Jasmine ran after me. “Holly, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll tell you what’s going on after school.”
“I feel sick right now.”
Nestor walked over to us. “Jasmine, why are you making her upset?”
“Mind your own business. Did you enter the contest?” Jasmine changed the subject.
“I was absent on the day Ms. Costa told the class about that.”
“Oh, yeah, like you would have done the work anyway.”
“I didn’t want to give you any competition. If I did enter, you wouldn’t be the one doing the bragging right now.”
“Why do you two have to argue about everything?” They liked the verbal put-downs, but I couldn’t stand them. Especially now.
“It’s not my fault,” Nestor said. “It’s like talking to beauty and the beast at the same time.”
“I had enough of you,” Jasmine told him and walked away.
“Why do you always have a problem with her?” I asked.
“She’s just so perfect all the time. So sure of herself.”
“So you’re telling me we get along because I’m not perfect or sure of myself?”
“You are perfect, but you just don’t know it yet,” Nestor told me.
“Really?”
“Really. Anyway, tell me about this grant stuff. I didn’t understand all of it.”
“We’re supposed to learn about marine life in Florida,” I told him.
“You and Jasmine are joining the marines? That’s what doesn’t make sense to me.”
“No, of course not. Marine life means creatures of the sea.”
R-I-N-G-G-G.
“That’s the late bell. See you.” I ran to my next class.
“Later,” Nestor said as he took his time getting wherever he was going.
It was really hard to concentrate in my next class. Stuff was swimming around in my brain, like a blizzard in a snow globe. I worried about what was going on with Jasmine. I just didn’t understand what the problem was. She had been acting weird the last few months. She came to my house but found excuses why I couldn’t go to hers. Maybe her mother was mad at me for something? Maybe the beds weren’t made? Maybe the baby was sleeping, and we’d make noise and wake her up? Maybe, maybe, maybe. I didn’t know what to think.
Now she tells me she didn’t know if she could go to Florida. How could she say that after we worked so hard on this project?
I don’t have any brothers or sisters. When we lived in Arizona, surrounded by mountains and deserts, my dad loved the beach. Whenever we could, we took a vacation in California. That’s where I learned how to swim. That’s when Dad bought me the silver dolphin pendant I always wear around my neck. Those were the happiest times of my life.
Then it was all over.
My dad died in Afghanistan—a far away country that means only heartache to me.
It was three years ago that the car pulled up in front of our house, and two men in uniform walked toward our front door. My mother dropped whatever she was holding in her hands. She fell to her knees and kept saying, “No, this can’t be true.” At first, I didn’t understand. I was only eight years old. “We’re very sorry m’am,” one of the marines said.
I remembered the special funeral with the military escort who stayed with my father’s body from Afghanistan until he was brought to the funeral home for wake and burial. The funeral director put an ad in the town newspaper, so a lot of people came, waving American flags as the hearse passed. The military gave my mom an American flag folded up in a special way. She still keeps it in the nightstand next to her bed.
That’s when we moved to New York City. My mom decided we needed to start over. Her friend from college set up an interview, and she got a job as a graphic designer. My mom captures with images what I capture with words.
“Holly. Holly? Do you know the answer?”
I just got caught not paying attention in social studies class “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember.” I know I blushed, because my face felt hot. I wasn’t used to missing an answer. Everyone turned around to look.
“Would you like to take a guess?” my teacher asked.
Jasmine. Florida. Dad. Afghanistan. Funeral. Mom. Flag. Moving. Those were the words in my head. I never even heard the question, so how could I guess an answer?
“No,” I mumbled.
“No?”
“No.” This time everyone heard me.