Spin the Sky by Mackenzie Jill;

Author:Mackenzie, Jill;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2016-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

NINETEEN

I rest my head in my hands and close my eyes, my breath heaving, struggling to catch time with my heart. It’s stopped raining and the air is still, but I don’t even care. I want so badly to call Rose, to tell her I made it, tell her we’re worth something, but I know I can’t. She didn’t even come with Mrs. M. She could have, but she didn’t.

I sit down on the last step. Behind me, I hear the metal door push open and then close. I’m expecting to see one of the people from the common room, Miss Sunshine-Belle even, dancing, making me think that dreams sometimes do become real.

But it’s Chloe, the younger of the two social workers. She stays on the top step and leans over the railing. She doesn’t look at me, just pulls a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and lights one.

“Rough day, I take it.” She blinks at me in the subtle darkness, leans across the railing, and blows three rings of smoke in front of her. “You didn’t plan on sleeping here at all, did you?”

I sit up straight and shake my head, my wet hair grazing my face. “I didn’t plan on any of this.”

“No one ever does.”

“I’m not supposed to be here. I’m on my way to Los Angeles. I made it on a show. It’s called Live to Dance.”

“I know that show. You’re going to be on it? That’s awesome.” She takes another long drag of her cigarette. “So what are you doing here?”

I open my mouth but nothing comes out. I don’t know what I’m doing here, how I got here to begin with.

Chloe stubs her cigarette on the sidewalk and then tilts her head back to the sky, darkening, filling with more stars I ever thought a city like Portland could hold. She pats her empty wrist, as though at one time it owned a watch. “I’m off for the night. Time to make my way home.” She jogs down the steps and walks away from the building.

I stand up. “So you’re just leaving?”

She turns. “Unless you give me some reason to stay.”

I open my mouth to tell her. Tell her that I lied and tell her that the picture I gave her wasn’t my mom’s friend. Tell her that I do know why I came here, why the second I saw that sign, I knew I had to see if she was here.

Chloe sighs long and deep. But then she strolls back to the steps and tugs at my arm. “Come on.”

I follow her back into the building, through a second set of doors that I never went through the first time. We pass Eleanor and she sees us, but she doesn’t look surprised or anything. The room is just like the common room, but this one must be for staff or something, complete with a large pot of coffee set up and already brewed. She pours us both cups, leaving room for cream and sugar.

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