WORKING FOR THE KNIFE ━ lando norris.

III. Plight Left Unsatisfied

"She would not."

"Please Niki, think about it."

Annika picked up her phone and walked to her kitchenette. Her half-sister by her mother, eight years younger than her, was London-born and raised in one single place, never seeing much beyond ─ she had never seen Annika race by the wishes of their mother; most likely because Annika had been relocated so often at such a young age that Renate was adamant on not repeating the process with her next daughter. Their childhoods were so different that it felt like night and day at times. "Why do you want to drop out anyway?"

"I hate school."

"Okay, join the club. That does not mean you get to run away."

"It wouldn't be running away if I was with you," Greta protested.

"I would like to clarify that you still haven't asked my opinion on this."

"I know you wouldn't say no."

She was right, Annika probably wouldn't. She propped her phone up against a bowl of fruit and started arranging items in her fridge. "Okay, go back to my first question. Why do you really want to leave home? It is one thing to hate school, but leaving Mama and your dad is a whole other problem. What is really going on?"

Greta was silent for a while.

Annika began measuring her preworkout into her water bottle, waiting for her sister to respond.

"I just want a change of scenery," Greta said at last. "Even just for a month."

"They have been fighting?"

"No. They just don't talk to each other. And whenever they talk to me it's like they're trying to make me like them more than the other."

Annika sighed to herself, something in her chest twisting and pulling. "Do you think they will divorce?"

"I don't know," Greta said, and she sounded so small.

The signs had been there. They had been there for a long time. The worst part for Annika was that she had no idea what to say to Greta, as she had the wrong kind of experience with this. Her parents, Renate and Kimi, hadn't been together for very long after Annika was born. She had no idea what it was like to watch parents drift apart. Losing a step-parent wasn't the same. For Greta this was worse.

"I have a proposal," Annika began, stirring her drink, "summer break, Swiss alps, for a whole week, you and me."

"Snowboarding?"

"Absolutely."

"That sounds nice."

"If that goes well, I might... maybe talk to Mama about you spending some time traveling with me while you are on a school break. But I am not making any promises, so do not get hopeful."

"Will you really?"

"Yes."

"Thanks, Niki."