Never Ever by Sara Saedi

Author:Sara Saedi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2016-06-02T16:50:08+00:00

“san Fran-cisco. Am I pronouncing it right?” Lola asked.

“Yes, that’s perfect,” Wylie whispered, afraid that if she spoke too loudly, someone passing by would hear them.

“And it’s in Cali-for-nee-a.”

“More like Cali-forn-ya,” Wylie corrected.

Lola made a quick note in her journal, then repeated after Wylie.

“Cali-forn-ya.”

“You got it!”

“I like the way it rolls off the tongue . . . California. It sounds so tropic.”

Lola had a secret obsession with the mainland. She swore Wylie to secrecy—even Maz didn’t know she harbored a clandestine fascination with how the rest of the world lived. She claimed she had no desire to visit, but she kept Wylie up most nights asking questions about different cities and states, and writing down all the information in her journal by the light of a jar full of fireflies. Wylie noticed she’d retrieved the “Charlotte” friendship bracelet from the trash and was now using it as a bookmark. It seemed odd to keep a souvenir from a girl everyone hated enough to exile, but Wylie decided against asking her about it. She didn’t want to be involved in any more of Lola’s secrets. Especially when, one night when they both couldn’t sleep, she confessed to Wylie that she was bored with the island.

“I’ve lived here my whole life. Sometimes I feel a little trapped,” Lola whispered. “I would never leave, but I like to imagine what it’s like in other places. You won’t tell anyone, right?”

“Of course not,” Wylie said.

“I mean it. Phinn can never find out. Promise.”

“I promise.” If Wylie didn’t know both of them so well, she would have thought Lola was afraid of Phinn.

“Thanks. And don’t worry, you’ve got at least another fifty years till you start to feel restless.”

Wylie felt guilty. She’d taken an oath to abstain from discussing the mainland, and yet whenever Lola asked questions, she dutifully gave answers. Wylie even promised that once they got through talking about the mainland, she would tell Lola about other countries and continents. Part of her secretly liked reminiscing about home. If she never mentioned her old life, then pretty soon she would feel like it didn’t exist.

“Do you ever think about your tribe?” Wylie asked. Up until now, she’d been too scared to broach the topic with Lola.

“Sure, all the time,” Lola answered.

“Did they have a name?” Wylie asked.

“We called ourselves the Batcheha. I wish you could have met them.” For a moment, Lola looked like she’d disappeared into a memory. She shook it off, then continued. “Sometimes I wonder what they look like now. They’d be so disappointed in me. I can barely remember how to speak Batchenise.”

“Do you ever regret that you didn’t go with them?” Wylie asked.

“No,” Lola admitted. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but in the end, I never could have asked Maz to leave and grow old with me.”

“What if things hadn’t worked out with Maz? Would you have regretted it then?”

Lola shrugged. “It never occurred to me that things wouldn’t work out, but that’s probably because everyone in my tribe kept their partners for life.

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