Something to Say by Lisa Moore Ramée

Author:Lisa Moore Ramée
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

37

Only Person in the World

Mama and I don’t talk much on our way to school in the morning. I guess she’s too worried about Gee to be bothering with me, and I’m too worried about everything, especially what I’m going to say to Aubrey when I see him. Maybe I should’ve texted him, telling him I was sorry for being sort of rude about him coming over.

When I scan the crowd of people in front of the school, I see Tía Rosalie right in the midst of it, holding a sign that says SAY YES TO CHANGE.

She notices me going up the steps of the school and waves. I wave back but don’t stop to say hi—I’m too worried about what I’m going to say when I see Aubrey.

But worrying was a waste of time, because Aubrey’s not at his desk in history, and he doesn’t come rushing in late. He’s just absent.

I know it’s silly, but I can’t help thinking that him not being there has something to do with me. That he couldn’t stand the thought of sitting next to me in class because I got angry at him yesterday.

By the time lunch rolls around, I’ve convinced myself that either Aubrey hates me or his cancer came back last night and he had to be rushed to the hospital. I sit by myself at lunch, imagining him pale faced in a hospital bed, looking strangely like Gee, and coughing and trying to tell his mother that he needs to talk to his friend Jenae one last time.

Fat tears drip all over my Brie and fig jam, and I’m seriously considering calling Mama to pick me up so we can go check hospitals.

I shove my half-eaten lunch back into my bag and stare across the field at the whole world of people eating and laughing and gossiping and running and playing catch. Not one of them knows me. Not one of them sees me. What are they talking about? What do they care about? Are any of them friends with Aubrey? Do they know where he is? It’s just a wide stretch of grass between me and them, but it seems like a lot more.

I don’t fit in there, but maybe Aubrey doesn’t either. Maybe that’s why we fit together pretty well. And now he’s gone.

My stress sweat picks up, and I hop to my feet. Where is he? What happened?

I stare hard across the field, wondering what Astrid Dane would do. How would she get information, or maybe just escape from the prison of school, or whatever it is I have to do to find Aubrey? I pull my phone out, not sure what I’m going to do with it. Text him? Call hospitals? And then I see it. Flaming-hot-Cheeto hair. Right in the midst of the lunch area. Hair that is quite obviously not resting on a hospital pillow.

I march across the field and stomp my way in front of Aubrey. My chest heaves up and down, and my breath comes out in hard, choppy wheezes.

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