I wondered if she said the same thing to Timothy or his parents. Probably not. I’m sure they were the recipients of a million apologies and promises from the school to do better.
Fucking rich people got away with everything.
“So…they’re taking me even though it’s the second week of the semester?”
“Yes. They have faith you’ll be able to catch up as you haven’t missed very much. I suggest you get packed and be on your way, I told them you’d be arriving tomorrow.”
I forced myself to smile at Mrs. Beaumont and thanked her for coordinating this second chance for me. I took the packet and left the office, walked back to my dorm, and packed my things.
It didn’t take very long.
I took a train that ran from here to the town next to Ashbrook. My eye was swelling and starting to close up, and I must’ve looked pretty bad because people were staring at me more than usual.
Once I arrived in New Haven, I walked around until I found a crappy motel and rented a room.
I dreamed of my mom that night. She was standing in a bright meadow wearing a yellow dress with a blue floral print. Her arms were outstretched, welcoming and warm, ready to hug me, but when I looked up at her face, it wasn’t there.
2
FROM THE FIRST DAY I MET YOU, YOU WERE LIKE AN ANTIDOTE
DAKOTA
“Are you smoking again?!”
A booted foot kicked my shin, and I almost dropped my cigarette. Pain shot up my leg as I glared at my brother.
“What the fuck, Val,” I grumbled, stubbing it out in the dirt and putting the butt back in the empty carton.
He had his camera aimed at me, and the click of the shutter made me roll my eyes as he lowered it and glowered at me. “You said you were quitting!” He waved the camera. “I’ve got evidence of your lies now.”
“You weren’t supposed to see that.”
“Ugh. You know what, I’m just gonna carry around a bucket of water and dump it on you when I see you with that crap in your mouth. You said you were gonna quit.” He scowled down at me, and shame nipped at my conscience.
“Yeah, well, it’s been kind of a stressful month.”
Val hummed in sympathy, then muttered, “And what the hell is this? You’ve got twigs and crap in your hair. God you’re a mess.” He crouched near my shoulder to start picking out bits of nature from my hair. “Rolling around on the ground like ananimal.” He kept muttering under his breath, and I tilted my head to give him better access.
When he was done, he plopped down on his butt right next to me and rested his head on my shoulder, heaving an enormous sigh.
“So what’s today’s word?”
Val let out a little laugh. “It’s ‘provident’, which is fitting.”
“Why? What’s it mean?”
“Demonstrating great care for the future, which I wish you’d do.”
“Eh.” I wanted to saywhat future?, but that would spark up a whole conversation that I really wasn’t feeling at the moment. Or ever. I knew Val loved me and just wanted me to care about my life, but I didn’t have the heart to ask him why I should bother. To ask himwhat was the point?
He’d really go off on a tangent then, and it was such a nice day—I glanced at the sky, which had more clouds than it did ten minutes ago. Well, ithadbeen a nice day, and I didn’t want to ruin it with boring talk of a future that I didn’t really care about.
“You talk to dad?”
“Albert? Nope. I ditched that little meeting.”
Val punched my leg. “You can’t do that, it’ll only piss him off even more.”
