THOSE SUMMER NIGHTS

[29]

"Wow and what happened?" I asked, a small smile on my lips.

She took a breath, "I was chosen to go!"

My eyebrows rose. "Oh, my God. Lydia, that's so great! Are you excited?"

Lydia was created for an opportunity like this. Her level of intelligence was crazy and caught you completely off guard. She was a lot like Leah in that way. Leah was the smartest person I knew, but you wouldn't guess that from first laying your eyes on her. Lydia was the same way; When she had a conversation with you, she used a lot of slang and said like and really a lot. But when you asked her a question about Math, Science, English, or even matter-of-factual, she'd know the answer.

She let out a small excited squeal, "Yeah. I can't wait to be smarter and richer than you!"

I rolled my eyes, "I hate you,"

She laughed slightly before her laugh died off, "But the bad thing is that Roman is going. Nova is also going and I like her, but I hate Roman."

I laughed, "Hate is a pretty strong word,"

She scoffed, "I know and I hate him. Like, he can trip down the Grand Canyon and I'd throw a party."

I let out a small laugh and Mom told her to stop, "Roman is a nice boy. You're just being mean to him."

Lydia let out a strangled sound on the other side of the phone, "He cut my Barbie's hair off last year and said that it looked better that way!"

I let out a small laugh and Mom told her to cut it out. She then turned her attention to me, "We'll let you go, Eden. Packing to do."

I blinked, "What?"

Mom stopped, unsure of what I meant, "What?"

I took a deep breath, "You just said packing. Why are you packing?"

She let out a small laugh, "Oh, right. The school that Lydia's going to is in D.C.,"

My eyebrows rose and involuntary tears pooled in my eyes. I choked back a dying sound crawling it's way up my throat, "Wow, that's—"

"Super cool!" Lydia finished for me, "Maybe we'll run into like some celebrities while we're at the mall."

I forced myself to laugh, "Yeah. But, hey, listen, I gotta go."

Mom laughed slightly, "Okay, you have fun. Talk to us soon,"

I told them I would and hung up before I broke out into tears in front of them. I don't know how long I sat there wrapping my head around the idea of moving, but I snapped out of it when a tear fell onto my lap.

I didn't want to leave.

I didn't want to move away from Leah and Julia. I could barely function properly without them. I didn't want to move away from Hamza. I couldn't imagine looking out the window and seeing someone else. I didn't want to leave the town I grew up in for some city overcrowded with people I didn't know and never would.

I dropped my head into my hands and calmed my nerves. It would be okay. I should be happy for Lydia. I should be happy for my parents. They need a change, a place to finally stop worrying about the neighbors' prying eyes.

I ran my hand through my hair and moved to stand up, but stopped when I saw Atlas climbing the short set of stairs to the place where I was sitting. I dropped my head in my hands and tried to come up with a story that he'd believe.

I didn't need anybody worrying about this right now. I'd tell them tomorrow morning.

Atlas took a seat next to me and I looked at him. He was really distracting me, just sitting there and watching me with those blue eyes that changed colors as I stared at them for too long. He was leaning back, his legs spread out in front of him, watching me and waiting for me to tell him what was wrong.