Ann Martin - Stacey's Broken Heart

"Yeah, well ... I was just anxious to get them up, but I took down all the ones I could find. If you see any more, just yank them off."

"What will we do for signs?" Mallory asked.

"I'll make them," Abby volunteered.

"Are we going to have to pay for more supplies?" Mallory asked.

"No. I'll borrow them from Claudia, I guess."

"Okay. 'Bye." Mallory hung up and then called me in the city. She couldn't believe they'd wasted the day and the money for the supplies. "Besides, anyone who already saw the signs probably thinks we're crazy. Abby is fun and I like her a lot, but we need Kristy back," she said to me. "And we need her BAAAD!"

Chapter 9.

On Sunday, Dad and I took a cab from his apartment on East 65th Street to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the east side of Central Park. I just love the Met. There is always so much to see.

Dad was interested in a special exhibit of medieval armor which I can't say thrilled me. "So,” he asked as we wandered through the cases of gleaming breastplates, helmets, and swords, "how's everything with you?"

"Good," I said. "I guess."

"You guess?" Dad leaned toward a case for a closer look at a metal boot.

I studied my reflection in the glass. In a strange way, I didn't recognize the person staring back at me. The person in the glass looked older than I remembered. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, or the sophisticated museum setting in the background.

"You don't sound certain," Dad said, studying me.

"Um ... no, I'm sure. It's just that Robert has been acting weird lately."

Dad frowned. "Weird? In what way?"

"I don't know. ... I feel like there's something he's not telling me."

"Like what?"

"If I knew I wouldn't be worried about it," I replied.

Dad nodded and we walked on to the next case. We continued looking at the armor without talking until we got to the end of the exhibit. "Now where to?" he asked.

"The Egyptians?" I suggested. I visit the Egyptian section every time I come to the museum. I love the jewelry they wore, and those great headdresses.

"Okay," Dad agreed. We headed across the main lobby and over to the exhibit. The way you enter the exhibit is so cool. You walk through a small passage that resembles a pyramid doorway. Every time I go through it I imagine myself as an archaeologist discovering all that great, stuff for the first time.

After passing by the same displays I'd seen a million times, I stopped at a small mummy lying in a stone sarcophagus. I hadn't remembered ever seeing it before. I bent down to

read the card on the corner of the glass case surrounding the chipped, square, stone tomb. "Wow," I said to Dad who was by my side. "He was a pharaoh at only fourteen."

Dad nodded absently as if his mind was on something else. "You know, Stacey," he began. "About you and Robert... do you think you might be a little too young to be dating steadily?"

"No," I answered bluntly.

"I think maybe you are," he said thoughtfully. "You're only thirteen. That's awfully young."

I pointed at the mummy. "This guy here was only fourteen. And he was the pharaoh of all Egypt!" I said. I didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. Why was Dad saying this now? He'd known about Robert for a long time.

"This guy here was also dead at fourteen," Dad pointed out. "Most of the ancient Egyptians didn't live past forty. But you're going to live a lot longer than that. You'll meet a lot of people in your lifetime. You'll go to college and meet young men. You'll work, travel, and do all sorts of things. You'll meet a lot of people before you're even out of your twenties. Are you sure you want to limit yourself to only one boy when you're still so young?"

I regretted having said anything about Robert. Dad was probably saying all this because he thought Robert had upset me. He's very protective that way.

"Robert's a great guy," I said to set his mind at ease.

"I'm not saying he's not," Dad replied, as we walked down the hallway past the golden dog god statues, marble plaques covered with hieroglyphics, and the mummy cases. "Even if he were the greatest guy on Earth, I think you should meet others so you can compare."

"I don't want to compare," I grumbled.

"Why not?"

"Because Robert and I are perfect together."

"Are you sure?" Dad asked.

"Yes." We had come to the huge room where the temple of Dendur sits across a large pool. I took the opportunity to escape from Dad and his lecture. Acting as though I were wildly eager to get to the temple, I hurried toward it, leaving him standing in the entranceway.

As I climbed the wide stone steps to the temple, I realized how annoyed I was with him. What was he trying to do? Break up Robert and me? Just because his marriage hadn't worked out didn't mean he had the right to get between two people who were perfectly happy.

Me and my big mouth. Why did I have to

tell him about my worries anyway? He was probably saying all this now because I'd given him an opening. He figured I was concerned about things with Robert so he'd take the opportunity to make things worse. He wanted us to break up. He was saying we were too young because he thought I was still a little girl.

Dad caught up to me near one of the temple walls. "You're mad at me, aren't you?" he said.

I was startled. I thought I'd given him the slip in a subtle way. I looked around the small stone room and saw we were alone. "How could you tell?" I asked.

"Because you stomped away from me just

now."

"I didn't stomp."

Dad laughed lightly. "I'd simply like you to consider what I've said. From what you told me earlier, it doesn't sound as if everything is so perfect between Robert and you. Things might go more smoothly with someone else."

"Things are fine the way they are," I told him firmly. "I'm just worried over nothing. Forget I said anything about it."

"You were the one who said he was lying to you."

"I said he was keeping something from me.

I did not say he was lying. You saw the flowers I brought with me to the city," I replied. "Those were from Robert. Remember? Would he have given me an expensive, humongous bouquet if there was a problem?"

I noticed that my voice was amplified and ringing in that small stone space. It made me realize how upset I sounded.

Dad looked at me for a moment. "I don't know," he said quietly. "We can forget about it for now. Okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, folding my arms. "Good."

We continued through the rest of the exhibit without much conversation. I suppose I was still mad, although I didn't want to be. But I couldn't help it. Dad wasn't supposed to say, "I don't know." He was supposed to say, "You're right, Stacey. The flowers mean everything is fine. I was wrong."

He made me feel as if I had to defend my relationship with Robert, as if something was wrong with it.

An hour later, we left the museum, still not talking naturally to each other. Dad tried a few times, but I just answered him stiffly. I wasn't ready to forget our argument.

Robert and I were right for each other, and nothing was going to change that — no matter what Dad thought.

Chapter 10.

On Monday I woke up early, eager to see the Walkers. I heard the water running in the bathroom and knew Dad was getting ready for work. It's unusual for me to be with him on a weekday.