New York Times
. His most recent novel is the YA thriller,
Wish You Were Dead
.

Nola Thacker
is the author of nearly one hundred books for middle graders and teens, including the thrillers
Secret Santa
,
The Ripper
,
Sister Dearest
,
Mirror, Mirror
, and
The Bride
(all written under her pseudonym, D. E. Athkins).