Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane 1)

"Uh-oh," William said, looking up at Kate.

Lucas laughed. "Wil-lies in tro-uble," he chanted.

Marah wrenched free, and ran upstairs, slamming the door shut behind her.

"Lucas," Johnny said. "Stop teasing your brother. And stay back from the glass on the floor. "

Kate sighed and reached for a towel.

The next day, Kate pulled into the school drive-through lane just three minutes before the lunch bell rang. Parking illegally, she hurried into the office, signed Marah out for the day, and then walked down to her classroom. Last night, after the moment of conversation and connection between them, Marah had shut Kate out again. No amount of prompting could restart the engine, and so Kate had had to formulate plan B. A surprise attack.

Peering through the rectangular glass window, she knocked once, saw the teacher wave at her, and went inside.

Most of the kids smiled at her and said hello. That was one of the benefits of constant volunteering: everyone knew you. All the kids looked happy to see her—or at least happy for this disruption in class.

All the kids except one.

Marahs face wore the what-are-you-doing-at-school-embarrassing-me grimace. Kate was more than familiar with it. She knew the middle school rules: parents should be invisible.

The bell rang and the kids ran from the room, talking loudly.

When they were alone, Kate went to Marah.

"What are you doing here?"

"Youll see. Get your things. Were leaving. "

Marah stared up at her, obviously assessing the situation from every possible social angle. "Okay. Ill meet you at the car, okay?"

Ordinarily Kate would make a comment about that and force Marah to walk out with her, but her daughter was emotionally fragile right now. That was why Kate was here. "Okay. "

The easy victory surprised Marah. Kate smiled at her, touched her shoulder. "See you in a minute. "

Actually, it took a bit longer than that, but not much. In no time, Marah was in the passenger seat, buckling up. "Where are we going?"

"Well, first were going out to lunch. "

"You got me out of school to have lunch?"

"And something else. A surprise. " Kate drove to the diner-style restaurant that was next door to the brand-new multiplex theater on the island.

"Im going to have a cheeseburger, fries, and a strawberry milkshake," Kate said when they were seated.

"Me, too. "

After the waitress took their orders and left, Kate looked at her daughter. Slouched down in the blue vinyl seat, she looked thin and angular, a girl bursting into adolescence. Her black hair, messy and unkempt now, would someday be a crowning glory, and her brown eyes revealed every nuance of emotion she felt. Now she looked bereft.

The waitress delivered their shakes. Kate took a sip. It was probably her first ice-cream product since the twins birth and it tasted like Heaven. "Ashley still being mean to you?" she finally said.

"She hates me. I dont even know what I did to her. "

Kate had been thinking a lot about what to say, how to handle this first heartbreak. Like all mothers, she would do anything in the world to keep her daughter safe and whole, but some dangers couldnt be fully protected against, they could only be experienced and then understood. That was one of the many lessons this country had learned this year, and even though some things had changed for them all, some things had stayed the same.

"In fifth grade, I had two very best friends. For years, we did everything together—showed our horses at the fair, had slumber parties, hung out at the lake in the summer. Grandma called us the three horse-keteers. And then one summer, when I was almost fourteen, they stopped liking me. I still dont know why. They started hanging around with boys and went to parties and they never called me again. Every day I went to school and sat on the bus by myself and ate lunch by myself, and every night I cried before I went to sleep. "

"Really?"

Kate nodded. "I can still remember how much it hurt my feelings. "