Tanya sighs just as the office door opens. “You’re lucky I’m making my level tonight.” She moves her knee and motions for the other girl to do so too.
“Tanya, the office now, please,” Ms. Pat calls out.
“Yeah, ’cause you’re a snitch,” Amari says, getting back to the notebook.
“And you’re a liar,” Tanya says, kicking Amari’s chair on the way to the office.
I move over enough to let my body sink into the couch and shiver as a streak of sweat makes its way from my underarm to my waist.I hope she doesn’t come back.
I look up to see that Amari is smirking at me. I’m grateful for the kindness, but in prison movies, when someone saves you, you usually owe them everything. I look away quickly and feel a tinge of jealousy of Samantha. I hope it’s not too long before someone sends me to bed, too. I’ve had about as much as I can take today, and I don’t want to end it in tears in front of everyone.
“You looked away like I was poisonous or something,” Amari says, taking a seat where Tanya was.
I glance at the office to make sure she isn’t heading back.
“Don’t worry about her, honestly,” she says. “I’m Amari.” She puts her hand out like she wants me to shake it, but I don’t take it. The rules are in big red letters. Even if no one else is following them, I’m going to.
“Hey, I’m Jasmine,” I say, “and umm, thanks for earlier. That was weird.”
Amari shifts in her seat so she’s facing me a little. Her eyes are such a dark brown they almost look black. They’re so intense.
I look away again.
“Hate to break it to you, but that’s normal. These girls are crazy.” She chuckles.
“Even you?”
She says nothing for a moment, and I wonder if she’s offended. Before I can muster an apology, she smirks again.
“Mostly me,” she whispers, and walks back to her seat.
I feel myself smile and look down at my shoes. I don’t want to make it obvious that her answer intrigues me. Thankfully, Ms. Kim starts sending girls to their rooms and she’s one of the first to go. Soon, I’m on my way too and looking forward to no more surprises.
When I get to the end of the hall, I see that the paper on my door readsSAMANTHA & JASMINE. I take the deepest breath I can and just hope the tears come out quietly.
7
Mom:
Have fun! Pick you up at 5:00. PLEASE BE GOOD!
Yep, thx.I tap out a reply from my spot on Deanna’s bedroom floor. I consider writing something that makes it a little more obvious that I’m over the constant reminders and that word—good. She never lets me out of her sight, then acts like I can even consider being anything else. My discharge agreement left the specifics of how I spent my free time to my mom and so far, that’s been “somewhere she can see me.” But she’s been letting me practice driving with her—I did some loops in a parking lot before she dropped me off. I’ll take what I can get.
I toss my phone on the plush blue rug a little harder than I’d meant to. It bounces onto the wood floor, landing just under Deanna’s color-coded bookshelf.
“Whoaaa,” Deanna says, looking down from her window seat. “You okay over there?”
I sit up and nod. “Yeah, just my mom,” I say. “Sorry about that.”
She smiles. “It’s okay, they’re all like that.”
After Deanna asked me to come over, I spent a ridiculous amount of time figuring out how to ask my mom since it was the first time I would be going anywhere alone. But I had nothing to worry about. She was thrilled at the idea of me hanging out with Deanna—who is apparently on the “approved” list—to do homework. I’m happy for the space to do and say whatever for a change. And I have no intentions of beingbad…I never really have.
Ping. My phone lights up under the bookshelf and I assume it’s my mom again. Instead, I’m surprised to see Kayla’s name when I grab it and look at the screen.
Heard you’re at Deanna’s. She doesn’t know the truth abt you, so don’t say anything!
I read her text twice before registering what she’s saying.
