The Amanda Project: Book One

The Amanda Project: Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Hal stood up. "How could she live with her father's parents when they were killed in a car crash on her sixth birthday?"

I took a step toward him and raised my voice a little, like volume was the thing that was going to convince him. "How could her father's parents have been killed in a car crash when they're her guardians?"

Hal took a step toward me and raised his voice a little, too. "How could they be her guardians when she doesn't have any family in the world except her mom?"

"But-" I was about to repeat the thing about her living with her grandparents when I realized the total stupidity of me and Hal standing there screaming at each other.

Hal must have realized it too because he just stood there, mouth slightly open, like he'd caught himself before he really got going.

"Something very, very weird is going on," he said finally. He sat back down and started digging in the mud with his stick.

"Tell me about it. And there's something else you should know." I squatted down a few feet away and told him about the money. I hoped he wouldn't ask why she'd given me money. I didn't like the idea of lying to Hal, but I wasn't sure I was ready to share all my family's dirty little (or not so little) secrets with him, either.

When I told him the amount of cash, Hal let out a long, slow whistle. "Wow."

"I know," I said.

He thought for a minute. "Do you think she . . ." He swallowed, like he couldn't quite bring himself to say the words. ". . . stole it?" he finished quietly.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I mean, Amanda's definitely . . ." how could I describe her in just a word or two?

"Unconventional?" Hal offered.

It was good enough for now. "Yeah," I said. "But I don't think she's, like, a criminal or anything."

"Still, that's a lot of money. I never thought of her as being especially rich."

Neither of us said anything for a minute, taking in what we'd just learned.

Hal spoke first. "I never met her mom. She talked about her a lot, but I never actually met her. Do you think that's weird?"

Who was I to say what was weird?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, like . . . I almost started to think . . ." Hal looked embarrassed, as if he was about to say something truly outrageous. "I almost started to think she didn't have a mom. That she was on her own. Does that sound crazy?"

I remembered my own sense that Amanda was somehow too cool to have regular parents, but I hadn't thought of living with her grandparents as being on her own exactly. It was a scary thought. I mean, I guess in some ways I was on my own, what with my mom being MIA and my dad being AWOL himself. But it wasn't like if something really big happened to me and I needed him, he wouldn't come through.