“Now this sounds interesting,” a voice behind me says. I whirl around to see Brooke standing in the open doorway, her arms crossed over her chest. She arches an eyebrow. “Ask me what?”
CHAPTER3
HOURS UNTIL I SEE THEO:NINE(ISH)
Good luck and text me when you’re ready to leave,” Naomi says, squeezing around Brooke and me as she dashes into the hall.
“Coward!” I yell to her retreating back. She didn’t even help me think of a good lie.
Brooke waits patiently for an answer. My sister is an inch shorter than I am, her brown hair an exact match for my natural color (RIP). She has curtain bangs that she cut herself late one night over the sink while watching a tutorial online. She calls them her “crisis bangs.”
“Hey, sis,” I say, aiming for nonchalance. I regret it immediately. We never call each other “sis.” “Your hair looks really good tonight.”
She blows her bangs out of her face with an exaggerated eye roll. “You need my car, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you going?” she asks, with the kind of smile that says she’s reveling in having the upper hand.
“Naomi’s house.”
“Try again, this time with the truth.”
“Campus?” I lie, and I do it badly.
“I can’t cover for you with Mom and Dad unless I knowwhatI’m covering up. Besides, we’re friends now, remember. I’m not going to rat you out.”
Brooke and Iarefriends now, or at least on our way. Our relationship is one thing that actuallywaschanged by the world almost ending.
I sigh, acutely aware of every minute ticking by. Now that I have a plan, I don’t want to wait. “I’m going to Toronto with Naomi. Just for a day or two.” Because she’s still blocking my path, I haphazardly throw clothes that weren’t cute enough to bring to school into an empty backpack.
“Why?” she demands.
“What does it matter? I don’t even live here anymore.” I reach into the back of my closet and retrieve the Polaroid I keep hidden in there. I shouldn’t have left it here when I moved out—not unless I want to risk someone finding it.
“It matters because you want to use my car.”
“Is that a no?”
“It depends. Can I come?”
I blink up at her in surprise. “Why would you want to?”
She shrugs. “I’m bored.” Before the comet, she was hell-bent on following in Mom’s footsteps and was enrolled in law school. Now she’s deferred her acceptance for a year while shefinds herself.I don’t know why she thought it was a good idea to give up her settled future for the hazy unknown, and I don’t know what she thinks she’s going to find in Canada with us, but there’s no time to argue with her.
“Fine.” I sigh. “Grab your passport and meet me outside.”
Ten minutes later, Naomi crosses the street with a bag slung over her shoulder and an excited pep in her step as I lean against the front of Brooke’s Camry. “You got the car!”
“Sort of.”
She opens the passenger door and freezes when she sees my sister behind the wheel. Naomi turns slowly to me, a wide, fake smile frozen in place. “Why is she here?”
“Nice to see you too!” Brooke quips.
Naomi shuts the door. “Does she know about Theo?”
“No, and I’m not planning to tell her either, so don’t be weird.”
