The Steps (12 page)

“The weirdest thing,” Lucy said. “I'm not grounded either. My punishment is that I have to make a new friend here in Sydney every week for the next two months and invite that person over to dinner or to a movie. And I have to spend five hours a week at Mum's aerobics studio sweeping, cleaning, and filing papers.”

I gave Penny props for thinking up Lucy's punishment. The best way for Lucy not to want to run away ever again was for her to feel like she had friends in her new home. Penny and Granny Nell, I guess, had also had a long conversation about learning to get along better. And when Bubbe kissed Jack-Dad's cheek as she walked in the door, I knew they would be okay together.

In all, I thought my punishment very Ben-worthy. I vowed to spend the time I would have spent watching TV or going to the movies at the running track, so that the next time I saw Ben, he would be impressed with my amazing speed and all-over buffitude.

Also, if Ben could spend his holidays working with Patrick, then I supposed I could learn to deal with working with my stepdad for a few hours every week. At least I could say this about Harvey: He was a great dresser. He wore nice tailored Italian suits and beautiful silk ties. Plus, Harvey was one man you'd never see wearing Birkenstocks. Unlike his son, Wheaties.

“Your-almost stepbrother is such a dag,” Lucy whispered in my ear. “Dag” is this Australian expression for a person who is nerdy, but in the best, most endearing kind of way.

“Way dag,” I said.

Wheaties walked over to us. The top of his head barely reached our noses, his hair was slicked back with mousse, and he was pale as Wonder bread.

Wheaties said to Lucy, “I saw your smiley-face curtains. Are you a fan of music from the seventies, like the Partridge Family?”

“Wheaties,” I said. “In Australia you're not a fan, you're a supporter.”

Wheaties repeated to Lucy, “Are you a seventies music fan?” Wheaties never lets me get under his skin.

Lucy flashed her multicolored-braces Lucy-love grin. She nodded enthusiastically, even though there is no Nick at Nite in Australia—and no way Lucy knew who the Partridge Family were.

“You like seventies music, Wheaties?” I asked. Aside from how weird it was to have this little slice of the Progress School on the Upper West Side sharing Balmain, Sydney, Australia, and the Steps with me (that was my other life), I could not believe Wheaties would like a group that wasn't singing obscure folk songs or picking instruments with names like Dobro or mandolin.

“I love the Partridge Family,” Wheaties said in this voice like he was a game-show announcer. “They're true pop music wonders. Like the Beatles, like Madonna, they have a certain quality . . .”

I tuned him out. Lucy hung on his every word. She looked at him like she was getting a case of the Bens.

Penny came over to me and gently touched my shoulder. She didn't smother me in a hug or try to plant any unwelcome, phony stepkisses. She said, “I need your help outside.” I walked with her to the backyard, where a big picnic table was sitting on the grass. “You'll see the plates and silverware waiting for you on the bench seat. If you'll put down the tablecloth and then set the table, Granny Nell and I should have dinner ready in about fifteen minutes.”

I smiled at Penny. Guests were never asked to set the table. “Those black riding boots you wear are really cool looking, Penny,” I said. The ends of her lips turned slightly upwards. Like her daughter, she knew when we were having a Moment.

“Thank you, Anna-the-Belle,” she said, and walked back to the kitchen.

*  *  *

I stayed by my dad's side throughout the whole dinner. I didn't even want him to hold Beatrice. I wanted him all to myself. I held Beatrice instead, and miracle of all miracles, she managed to make it through most of the meal without crying or spitting up on me. Maybe she knew it was my last night in Australia, and she wanted to be extra good so I would come back and kiss the baby hair on her forehead over and over and rub my nose along her soft baby skin again.

On my other side sat Angus, who sat next to Bubbe, who sat next to Granny Nell. On the other side of the bench were Penny, Lucy, Wheaties, Angelina, and Harvey. It was like we were one big family. It was graayate.

“You're pretty good holding babies, Annabel,” Harvey said. He was very talkative, I guess because he gets so much practice talking on television and talking to customers, convincing them to buy premium mattresses with expensive bed frames. He might also have been especially talkative because he hated the food—Granny Nell had made a delish vegan rice-tofu-veggies combo (in support of Wheaties) with the wok Jack and Penny had given her for Christmas. I knew Harvey and Angelina would order steaks in their fancy hotel room as soon as they returned, but I didn't care. What was important to me was that they had come. Harvey added, “Do you have any interest in designing some patterns for baby crib linens?” Did I! He added to Penny, “This Australian wine is outstanding!” Step-step talk.

Lucy said, “Mum, Patrick says hello. He and Ben came over for dinner.” Something about the way Lucy said “Ben,” and how Lucy and I started giggling after that beautiful word, made Angelina's eyes dart suddenly between me and Lucy.

“Who's Ben?” Angelina asked Lucy.

“Ask Whoops over there,” Lucy giggled again.

I was drinking from a Coke bottle, and just looking at her made me laugh, which made me snarf. I handed the baby to Jack so I could wipe the Coke dribbling out of my nose. Wheaties laughed the hardest at my snarfing.

“Dis-gus-ting!” he said. “I can't wait to tell Brittany Carlson that Whoops Schubert snarfed her Coke at the dinner table in Australia.”

“Ha-ha, Wheaties,” I said. Angelina, a.k.a. Mom, shot me a look. “Alan,” I said.

Wheaties said, “Nobody calls me Alan, Whoops.” I shot Angelina-Mom a look like,
see?

