Forbidden Boy

Can you please tell Bill I’ll be working on my sketches from home this afternoon? I just don’t feel right about hogging our project manager’s desk any longer than absolutely necessary.”

“Yeah, no problem. Everything okay?” Mitch tilted his head and looked at her curiously.

“Yup. Absolutely fine.” Julia

79

Chapter Seven

!

Julia

Forbidden Boy

worked up about something since her college acceptance letters showed up a week late. Normally Chloe was calm, upbeat, and cheerful. Standing in front of her right now, though, was a trembling mess who just happened to be wearing Chloe’s straight-legged, dark-wash Joe’s jeans and fitted pink blazer.

“Chloe, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” Julia

“Is it Dad? Is Dad okay?”

Chloe nodded and pulled Julia

TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.

Jules couldn’t believe it—just when she’d thought things couldn’t get any worse! She stood with Chloe at the window, rubbing her sister’s back and muttering,

“Those rats, those little rats. Those complete and total dirtbags.”

Chloe, whose breathing was finally slowing to normal, managed to squeak out, “What? Who?”

“The Moores, who else?” Julia

Hailey Abbott

like they were living in a biohazard zone or a bombed-out shell of a city. The gates themselves were aggressively orange—like they were there specifically to tell every other part of the color wheel to go to hell.

Their father, who had been working down the hall in his studio, ambled into the room.

“Girls, what’s going on in here?” He stopped short when he saw their eyes fixed on the orange fences. “Oh, yeah, that.”

“Had you already seen this?” Chloe yelped. Their father was always mellow, but they expected more of a reaction when their home had just been surrounded by what appeared to be giant, Day-Glo riot gear. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It’s not worth discussing,” Dad replied, turning from the window. “It’s just a show. It’s just supposed to scare people away. If they were really pla

“Okay, I need to shower. I’m covered in dust from work. But I think I’ll go for a quick run first.” Jules turned toward the stairs. She got as far as the doorway 82

Forbidden Boy

before the vision of the glaring orange gates compelled her to spin around toward the window for one last look.

Dad was sitting on the window seat, his face tilted slightly away from the beach view, his fingertips lightly touching the glass. For the first time, Julia

! ! !

After her run, Julia

Twenty minutes later, Kelly Clarkson was blasting from Chloe’s Bose iPod dock and the girls were shouting along at the top of their lungs. “Since you been gone, I can breathe for the first time . . .” Chloe was up on the bed in full-on rock-star air-guitar mode, her hair flying wildly around her, while Julia

Hailey Abbott

Chloe’s bed. When the song ended, Chloe flopped down on the bed, laughing, and straightened her flowered pajama bottoms and shell-pink tank top.

“Why do I love that song so much?” she asked Julia

“Yeah, but it’s definitely a classic.” Jules laughed.

“Which must be why they still play it on the radio, like, constantly.”

Chloe shrugged. “I told Dad we’d handle di

Julia

And the construction and the gates on the beach certainly weren’t helping anything. Her photography was better than ever this summer, but nothing she did made her painting seem any more polished. Julia

“Kat promised she’d post some pictures of Madrid.”

“Sure, it’s on,” Chloe tossed back. “Just make sure I’m logged out.”

Julia

Forbidden Boy

wicker desk. She ran her fingers over the touch mouse to turn off the screen saver (a rotating photo slide show of Chloe with her sorority sisters, Chloe with her premed friends, Chloe volunteering, and Chloe crossing a bunch of 5k finish lines. Damn—her sister’s life looked exhausting!) and logged into MySpace—her current go-to method of procrastination.

Julia

“Whatcha’ looking at?” Chloe asked, coming up behind her sister to peek at the screen.

“Not much,” Julia

“Ooh, I like that one,” Chloe piped up, pointing to a picture of Julia

Her hair was blowing everywhere in the beach breeze, and her face was lit orange by the fire.

“Hey!” Chloe smacked Julia