Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley

Author:Robin Talley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

I’d thought this was going to be the weekend my whole life changed. Instead, Christa wouldn’t speak to me.

We were on the bus to Texas and she was three rows behind me, pretending I didn’t exist. And to make things even worse, she was sitting with Madison.

“You shouldn’t worry about it.” Jake pointed to the health care petition in my hand. He thought that was the reason I was stressed.

The petition still had just three names—mine, his and Lori’s. Desperate to think about something that wasn’t how badly I’d screwed up with Christa, I’d shown the petition to a few more people that morning while we waited for the bus. We’d been lined up along the dusty Mudanza road with backpacks dangling from our shoulders and absolutely nothing else to do, but I still hadn’t been able to convince anyone to sign. No one seemed to understand what the petition was about, and when I tried to tell them, they still didn’t get it.

“It’s not a big deal,” Jake said. “The ones on the war and marriage both did really well. When we send those off, the conference delegates will see that people our age really do care how they vote. It would’ve been great if we could’ve had more issues covered, but even so...”

I nodded, my eyes fixed on the bag under my feet. When I’d packed the day before, I’d left my backpack half empty so there’d be room to add stuff to it. That was when I’d still been thinking about my big plan to go to the campus health center for dental dams as soon as I got off the bus.

Christa was probably going to switch at the last minute and room with Madison anyway. Stupid Madison.

Jake tapped his phone screen. “Hey, it looks as though we’re starting to get reception.”

“We are?” I lunged for my phone. It had an incredibly weak signal, but that was more than I’d had since we’d left Tijuana three weeks earlier.

Texts started popping up. I tapped through eagerly, but right away I saw that the texts were old. They were from friends back home before I left, telling me they hoped I had a good trip.

“I’m going to the conference website to see if there’s anything else we can get people to take a stand on.” Jake was excited. “I’m still annoyed the immigration petition didn’t take off. Maybe it’s too complicated an issue.”

“Uh-huh.” If my phone was working, Christa’s would be, too. Maybe I could text her and explain.

Except...explain what, exactly? I’d meant what I said the night before. I was pretty sure she’d meant what she said, too.

But that didn’t mean I wanted things between us to end. God, no. Did she think I did?

“That might be the problem with your petition, too,” Jake went on. “People didn’t understand what you were getting at.”

I glanced down at the paper in my hand. Yet another time when I hadn’t made myself clear. “I guess. Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.