Angus asked, “Why do they call you Whoops?” I didn't need Angus to be added to the list of people calling me Whoops. Now was the perfect time to make Angus forget all about that nickname. I took the souvenirs out of my pant pocket. “Here, Angus,” I said. “These are Kinder Surprise toys I saved for you.”

“You ate Kinder Surprises without me?” he asked, “Whoops” forgotten.

Bubbe to the rescue. “You can't trust twelve-year-old girls with chocolate, Angus. I happen to have two chockies in my pocketbook. I'll eat some with you.” Angus was in love.

Granny Nell informed the group, “Ben and Annabel took quite a fancy to each other, I'd say. I believe he's the prime suspect for those flowers left on the porch this morning with no note.” Granny Nell chuckled.

From across the table Angelina, my mom, mouthed the word “Later” to me, meaning I had plenty of time on the plane ride home to New York the next day to cough up the scoopage.

Jack passed Beatrice over to Penny and said to me, “Let's go inside, just us two.”

We both went inside, and I said, “What?” thinking maybe I was in trouble again.

“There's no what,” Jack, my dad, said. “I just wanted to have a few minutes alone with you.” His face looked so sad. I sat down on the couch and cuddled my head against his shoulder. He put his arm around the back of my neck and stroked my hair. “Seems like you just got here, and now you're leaving. You realize how much I miss you, don't you?”

I nodded. I knew, but it felt good to hear him say it.

“Your mom and I talked. We agree you should spend more time here. And Penny and I would like Australia to be just as much of your home as Manhattan is. How does spending the month of July here sound, as well as three weeks over the Christmas holidays? Your mom and I have agreed that you could miss a few extra days of school over the Christmas holidays in order to spend time with this family. Lucy and Angus will be in school part of the time you'd be here in July, but that will give you and me time to spend together, just us two. And next Christmas maybe we could go up to the beaches in Queensland—”

“Beatrice will be walking by then!” I said. She was already almost ready to crawl. She would sit on her hands and knees and rock her body back and forth while Angus encouraged, “Go, Beatrice! Crawl!”

Dad added, “She'll be talking up a storm by then too. Soon after you started walking, you started talking so much your mother and I wondered if you were making up for the time when you were a small baby and didn't know any words!” He paused, then looked down into my face. “And what's this about Ben? I don't know if I'm ready for my baby to have a boy sending her flowers.”

“I'm not a baby, Dad,” I said. Then, in a very low voice, I added, “I like the Steps.”

“I'm glad,” he said, “because we're going to be a family for a very, very long time.”

When I left Manhattan for Australia, I had never imagined that I would return home a little more than a week later with not one, but two, more families. I hadn't liked the idea of having so many families, but the Steps were not my choice. What was my choice was whether or not I would make the best of my new family situations.

I breathed in the hot summer air coming in through the window. The next day I would return to winter. I would return with warm dreams of Australia, of an almost-boyfriend and an almost-BF step.

“Graayate, Dad!” I said. The sweetest words.

E-mail to: Annabel Schubert

From: Lucy Crosswell

Hey, Whoops! Sorry I couldn't write you back yesterday. I was at a slumber party at my new friend Jessica's house. You would like her a lot. She knows everything about fashion designers, like you do, and she wears hats even more dreadful than yours! I was so excited to hear about your new room in your new apartment. Wow, a skylight! Tell Harvey thanks for putting an extra bed in the room for me! And tell your mum I loved the acting books she sent, thank you sooooo much! I can't wait to come visit you in NEW YORK in June. I can't believe you let Harvey and Angelina give you my airplane ticket as your birthday present, since I get to be the one who gets to take the fabu trip, but GRAAAY-ATE! Angus is very jealous, but I explained to him that he isn't old enough to take a trip like that on his own. Did I tell you? I talked to Jenny on the phone, and she said that Ben put the picture you sent him in his locker, and he pasted it to the door with a sticker of an American flag. <> Mum just put up a framed picture of you in the living room—it's you walking around in a swarm of people at Paddington Market, trying on that cowboy hat with the “A” and smiling this marvie smile. She also snapped one of the two of us holding Dad's hands and you sticking your tongue out at me behind his back and me not even noticing. We laughed so hard when we saw the picture! Mum is sending copies of the pics to your mum as a wedding present. Are you ready for the new baby in August? You HAVE to play me the tape of Harvey's new commercial with Angelina as the pregnant lady looking for a baby crib! You will not believe it, Beatrice is walking all over the place. We had to totally reorganize the house so she would not bump into things and grab things she shouldn't have. She has lots more hair, and Dad and I think she looks just like Mum, except she has the same exact nose as YOU. Oh, well, I have to get off now because Angus keeps pestering me to use the computer (he says hi and when will your gran send him more chockie?). Tell Wheaties that Mum found her old record of some Partridge Family tune called “C'mon Get Happy,” and now that's Angus's fave song. Angus keeps playing the record over and over, so now Dad and I have renamed the song “Cmon Get Annoyed.”

Tell Wheaties a super-extra-special hi from ME!

Luv, Luce

Rachel Cohn
is the bestselling author of
You Know Where to Find Me, Gingerbread, Shrimp, Cupcake, Pop Princess
, and, with David Levithan,
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
,
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
, and
Dash &
Lily's
Book of Dares
as well as the tween novels
The Steps
and
Two Steps Forward
. Born in Washington, DC, she graduated from Barnard College in New York and has lived on both coasts. She lives in Los Angeles. Visit her at
RachelCohn.com
.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2003 by Rachel Cohn

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Also available in a Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers hardcover edition. Designed by Russell Gordon

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Cohn, Rachel.

The Steps / Rachel Cohn.—1st ed.