The Many Fortunes of Maya by Nicole D. Collier

Author:Nicole D. Collier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-11-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

The Sunshines

You will have good luck in your personal affairs.

I must’ve cried myself to sleep, because a couple of hours later Ginger shakes me awake.

“Hey! What are you doing in here?” she asks, leaning over me, peering around in the Cave. Wishing for good luck in my personal affairs, I think to myself, remembering the latest spin on my Wheel of Fortunes.

“I don’t know. I fell asleep,” I mumble. I stretch my toes to feel for my flute case. It’s still there, and out of sight.

“Your face is all puffy.”

I rub sleep from my eyes, but I don’t explain, hoping she will just breeze on like always. She doesn’t let me down.

“Well, wake up! It’s three o’clock! Wanna go to the pool with me and Angelica?”

Angelica? Again? I close my eyes so she won’t see me rolling them. I’m annoyed, but even hanging with Angelica is better than being cooped up in my closet. I nod and push myself up.

“We got our greens this morning!” She wiggles her wrist at me. We.

“Was it hard?”

“The test? Nope! It took like five minutes. Plus if you go early, no one is really there yet. No audience. Ohh, pictures!” She spots the stack in the corner. “Are these the same ones I saw last time, or different ones?”

“Different ones.”

She flips through them while I pull on my swimsuit and some shorts.

“Ohh, can I have these?” She waves two pictures of herself. They’re both from a couple of years ago. She’s playing soccer in one, and the other is a school picture. Her hair was all brushed down instead of parted down the middle and braided like it usually is.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’m—it’s for a project. I’m making something. I’ll tell you about it. Later.” Her cheeks flush red, but she doesn’t say anything else. It’s the third time she’s promised “later.” But I guess we’re still even until I spill my own news.

We run into Chaos on our way to the pool. He’s wearing swim trunks with palm trees and rubber ducks instead of pineapples this time, and he’s walking down the street. The middle of the street. He’s putting one foot in front of the other on the painted white line. He even has his arms out in a T, like he’s balancing on a beam.

“What are you doing?” I call out to him from the sidewalk.

He looks around as if I could be talking to someone else. Me? he asks with his thumb and eyebrows.

“Yes,” Ginger chimes in, smiling big.

“The same thing you’re doing.”

Now it’s my turn to look around.

“Um, no, not really,” I say.

“What would you call what you’re doing?”

“We’re walking,” Ginger giggles.

“Me too!” says Chaos.

“On the sidewalk?” I point to the concrete beneath our feet.

“Ah. See you asked what, not where. We’re doing that part differently, yes. Can I interest either of you in a cookie?” He pulls out a sandwich bag of cookies, but we shake our heads no. “Your loss. It’s National Peanut Butter Cookie Day.” Ginger breaks into louder giggles, but I press on with the questions.

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