Sun-kissed (The Au Pairs 3)

They left, and Jacqui closed the door, totally agitated. "They can't sell this place! They can't! This is my home!" What had happened? Jacqui panicked. Why was Kevin selling the apartment? He and Anna were supposed to have had a romantic lunch at Babette's earlier, making the divorce history.

"Why not?" Mara asked, putting her bag down on the floor and admiring the marble fireplace. The mantel held a bunch of photos of them from summers past and from their spring break in Cabo.

"Hold on a sec," Jacqui said. "I need to call Shannon." She picked up her cell and dialed frantically.

Shannon picked up on the first ring. "Jac, I'm so, so sorry. I tried to call, but it's been so busy here with you gone."

"What happened? Didn't they go to lunch?"

"That's the thing--they didn't," Shannon confessed. "Well, I mean, they were both there, but by the time Kevin arrived, Anna was eating with someone else."

"Excuse me?"

Shannon explained the Pershing/Perry e-mail snafu and how Anna had returned from lunch angrier than ever, since Kevin had

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confronted her at the restaurant and accused her of deceiving him and, worse, having an affair with a much-younger man.

"So the divorce is still on?" Jacqui moaned.

"Totally. Kevin had a fit, said he was going to the judge as soon as possible, putting it on an express track." Shannon sighed.

"It's not your fault," Jacqui said, even though she wanted to strangle the girl for making such a sloppy mistake. But that was the problem with the Cyrano scheme--stealing identities only led to more confusion. She hung up the phone and looked at Mara and Eliza, who were waiting patiently for an explanation of her outburst and the odd phone call.

"What was that all about?" Mara asked.

"Yeah, and why are you so worried about Kevin selling this place? Won't you be at the dorms?" Eliza asked, poking into the fridge.

Jacqui looked utterly miserable. "Because . . ."

"Do you want to try and keep this apartment?" Eliza asked, still not understanding. "You really shouldn't. You'll make more friends if you stay downtown, you know."

"No, no--I--I'm not going to NYU," Jacqui said, slumping across the kitchen counter that separated the stove and refrigerator from the rest of the room. She had a stricken look on her face, and she buried her head in her hands. She'd tried to hide from the truth all summer by hanging out with the web site guys, but now that she was with her friends, she couldn't take it alone anymore. She needed their support.

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"You didn't like the tour?" Mara asked, still not comprehending.

"No--I didn't take the tour," Jacqui said, surfacing for a moment "I--I didn't get in."

Mara and Eliza exchanged shocked glances, and Jacqui told them the whole story. The missing math and science requirements, the fifth year of high school program, the Perrys' impending divorce and how if they split up, it meant a one-way ticket back to Brazil. They felt awful for Jacqui--Mara since all she did was talk about college, Eliza because she knew how hard it was to live with a secret.

"I'm so sorry I lied to you guys," Jacqui said. "I just didn't want to deal with it."

"It's okay," Mara said, putting an arm around Jacqui and hugging her. "We understand. I wish there was something we could do to help."

Jacqui sniffed. "I wish there was too. I'll really miss you guys if I end up going home."

"Well, we can't let that happen," Eliza declared in her bossy way.

"No, not at all." Mara nodded. "You're not going anywhere. That's so weird Ryan hasn't mentioned it. But then again, he hardly talks to his dad."

"Anna's keeping it a secret from all the kids. It doesn't look good. He already served her papers and Anna is really close to signing." Jacqui told them about Operation Parent Trap and how she'd been sending romantic gifts to Anna with Kevin's name on

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them as well as how Shannon's idea to craft lovey-dovey e-mails in Kevin's name had blown up in their faces when an e-mail from "Anna" had gone astray.