Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 359(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Lucy: But Brian and I could go off and leave you, and if that––ohmygod, did you just snort?
Kola: Please don’t make her lose it again.
Lucy: I don’t get what’s funny.
Kola: Because if you peel off from Hannah, or me if I went with you guys, then you’ll have marshals out looking for you, and that’s just––
Hannah: Bad. It’s really, really bad. And Brian could end up in a headlock or some horrible stress position locked up in cuffs for hours. The guys who work for my dad are more scared of him being upset with them than anything else. They will seriously put Brian in the trunk of a car.
Kola: For like…a long time.
Jory: Both of you need to stop. You’re freaking Lucy out.
Hannah: Lucy needs to start taking self-defense classes.
Kola: Yeah, I think so, because I’ll bet you money that your dad is just like mine and he’s not gonna let you date unless you can take care of yourself either.
Lucy: You think?
Hannah and Kola: Yeah.
Jory: So there’s the answer. Girls can date once they can thoroughly defend themselves.
Lucy: And boys?
Jory: Sixteen as well, also with the self-defense, and they need to understand that no always means no and that protection is not an option.
Lucy: That’s way too much information.
Hannah: We tell the whole truth and nothing but around here.
Lucy: Hannah, can I go with you next time you go to your class to enroll in something?
Hannah: Absolutely.
Kola: Hey, is there any of that meatloaf left?
Jory: Oh, did you like that?
Kola: No. Not at all. I wanted to know if it was gone so I could make a sandwich.
Jory: That’s just mean.
Kola: It’s made of quinoa. You’re lucky Dad’s got that business dinner tonight or he would’ve whined about it too.
Jory: Oh look, another question.
DEAR JORY:
I’m trying to get my family to eat better, but it’s an uphill battle. What do you do to get your family to eat healthy?
Hannah: Try and poison us. Clearly.
Jory: What?
Hannah: Dinner was vile, except for the tossed salad and the green beans and the mashed potatoes—though they did taste a little weird.
Jory: That’s because it was mashed cauliflower. Hah!
Hannah: Gross. No wonder.
Kola: It’s called meatloaf, yeah? That means that it should probably have, like, some meat in it.
Jory: Go away.
Kola: I’m getting a sandwich. Any other takers?
Lucy: I want some more of the fruit salad we had for dessert, so I’ll come with you.
Jory: So how do I try and get my family to eat better?
Hannah: Well, you don’t have soda in the house, it’s only water or unsweetened tea, and orange juice for breakfast, but only one glass. And you make sure there’s always a salad and there are veggies in the fridge and hummus. I mean, if we want cookies or something, we have to make it. There’s ice cream in the freezer but—I don’t know, I mean, I think the main point is if it’s not in the house, you can’t snack on it at two in the morning.
Jory: True.
Hannah: So maybe to eat healthy, you purge all the bad stuff and only keep good stuff in your house.
Jory: I think that’s excellent advice.
Hannah: Okay, let’s get another one. How about…
DEAR JORY:
What do you do when one of your daughter’s best friends has a thing for your son?
Jory: I don’t think that’s a question.
Hannah: It is now.
Jory: Oh? Oh…. Are you sure?
Hannah: Pretty sure. And I mean, I get it. He’s tall now, his acne cleared up, he’s got that same jawline that Dad has that—
Jory: I’m sorry, what?
Hannah: My art teacher, Mrs. Acosta, after Dad came to parent night, she told me the next day that my father has a jawline that should be stamped on coins. She said the square is a good thing.
Jory: Did she.
Hannah: Yeah, so he’s got that same one, and a lot of girls—and I mean a lot of girls—try and talk to him all of a sudden, but you know him, he’s oblivious and all about college and his grades and all his extracurriculars and—he could give a crap.
Jory: I know.
Hannah: But I think Lucy has a little torch going, and I think she accepted a date with Brian to see if it would make Kola jealous, but you heard him, he’s more laughing because of what Dad will say more than anything else.
Jory: Yes.
Hannah: So what’s the answer?
Jory: I think the answer is that you are supportive of your friend but explain as well that your brother has his priorities fixed on something else at the moment and that dating is not where his interest lies and for her to respect that and concentrate on being a friend.
Hannah: Being friends is always good advice, huh?
Jory: Most of the time, unless it hurts you to try and be friends, and then you have to make a clean break, I think. But for Lucy and Kola, being friends works. Okay?