Paige sets the costume head down and puts her hands on my furry shoulders. “You are Jordan Samuel Miller. You're fearless. And if you get through this, I’ll treat you to an Oreo milkshake.”
She drops her hands and smiles. And just like that, she’s calmed me in the way only Paige can.
“You’re the best.” I open my arms to her. “Who wants a bear hug?”
“Nooo!” She swats at me. “That thing is like a hundred years old and probably full of lice.”
Arms still extended, I step toward her, and she takes off running underneath the bleachers. I chase her through the jungle gym of bars and beams until I catch her and maul her hair with my bear paws.
“Miller, you’re on,” Coach Ramirez calls to me.
I step away from Paige, and she shoves me in the side. “You’re unbearable.” She tilts her head back with a snort, laughing at her own joke.
“You’re such a nerd.”
She frames her heart-shaped face with her hands and looks up at me, batting her eyes. “That’s why you like me.”
Oh, Paige, you have no idea.
I walk backward, away from her and closer to Coach. “Milkshakes tonight.” I point to her.
“Milkshakes.” She smiles back.
“Rawr.” I paw the air and give her a cheesy grin before putting the bear head on for the last time.
A few minutes later, I’m in the middle of the school gym doing a little hip-hop routine with the school dance team, andthe crowd is going crazy. Right after the dance, the varsity cheerleaders encircle me in a canopy of glittery pom-poms as I take off my bear head and run a hand through my sweaty hair.
Over the noise, I barely register Vice Principal Mendel as he announces, “Let’s give a hand to our Pine Lakes High School mascot… Jordan Miller!”
The cheerleaders part, and I burst out, taking a few steps before tucking into a backflip. The crowd gets so loud that I can feel the floor beneath me start to reverberate.
“Jordan! Jordan! Jordan!” The crowd starts chanting with their fists pumping in the air.
I turn around, taking it all in. This far surpasses anything I ever imagined, and high on life, I do another backflip to thunderous applause before running full circle around the entire gym, slapping people’s hands and doing a few breakdance moves of my own invention.
When I come back around, I spot Mom laughing so hard that she’s holding her stomach. Jumping up onto the risers, I stand next to her, taking her hand and pulling her out of her seat before raising our hands high above us. As loud as I can, I yell, “Mama Bear!”
The crowd’s chant immediately switches. “Mama Bear! Mama Bear! Mama Bear!”
I kiss Mom on her forehead then run to the end of the riser and frontflip off. I look back at Mom, hoping she’s not too mad that I embarrassed her into the next century, but she’s still in the process of sitting down. Her hand clutches her stomach, pain etched across her face.
· MAY—TWO DAYS BEFORE GRADUATION ·
“I’ll be just a few minutes.” Mom closes the car door as she heads into the post office to mail a finished blanket for her quilting company. She looks tiny compared to the cardboard box in her hands. I can’t tell if it’s just a really big box with a really big blanket inside or if Mom’s getting thinner.
My phone buzzes.
Paige: Have you ever heard of Bubo’s Tacos in Cali? Ji was telling me that our new roommate is a local and says the taco place is amazing. Apparently, it’s this hole-in-the-wall restaurant that you can only get to by going through this really fancy hotel.
I smile at my phone as I put my feet on the dash and text back.
Jordan:Awesome! Add it to the list!
It’s been a month since Paige and I found out we got accepted to our first-choice schools in California, UC Berkeley for Paige and Stanford for me. The two schools are about an hour away, give or take time for traffic.
I open the Notes tab that Paige and I share entitled “California Dreamin’.” Cheesy, sure, but you can’t beat the Mamas and the Papas. I scroll through the list of restaurants, events, and concerts we want to experience together when we get there. In the middle of the list is “Jordan teaches Paige how to surf” in all caps. And you can bet I will follow through on that. Paige has wanted to surf for about as long as she’s wanted to go to the beach. And when Paige and I found out we would be going to California together, I was quick to volunteer as surf instructor. Paige made me pinky-promise that I would, like it will be some burden on me to teach her.
I grin. No, it won’t be a burden.
