A blonde with long, tight curls waits on the other side. But she cal s again, and I’m obligated to crawl off my bed and answer the door. I col apse face-first into the sound barrier and sob and sob and sob. I grab a shirt off the bed to blot myself dry, when the solution strikes. No crying coming from behind their bedroom wal s. How many seventeen-year-olds would kil to leave home? My neighbors aren’t experiencing any meltdowns. Oh God.What if there are bacterial microbes in the water? Is French water even safe to drink? And now I’m crying harder, because I haven’t unpacked my towels, and wet clothing reminds me of those stupid water rides Bridgette and Matt used to drag me on at Six Flags where the water is the wrong color and it smel s like paint and it has a bil ion tril ion bacterial microbes in it. I race to my pedestal sink to splash water on my face, but it explodes out and sprays my shirt instead. I’m going to vomit that weird eggplant tapenade I had for dinner, and everyone will hear, and no one will invite me to watch the mimes escape from their invisible boxes, or whatever it is people do here in their spare time. The wal s here are thinner than Band-Aids, so if I break down, my neighbors-my new classmates-wil hear everything. Even the opera singer has packed it in for the night. Something that would’ve happened in a year anyway, once I left for col ege, but that no matter how many days or months or years I’ve yearned for it, I am stil not prepared for when it actual y happens. “I love you,” she says again.Īnd then my mother does something that, even after all of the paperwork and plane tickets and presentations, I don’t see coming. She pul s back and tucks my bleached stripe behind my ear. But make sure he gives him at least a few every day, because he stil needs the vitamin C and he won’t drink the water when I use those vitamin drops-”
And make sure he doesn’t give him too many treats because they make him fat and then he can’t get out of his igloo. “Make sure Sean feeds him and changes his bedding and fil s his water bottle.
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