Page 3 of Room to Breathe

That’s when my dad came down the stairs. I was surprised. Dad was normally long gone by now. Had he overslept as well? He had his cell pressed to his ear and was dressed in a suit and tie. Maybe he was in court today. He rarely went all out if he was only going into the office.

“He’s still here?” I asked.

Mom gave a short nod.

Dad held the phone away from his ear for a second and said good morning to me. “Have a good day at school.” Then he was back on his phone. He grabbed the protein bar off my backpack, kissed my mom on the cheek, and left out the garage door.

Mom sighed and got me another bar.

“Is he late too?” I asked.

“No, just dealing with some drama.”

“What drama?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“Confidential kinda drama?” I asked. Sometimes, due to the nature of his job, Dad really couldn’t talk about it.

“Yes,” she said, pouring coffee from the pot I had started earlier into a travel mug.

“Oh!” I said. “Speaking of drama, my printer is out of ink. Can I use the one in Dad’s office?”

“What does that have to do with drama?” she asked.

“My printer. It’s a drama queen,” I said in aduhvoice.

She laughed. “Yes, go use his printer.”

I shoved my flash cards into my backpack and rushed to his office, mad at myself for nearly forgetting to print out this homework assignment. That wasn’t like me. But when my printer hadjust produced blank pages last night, I told myself I’d do it this morning. I pulled up Google Docs on my phone and tapped print on my latest essay. The printer hummed to life.

My phone buzzed with a text:here

Give me two minutes,I texted back.

The printer finished and I scooped up the papers, shoved them into my backpack, and spun toward the door. In the process, my backpack swept a stack of papers off the desk and my foot slammed into the shredder, knocking it over and spreading even more paper across the floor.

“Stupid,” I muttered to myself, picking up both stacks and putting them back into their respective piles. I turned a circle to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, then left the office.

“Ava’s here!” I called toward the kitchen. “See you later, Mom!”

“Good luck on your test!”

“I don’t need luck. I have brains.”

“Yes! You do!”

I pulled the door closed behind me and walked the pathway to my best friend’s car. I was last on the pickup route, so I always got the back seat on the way to school. I climbed in. “Sorry, everyone. Had to print out the AP Lit essay.”

“Ugh,” Caroline said.

“That thing was the worst!” Ava agreed.

Beau was in the back with me, like he always was. Our carpool placement actually represented our friendship dynamic well. We were all close, but Ava and Caroline were close and Beau and I were even closer. The best friends in our group of best friends.

I shoved his shoulder for no reason at all except that I thought it was funny. He Frisbeed a flash card in my direction and it hitmy arm. I was wearing a jean jacket today—October was finally starting to feel like fall—so his card did zero damage. I picked it up from where it had landed on the seat between us. It was a cell diagram. He was studying too. Of course he was.

“It’s Friday!” Ava said. “Time to contribute to the gas cup.” She held up an empty 7-Eleven Slurpee cup and I dug a ten out of my bag and dropped it into the little hole at the top.