Chapter Twelve

The slam of a door jolts me awake. My room floods with light.

“Crap.” Laurel spots me in bed. “I thought you’d be up by now. Sorry!”

I rub my eyes. “What time is it?”

“Like eight thirty.”

“Eight thirty?” I stare at her.

“Yeah. At least this happened today and not tomorrow during the group dinner.”

“Group dinner?”

“Señor L told us about it during today’s lecture. We’re all going to a restaurant together tomorrow night.” She gives me a small smile. “You were out cold when I came in earlier. I was going to wake you up before the lecture, but your dad said to let you sleep when he came down to check on you. He said something about overload?”

“I guess.” My head still feels foggy. It takes a moment for the day to come back to me, but now the heaviness I felt earlier makes more sense. Whenever too much sensory stuff hits me all at once, I need to reset someplace quiet.

“Your dad said you’d need something to eat.…”

For the first time, I notice the plate in her hands.

My stomach growls. Laurel grins as she passes me the food. As she hands me utensils and a napkin, I study the food on the plate, looking for anything trayf.

“It’s all kosher. Your dad helped me pick everything out.”

Relieved, I dig in as she skips over to her bed.

“Señor L’s lecture was super boring,” Laurel says. “Maybe you should pretend to sleep through the rest of them.”

I glance up, ready to explain how my individualized education plan doesn’t give me a free pass to get out of boring stuff. But my mouth is full, and Laurel continues before I can swallow.

“Meritxell said she missed seeing you at dinner tonight.”

I cough, swallowing a chunk of potato whole. “She said that?”

“Yep.” Laurel slides a purse off her shoulder, then drops onto her bed. “How was your day?”

“I messed up the first clue, so we visited the wrong place.”

“Oh no, Elle. That sucks. But it’s only the first day. You’ve still got plenty of time.” Laurel unbuttons the top flap of her purse and pulls out her phone. She crosses her legs beneath her skirt, settling in.

My eyes stay on her purse. It’s yellow, a primary color. Her favorite bags are usually secondary colors (like purple) or tertiary (pink, mint green).

“Is that new?”

“Yep! I bought it at this souvenir stand by the beach. Isn’t it cute?”

I’m not really sure what qualifies as cute, so I change the subject. “Your team went to the beach to look for the first clue?”

“Well… we haven’t started the scavenger hunt yet.”

I stare at her. “You didn’t even translate the first clue?”

“Nope, not yet.” Laurel looks up from her phone. “Like I said, it’s only day one. We’ve got lots of time. Plus, we all really wanted to check out the beach.”

It’s almost Tuesday, and we need to have two clues done by Friday. That doesn’t sound like a lot of time to me, definitely not enough time to waste a day at the beach, or by visiting the wrong place.

Then my thoughts shift to the last thing she said. “Everyone wanted to see the beach?”

“Well okay, Cody wasn’t thrilled. He wanted us to translate the clue, but Madison held a vote. She said the majority should decide, just like in elections.”

I’m not sure that’s actually how elections work, but my phone buzzes before I can say so. I accept a message request from Andy, and a stream of texts appear in our new group chat.

Andy

Test

Isa (they/them)

It’s aliiiiive

Andy

Does it work for you, Ellen and Gibs?

There are too many messages to read now, including some from Gibs. I set my plate on the bedside table, then tap out a quick reply.

Ellen

Hi. I missed these while I was asleep. It works for me.

“Oh my actual gosh, Elle!” Laurel bounces on her bed. “I just had the best idea.”

I set my plate aside, trying to remember what we were just talking about. A new purse, the beach, and Cody Mack. “What’s your idea?”

“It’s soooo good. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner.” Laurel joins me on my bed. “Want to guess?”

“Just tell me.”

“Okay.” Laurel practically vibrates with excitement. “You should ask to switch teams.”

My phone buzzes again, and my thoughts take off in different directions.

“I… um, that would be—”

“Perfect, right?” Laurel’s brows rise.

Another notification. I force myself to look up from my phone, back to Laurel.

“It would be great,” I say, which is true. I want to spend time with her more than anything. “But I don’t think Señor L will just let kids change teams.”

“Maybe not, but he likes your dad, right?”

“Most people like Abba.”

“And you’ve got that program you’re in. What’s it called again?” Laurel scrunches up her brows.

“An individualized education plan.” Or IEP for short. Dr. Talia says IEPs help schools accommodate kids like me to make sure I do well in my classes—it’s also why I didn’t get in trouble for missing Señor L’s lecture. According to her, Lynnwood has a “robust” program for disabled students, which is a big reason why I go there.

“Yeah, that.” Laurel scoots closer to me, hair swishing. “Have him ask Señor L for you. I bet Cody would like being on your team more anyway. Then we can hang out together, just like we planned.”

“I’ve never seen Cody spend time with Andy or Gibs.…”

Laurel shrugs. “They’re all boys. They’d get along.”

But Isa isn’t.

My phone buzzes again, and I glance down.

Andy

Ellen! We saved you a seat at dinner.

Isa (they/them)

You slept more than Gibs

Andy

Which is impressive.

Gibs

Whatever, I need my beauty sleep u haters

“What do you think, Elle?”

I drag my gaze up to her, but don’t say anything at first. None of my teammates seem mad at me about earlier. “I don’t know.…”

“Your dad said he wanted to give you space on this trip, right?”

“But I told him I didn’t need it,” I remind her.

“Just tell him you decided you want space after all. Pleeeease?” Laurel clasps her hands in front of her, eyes wide.

I duck my head but don’t hide my smile. “Okay. I’ll ask.”

“Yay!” She flops onto my mattress. “This trip’ll be so much better when we’re together. When’s the best time to ask your dad? Tomorrow at breakfast, maybe?”

My heart swells as I lie down beside her. Now I have another item to add to my list, because Laurel’s excitement is contagious. “Tomorrow night might be better. Abba and I are going to call Mom before the group dinner.”

“Good idea. We don’t want other kids to overhear. Señor L might say no one can switch if lots of people ask.” Still, Laurel frowns. “I just wish we didn’t have to wait another whole day.”

“Me neither. But at least it’ll give me time to figure out what to say.” The longer Laurel’s idea is out there, the more my excitement builds. Abba won’t say no to me. Then Laurel and I will get to spend the rest of the trip together, like we were supposed to.

“I can practice with you if you want help.”

“You’d pretend to be Abba?” I side-eye her.

“Hey now, I could sound like your dad if I tried.” She drops her voice. “The two Els, reunited at last.”

Maybe I’m still tired, or slap-happy as Mrs. McKinley calls it, because I giggle. Laurel presses her lips together, but soon she’s giggling with me. Our shoulders rise and fall together.

“Oh, also!” Laurel takes a moment to twist and face me. “I came up with the best story for this street artist I saw at Port Vell.”

I settle in, hanging on to her every word as Laurel describes the performer.

One more day. I’ll talk to Abba and then we’ll have even more stories to tell each other. My world will rotate perfectly on-axis once more.