Page 39 of The Carrie Diaries (The Carrie Diaries 1)

“Well, they’d better find someone else to tail.”

“Or what? You’re going to beat them up?” I giggle.

“Something like that.” He rubs my leg and smiles. We take a sharp turn off the highway and onto Main Street. As we approach my house, he slows down.

“Not here.” I panic. “They’ll see your car in the driveway.”

“Where then?”

I consider for a moment. “The library.”

No one will think to look for us there, except maybe The Mouse, who knows that the Castlebury Public Library is my favorite secret place. It’s housed in a white brick mansion, built in the early 1900s, when Castlebury was a booming mill town and had millionaires who wanted to show off their wealth by building grand mansions on the Connecticut River. But hardly anyone has the money to keep them up now, so they’ve all been turned into public properties or nursing homes.

Sebastian whips into the driveway and parks behind the building. I hop out and peek around the side. The beige Toyota is slowly making its way down Main Street, past the library. Inside the car, the two Jens are swiveling their heads around like swizzle sticks, trying to find us.

I bend over, laughing. Every time I try to straighten up, I look at Sebastian and burst out into hysterics. I stumble around the parking lot and fall to the ground, holding my stomach.

“Carrie?” he says. “Is it really that funny?”

“Yes,” I cry. And I collapse into another wave of laughter while Sebastian looks at me, gives up, and lights a cigarette.

“Here,” he says, handing it to me.

I get up, holding on to him for support. “It is funny, isn’t it?”

“It’s hilarious.”

“How come you’re not laughing?”

“I am. But I like watching you laugh more.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It makes me happy.” He puts his arm around me and we go inside.

I lead him up to the fourth floor. Hardly anyone comes up here because all the books are on engineering and botany and obscure scientific research that most people don’t want to bother trekking up four flights to read. In the middle of the room is an old chintz-covered couch.

We’re at least half an hour into an intense make-out session when we’re startled by a loud angry voice.

“Hello, Sebastian. I was wondering where you’d run off to.”

Sebastian is on top of me. I look over his shoulder and see Donna LaDonna looming over us, like an angry Valkyrie. Her arms are crossed, emphasizing her formidable chest. If breasts could kill, I’d be dead.

“You’re disgusting,” she sneers at Sebastian before she focuses her attention on me. “And you, Carrie Bradshaw. You’re even worse.”

“I don’t get it,” I say in a small voice.

Sebastian looks guilty. “Carrie, I’m sorry. I had no idea she would react that way.”

How could he have “no idea”? I wonder, my anger growing. It’s going to be all over the school tomorrow. And I’m the one who’s going to look like either a fool or a bitch.

Sebastian has one hand on the wheel, tapping the fake wood inlay with a ragged nail, as if he’s as perplexed by this as I am. I’m probably supposed to yell at him, but he looks so cute and innocent, I can’t quite muster the energy.

I look at him hard, folding my arms. “Are you seeing her?”

“It’s complicated.”

“How?”