The Brightest Stars by Anna Todd

Author:Anna Todd [Todd, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Anna Todd
Published: 2018-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

“YOU’RE A GOOD STORYTELLER.”

That was a kind thing to say. Not, God, your mom sounds like a wack job. I was a good storyteller. I liked the sound of that. I liked the certainty with which he said it.

“So yeah, I don’t know what I was even talking about …” I did that a lot, told long tales with lots of sidetracking and other mini-stories in between.

“You not wanting to join the military,” Kael reminded me.

“Oh yeah.” I pulled myself together. “I mean, it was basically my dad being gone so long and coming home and then having to train so much still. He was always gone and he was always so unhappy. My mom, too. The lifestyle basically broke her, you know?”

He nodded.

“So, my brother and I promised after that fire that we wouldn’t live our whole lives this way.”

“Makes sense,” Kael said, looking around the yard, then back to me. “Wanna hear my side?”

I shook my head, teasing. He smiled.

“I get that. For real, I do. But to me, a black kid from Riverdale, joining the army changed the trajectory of my life. It was the thing that changed my whole family. My great-grandpa’s dad was a slave, and here I am, you know? The only job I’d ever had was bagging groceries at Kroger and now I drive a decent car, can help my mom—” He stopped abruptly.

“Don’t stop-“ I urged him.

That earned me a big smile. “All the shit like that. It’s hard, yeah. Really fucking hard sometimes, but it’s the only way I was ever going to be able to afford to go to college. Live on my own without an education.”

I sat, digesting. He had extremely valid points. It was kind of crazy how his experience with the army was so opposite of mine.

“I get it.” I told him.

“There’s two sides to everything, you know?”

I nodded, whispering, “Yeah. Two sides at least.” I tilted my head and asked, “Is your mom proud of you now?”

“Oh, of course. She tells everyone at church and anyone who’ll listen that her son is a soldier. From my town, it’s kind of a big deal.” He was shy, now. It was beyond adorable.

“Local celebrity,” I teased, leaning into his shoulder.

“Right,” he said, smiling. “Not like Austin,” he joked as my brother yelled again.

“Ugh, we should go in. I have to remind him that the MPs could come at any time and as far as I know, no one in there is of age except Mendoza,” I took my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. It was almost eleven thirty. “Not for another thirty minutes,” I teased.

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