My lower lip trembles.
I nod.
Aunt Susan exhales like she’s been holding that breath for hours.
“Good. Good. I’m very worried about you.”
I stare at the smoke rising, the last pieces of my old life dissolving into the sky.
“I can’t go to school tomorrow.”
“You’re not going,” Aunt Susan says immediately. “Or the rest of the week.”
I blink at her.
“And then it’s fall break. Thanksgiving. Give yourself a few weeks off, Jade. I’ll email your professors. At this point, the school will do anything to avoid more litigation.”
Shani snorts. “Facts.”
“We’ll do everything remote on Google Classroom,” Aunt Susan continues. “You can take your midterms online. We’ll get you through this, okay? One step at a time.”
My shoulders slump.
“Okay,” I whisper.
She squeezes my arm.
“I know just the place. I already took tomorrow off. A friend of mine has a house on the Cape. You’ve never been up there.”
“We live on the ocean here,” I say weakly.
“Yes, but this is different,” she replies. “Different ocean. Different air. Trust me.”
I look at her.
She looks steady again. Strong. Anchored.
I nod.
We go inside. She helps me pack. It doesn’t take long.
My phone keeps vibrating on the desk with texts and calls and group chats from school. I stare at it for a long time.
Then I put it facedown and leave it there.
We load up the car. Shani hugs me so hard I almost break again, then promises to call later.
As we pull out of the driveway, I sink down low in the passenger seat so no one sees me. My short hair. My blotchy face. The new version of me I’m not ready to show the world.
Aunt Susan slows at the stop sign.
“Jade?” she says gently.
I lift my head just enough to see.
Leo’s car.
Parked half a block down.
