Aran pulled out some leftover spaghetti, microwaved it, served it to [name_u]Phil[/name_u] and herself, and restocked [name_u]Loren[/name_u]’s bowl with fresh mush subconsciously. She had barely swallowed her first bite of spaghetti when [name_u]Phil[/name_u] cleared his throat.
After the teacher left, everything descended into pure unadulterated chaos.
About 7 people started standing up and walking around, a few tables next to each were loudly comparing answers, and the rest opened their phone. [name_u]Gabby[/name_u] didn’t know how it was still quiet enough that the class next door didn’t hear.
“You said your mom’s family was visiting.” [name_f]Amara[/name_f] raised an eyebrow. “There is no way [name_f]Edith[/name_f] would let your older siblings skip seeing them for [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] and there’s five of you total. I’m sure [name_m]Eugene[/name_m] brought his girlfriend, [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f], too.”
“[name_f]Miri[/name_f], I can’t keep you here,” [name_u]Toby[/name_u] said plainly. “All of your safety is in eclipse in Iyner.”
I nodded, understanding, but not unhurt. “One more week,” I begged, “Please.”
“Okay,” I say finally, passing the spear between my hands. I’ve been clutching this spear since we carried [name_u]Ari[/name_u] back to camp. Holding it doesn’t make me feel any safer; if anything it makes me even more on edge, even more aware of precisely how much danger we’re in.
Maybe I’ll see our early days with [name_m]Cyrus[/name_m], when he bought us new clothes and called himself our uncle and bandaged our knees when we scraped them. Those days were good. But looking back, it’s obvious that he was only fronting kindness to gain our trust.
My cheeks flushed but in the darkness, hopefully no one noticed. The volume of my heartbeat increased until it provided a quickening bass to my thoughts, which had turned down the creepy, overgrown path that was memory lane.
She kept on charging down the lane, her throat burning, her head on the verge of exploding and her exhausted legs screaming at her for some relief, but she didn’t stop until she reached the river.
Queasy, [name_f]Astrid[/name_f] snapped back to reality. She had not even tried to ride a wave yet, feeling exhausted from her thoughts. As she refocused on the real world, [name_f]Astrid[/name_f] saw it: the most beautiful, not too big, not too small, wave building behind another just feet away from her.
Sara had to bite back the obvious question: ‘are you for real?’ How anyone - never mind [name_f]Thea[/name_f] of all people, The Chemistry [name_f]Queen[/name_f] - could look upon the objective for the trip with such optimism had to be either lying to herself…or too naive to fathom.