The Improbability of Forever (Kismet #2) ✓

26. The Real Goodbye

Twenty-Six

The Real Goodbye

It was easy to pretend for the next couple of weeks that I was living in a time capsule, and that everything would stay exactly the same forever.  Everything felt so normal: the dates with Cody, hanging out with Julia, stressing over schoolwork and finals.  The only thing that was different were the moving boxes, which were slowly emptying the walls and shelves in my house.  Even they were easy to ignore, though, because everything else felt so right.

This was until the evening of May 14, when the house was completely bare and I was sitting at the kitchen barstool while Mom talked on the phone with the moving company.  John was beside her, tossing out the paper plates we'd used to eat dinner.

"Can you believe we're moving tomorrow?" asked Vanessa.  She was completely engrossed in her phone, and the only time she'd acknowledged me before now had been to ask me to let Shane in when he rang the doorbell.  They'd had an emotional goodbye, and it had made me even more nervous about what I was supposed to do with Cody.

"I don't want to think about it."

Vanessa shrugged.  "Whether you like it or not, we'll be in the car seven hours tomorrow, following the moving truck, and you're going to have a lot of time to let it sink in."

She'd been like this all day, like she'd finally accepted that we were moving.  Shane had been the last obstacle.  The second she'd shut the door behind him, she'd been almost optimistic that we were going to have a great time in North Carolina.

I definitely didn't agree.  North Carolina didn't have Providence Prep, my walking trails for Macy, any of my friends, or beautiful biking weather year-round.  The only familiar thing in North Carolina would be Andrew Summers.

Mind you, Andrew and I hadn't spoken to each other since the aftermath of prom.  We'd drifted apart after I'd told him Cody and I were back together, and I didn't really mind that.  Now, though, Mom had hung up the phone and was talking about meeting up with the Summers for dinner the following night.  I hated that I'd have to see more of him, because then it felt like we were expected to be something.

"How'd your finals go?" I asked Vanessa, desperate to change the topic.

She picked at some flaking navy polish on her pinky nail.  "Fine.  Chem kind of sucked, but what else do you expect?  English was a joke."

"Yeah.  I felt fine about mine too, except Geometry."

Geometry had been the real joke, and by joke I meant that I had sat there for over an hour fiddling with my pencil because I was unable to do the problems.  I'd been contemplating getting in a nice nap, but Mr. Arellano had been prowling the room with narrowed eyes, and I felt guilty completely dissing his exam.  So I'd tried, and I was one hundred percent positive that I'd failed.

Unfortunately, if I failed my exam I'd have to retake Geometry in North Carolina.  That didn't seem like the worst thing in the world—the last thing I needed was a super-hard class to worry about on top of getting used to my new home.

"Quinn, when are you going to meet with Cody?"

Mom interrupted me mid-morbid thought, as I was imagining a dangerously strict new math teacher and giant red F's coating my homework.  Rubbing my temples, I said, "In about an hour.  He had a game tonight."

"All right."  Mom didn't question why I wasn't there.  I probably should have gone—it was my last opportunity to support Providence Prep and be immersed in the student culture there.  But knowing it was my last would have made every second painful.  I liked having an anonymous last instead, because if I couldn't remember my final game then I wouldn't have to be sad about it.