about a boy,
who was lost,
and thought he was found,
until he meets a girl,
the same girl,
who makes him wonder
if there's more to life
than just getting by.
-
[a Jem-centered novella/sequel to The Girl Who Saw Through Jem]
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Chapter 4
The Dreads of Moving On
Ellis
The last time I saw Astrid, she was a brunette in a long bob and attempting the bohemian hipster Vanessa Hudgens Coachella look with her flower crowns and flowy dresses. It was funny how throughout the first three years of high school, Astrid was that cheerful cheerleader who was friends with everybody, that girl at a bonfire party with a fading pink streak in her blond hair and wearing her micro-skimp skirt she bought at TopShop with some teetering platform sandals she'd picked up at the end-of-season sale at Macy's, resembling almost every self-proclaimed basic girl in America. Senior year came and all of a sudden, she did a complete one-eighty, dyed her hair brown, cut it short and started drinking kombucha and reading poetry.
So when she charged at me on a crowded street corner in New York's Chinatown as soon as I'm disgorged from the bus, I hardly recognized her. She was all silver and choppy hair, a septum piercing protruding from her nostrils, John Lennon gold-rimmed glasses and black clothes from head to toe- the walking embodiment of Tumblr.
"Ellis!" She hugged me tightly and I caught a whiff of her: a stench of vanilla perfume and college-dorm weed smokes. "Oh my God, you look so skinny! You're supposed to gain freshmen fifteen, not lose it."
"I'm guessing you've been all about the food?"
"Duh, I'm a culinary art major and it's New York so food is clearly the priority here."
I pulled back and looked at her. Everything was new. "I never knew you needed glasses."
"It's just the fashion," Astrid laughed. "Now come on, Calista's at the dorm studying so she couldn't come but she really wants to see you! We're gonna go to lunch at this super cute vegan place! "
She grabbed my hand and dragged me into the crowds. I'm swallowed up by them and even though Astrid's grip is tighter than a vice over my wrist, I was comforted by the familiarity of her touch
-
It was raining by lunch so we walked into the new vegan store all wet, spring rain running down my coat and shoes, and saw there were already puddles all over the floor. Little mottled blue rugs looked like soft pools; I would gladly fall into them.
It was a place in the Village; the type of hipster place New York was famous for. It was a coffee shop with a big glass storefront rough-hewn wooden tables, plentiful sunlight from wide windows, and austere pendant lighting.
They asked me about my classes, and I dutifully told them about chemistry, physics, biology, and Mandarin, neglecting to tell them how hard it was to stay awake in class, no matter how early I go to bed, or how badly I was doing in subjects I used to ace in high school. The only good thing was that seemed to become part of my routine was Jared. The boy who I made out with at Mahiki's.
