Kayla nods in agreement.
“Then I guess you can call me Jasmine now?” I ask hopefully.
Alice sighs dramatically. “Fine!”
“You should come to the sleepover this weekend. It’s at Alice’s,” Kayla says.
“Umm, sure?”
She laughs and pushes me through the doorway.
I hold my excitement in and don’t start punching the air until I’m down the hall and out of their view.
Then
“Jasmine, phone call,” Ms. Kim calls from the office.
I get up from my seat in the rec room, where we’re allowed thirty minutes of “social time” each night. She gives me the receiver, along with a warning to keep my voice down. Leaving the office, she closes the door behind her.
“Hi, Mom,” I say, trying to sound as neutral as possible. I’ve talked to her on the phone a couple more times since our first call and things have gotten a little better between us. I’m still mad she kept Travis a secret for so long, but the sharp edges of the anger I felt then have rounded off. I don’t want to yell at her, or tell her how bad it is here, or make her cry. What’s the point? The time is going to pass at the same rate no matter what I do.
“Hey, honey, what are you up to?” my mom asks.
I hear a shower running and soft music playing in the background. “Our schedule doesn’t change, Mom. Same thing at eight p.m. every day: rec room.”
“Right, right. Is this something that you can try to enjoy, at least?” she asks.
“Enjoyis a very strong word for thirty minutes in a locked room,” I say, but I make my voice light, teasing.
The shower stops and a voice that must be Travis’s yells fora time check. “One sec, honey,” my mom says to me, muting the line.
My annoyance turns to curiosity as soon as the call goes quiet. A moment later, she comes back and I can hear a smile in her hello. It’s the way she used to sound, and instantly, I want to go back to that—to a time when her voice held a smile just for me.
“Eww, Mom, what are you up to?” I ask playfully. “It doesn’t sound like you’re at home.”
I hear Travis in the background saying “uh-oh” and they laugh.
“Okay, Sherlock Holmes, we’re at a beautiful hotel. Travis booked it,” she explains. “We’re doing a date night.”
“At a hotel?! Mom! Aren’t you too old for that kind of stuff?!” This time, I don’t have to force the lightness into my tone. It feels good to be laughing with her, talking about something other than our issues.
“Old? I’m in my prime, I’ll have you know! I wish I could show you my outfit for dinner, you’d—” She stops speaking and clears her throat. I know she didn’t mean to remind me of the circumstances, but it’s too late.
“Well, I gotta go. Have fun.” I hang up before she gets a chance to respond. I don’t want to ruin her night.
By the time Ms. Kim comes in to kick me out, I’ve cried just enough to avoid bursting into tears in front of the girls.
“A good call, good job,” she says.
“Thank you,” I say quietly, joining the others in the rec room for however much time we have left.
“Ten minutes!” Ms. Pat calls out.
The girls groan and mumble but don’t stop what they’re doing. Tanya’s on one of the couches talking loudly about someone on the South Unit who got caught with a phone. I walk to the onlyopen seat, which happens to be next to Amari and Lisa. Amari’s reading a magazine and chuckling to herself when I sit down. Lisa shifts her body dramatically like I sat on her.
“Sorry,” I say to Lisa. She rolls her eyes.
Amari laughs loudly as she closes the magazine.
