“No!” Sammie laughs and hits me. “I already said I’d take your shift. If I tell you my stuff, too, it won’t be a fair deal!”
“Please, Sammie,” I say. “Will you let me be a friend to you? Please?”
Sammie thinks for a moment. “Fine.”
“Okay. Good. Thank you.”
“Now tell me.”
So I do.
I tell her about Mila’s surprise gift of my dad’s return and the strange midnight conversation with my parents. I tell her about my mom, how she held his hand, how they’re promising this honest new life for us. And then I tell her about my father’s double life. About Paige and the texts and the kids who are excited about toys from Daddy.
Sammie slides down on the pillow next to mine. “Oh my God, Viviana.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to cry?”
“No.”
And then I look over at her and I see that her pillow is damp. The tears are streaming down her cheeks.
“Why are you crying?”
“Because this last year has been so awful for us. For you and me both. We’ve lost so much.” She wipes her eyes.
“Oh.” I hadn’t really thought about how intertwined our lives have been.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be the one crying.”
I reach over and give her a hug. “It’s okay. One of us should cry. I don’t know why I’m not.”
“Do you think she knows?”
“My mom? I have no idea.”
“Ugh.”
“Now you tell me.”
“Mine’s nothing compared to yours.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“Well, besides the whole Instagram thing, then this guy I thought I liked has a crush on my best friend, and it turns out they’re probably perfect for each other, and so even though my heart is broken, I’m also really happy for them.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Shut up. Nothing’s going to happen. I promise you.”
“Sure,” she says. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“That’s not your news, though. Tell me, for real now.”
“Well…” Sammie takes a deep breath. “My mom’s been interviewing for a new job.”
“Okay…”
“In Morton Grove.”
“Oh.”
“We’re probably moving there at the end of the summer. We’ve been looking at apartments. My mom wants to be close to our family.”
“No more Uni?”
“Most likely, no. No more Bennett Village. No more Uni.”
And that’s what makes me cry. I think about my last year of high school without Sammie. I don’t know how I’ll survive.
I won’t.
“Your life really is falling apart,” she says. “And so is mine.”
Sammie texts Mr. Bautista about our shift change. If we can’t be together next year, we can at least, hopefully, be together the rest of the summer. And then we lie in her bed the rest of the morning, both of us crying, blubbering our wet tears into Kleenex, until it’s time for her to go take care of my shift.
Habits of an Effective Test Taker #6
On most exams, when you’re uncertain of the correct answer, informed guessing can give you an advantage overall.
My parents each text me at least a dozen times, until I finally text them back to let them know that, yes, I’m alive, and, no, I won’t be returning home for a while, that I need some space to think, and to please just leave me alone, that it’s the only thing I really want for my birthday, to be left alone.
Surprisingly, that makes them stop.
I lie in Sammie’s bed alone and think about my dad. I wonder what she looks like—this woman, Paige. She talked about “the kids.” Kids. Not just one, but two or maybe more? Like it wasn’t an accident. It was planned, thought out, wished for. I try to imagine their faces. I wonder if they have the same red hair that I do and if their eyes are light like mine.
I finally, somehow, drift off into a restless sleep.
I wake up gasping for breath.
I know what I need to do.
I need to see them.
I pick up my phone. It’s 4:30 P.M.
Maybe he hasn’t left yet. Maybe there’s still time.
I grab a shirt and pants out of Sammie’s drawer and throw them on. I run down the stairwell and through the lobby, heading toward the corner bus stop across the street from Bennett Tower.
I stand behind the faded glass, and I wait. This woman, Paige, thinks that he’s coming home at six, so I hope he hasn’t left from our place yet. With any luck, I can catch him.
At twenty past five, he emerges from the lobby of Bennett Tower dressed in a suit and tie, a small duffel bag in his hand. He puts on his sunglasses and starts walking north. I stay on my side of the street, and then I follow him.