Chapter Thirty-Three

Beautiful Tomorrow

My alarm vibrates me awake on our final day in Barcelona.

I slip into my comfiest clothes but pause when I reach the door. It’s not Laurel I’m looking back on this morning, although she’s here in the room with me, in her usual deep sleep. Wedged between my bed and the wall, my owl postcard looks back at me.

I grab it.

Isa is alone when I reach the garden.

They turn. Smile. “There you are.”

“Here I am.”

“Andy’s having some issues waking Gibs.” Isa holds up their phone. “I told him we’d come up and help.”

I glance at my phone. There are no new notifications, but maybe Andy messaged Isa on a different chain. “Okay.”

Both boys are waiting for us in the third-floor hall. Gibs sits cross-legged on the floor while Andy leans against a wall.

“Finally!” Gibs hops up. He climbs halfway up to the next floor, then stops. “Well, come on.”

“He’s either going to be hyper the entire flight or passed out,” Andy tells us. “You two are lucky you get to sit with Mr. Katz.”

I study my friends. Something seems off. It doesn’t look like Gibs has slept yet at all.

But Andy and Isa are already climbing the stairs, following Gibs.

One floor up, my questions continue to build. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise,” Gibs calls. His voice echoes down the hall.

Isa and Andy shush him.

“Do you trust us?” Isa asks.

“Yes.”

“Then no more questions,” Andy says. “You’ll see in a second.”

I don’t like surprises, or changes to plans, or last-minute detours. But I follow them up one flight of stairs, then another.

The stairs end on the sixth-floor-that’s-really-the-seventh, where the ceilings slope lower. Andy heads to a door that looks exactly like the one to our garden.

“Ellen first.” Gibs bows like a butler.

Cool night air tickles my face as I climb onto the hotel’s roof. “Should we be out here?”

“It’s not breaking any rules,” Andy says.

“Yeah.” Isa smiles. “We haven’t left the hotel.”

I look between them. “How did you even know we could get up here?”

“You can thank Andy for that,” Gibs says. Leaves crunch under his feet as he makes his way to the ledge and peeks over. “Y’all should really come look.”

Isa offers me a hand. I take it, and every concern vanishes.

Andy walks next to us. “Xavi told me he and Meritxell used to come and play up here each visit when they were younger. Gibs and I ran into him last night after we got back from the boat dinner.”

I let Isa guide me toward Gibs, then go still as I step underneath a familiar shadow.

“My owl…”

It’s just a couple of metal supports from the back. Nothing special. But I can still make out the shape I know so well. I settle into a place on the ledge between Andy and Isa.

“It’s obviously cooler-looking from the front,” Isa says, “but how many people can say they’ve been this close other than us?”

I don’t answer. Isa squeezes my hand and I squeeze back.

There’s something I still need to do. I look out over the ledge, trying to build up my courage. We’re not high enough to see the sea, and it’s too dark to spot La Rambla.

“I have something for you all.”

Three pairs of eyes fall on me as I pull the postcard out of my bag.

Gibs takes it first and shows it to Andy, who passes it to Isa.

“I’m sorry I only have one,” I say as Isa studies the front, then flips it backward.

They look over at the boys. “Did y’all see what Ellen wrote on the back?”

“No.” Andy shakes his head at the same time that Gibs says, “Did you just say ‘y’all’?”

Isa passes the card back to Andy. “Thought I’d try it out now that I live in the South.”

Andy skims the card, then grins.

“‘Owl I need is you,’” Gibs reads over Andy’s shoulder. He laughs. “Ellen made a pun!”

“Yeah they did,” Isa says. “An awesome one.”

Warmth floods my chest.

Then I process what Isa said. “You called me ‘they.’”

“You changed it in the group chat, so I figured I’d try it out.” Isa studies me. “Is that okay?”

“Yes.” Slowly, I nod. “You can use either set.”

The city spreads out as I glance over the ledge again. I miss Mom and my own comfy bed, but Barcelona feels like a second home now. I take in the twinkling lights and savor the quiet—

—until Gibs breaks it.

“I still can’t believe y’all woke up at the crack of dawn every morning for two straight weeks.”

I blink the sparkles out of my eyes and spot Andy’s and Isa’s matching grins. Like laughter, it’s contagious. My expression matches theirs.

“And I can’t believe it’s the end of June.” Andy sighs. “Summer’s almost half over already.”

“Got any plans for the rest of it?” Isa asks.

“Basketball camp.” Gibs mimics a shot.

Andy nods. “Same here.”

“And I’ve got lots of unpacking in my future,” Isa says. “Probably babysitting and watching Disney movies, too.”

“What about you, Ellen?” They turn to me.

I think of Laurel and all the sleepovers that probably aren’t going to happen now. I think of my teammates and how there’s no way to know if we’ll stay close once school starts. Andy and Gibs are popular athletes. Isa could make friends with anyone.

The first sliver of sunrise spills over rooftops in front of us.

Tomorrow we will do beautiful things, Gaudí said. That quote used to make me anxious.

But not every person fits neatly into categories. Life doesn’t always stick to a planned itinerary.

Right now, it’s enough to watch the sun rise with my friends.

“I don’t know yet,” I admit. “I think I’ll just take it one day at a time.”