In the Shade of Groves [COMPLETE]

Chapter 7

I woke up an hour early to get ready, and also to leave before my parents made it out of their room. I slowly open the door and see all the lights downstairs are off. I can hear my mother's blow dryer and my dad already on a business call. I quickly and quietly tip toe downstairs and leave a note on the dining table saying I went to school early. I go through the garage and jump on my bike before anyone notices I'm gone.

I sigh a breath of relief and feel thankful it's not snowing. There has been more than one February that school was cancelled due to snow. I used to like it when I was a kid but then I got older and knew it meant I had to spend more time with my parents. My dad would spend the whole day complaining about how far this was setting him back at work. My mother would relish in the family's being able to spend an entire day together, which was rare growing up. I remember the last time it happened I was thirteen. My mother turned our entire downstairs into a spa for Minnie and me. She gave us manicures and facials. My dad shut himself off in their bedroom and took his afternoon scotch early that day. Minnie and my mother gossiped about people in town and how Minnie was going to rule the school next year when she started Grove High. I just watched and listened, contently. I was never one to make a spectacle of myself. They were already so consumed by Minnie and I didn't mind being a part of the background. When Minnie still lived with us it seemed like they both tolerated me better. Maybe it's because Minnie acted as a buffer. They overlooked my imperfections, just grateful they had one daughter that more than made up for it. Without her here, there's nothing to distract them.

I arrive at the fountain and see Ross waiting for me. The sun is just starting to come up and the sky has a grey winter tone. He paces back and forth until he sees me biking toward him.

"Did you walk here?" I ask.

"Yeah."

"That's kind of far for you, isn't it?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to walking."

But I was worried. Maybe he was lying when he said his friends usually gave him rides to school. It's at least five miles from where he lives, and he would have to leave very early to make it on time. Though I imagine he gets more peace walking than on the bus.

"So why did you want to meet here before school?"

"How many unexcused absences do you have left?" he asks with a coy smile.

"All of them. I've never missed a day, excused or otherwise."

"You're going to use one of them today," he says, his smile growing.

"What are you talking about?"

"We're going to New York."

I blink a few times, waiting for the punchline to the joke I know must be coming. It never does. "New York, New York?"

"New York City, New York."

"And what exactly would we do there?" I'm still waiting for the joke. New York must be a euphemism for something else in town.

"You'll see."

"I can't just skip school, Ross. They're going to call my parents the moment I don't show up for first period." I think about it and realize that it would probably be more like second period. Mrs. Hinton would never report me for skipping school. I would, however, be giving Mr. Wynn another unbeatable opening for a life lesson.

"Yes, you can. You've never missed before and everyone has to go to New York at least once in their life."

"What about Raven and Loli? They'll notice if I'm not at lunch."

"Are you going to keep wasting time wondering how other people will react about you making your own choices, or are you going to make them? The bus comes in ten minutes."