Seri laughed as they both snuggled into bed.
Seri got up and got the hell out of dodge before daylight. She couldn’t stand goodbyes. She would send her a text and tell her goodbye in a couple of hours.
Monica didn’t get that one last session she had wanted to get in with Quill because of her breakdown the day before, but told her she would see her three times the next week rather than the planned two. Aquilla was fine with it. She liked Monica.
Aquilla woke to the sound of a crow bellowing right outside her window. She grabbed Seri’s pillow and buried her head. She rose up when she felt the paper in her hand.
“Quill, I hate mushy goodbyes. Call me later,” was the extent of the note.
Aquilla smiled. Seri was gone. She knew she would talk to her and hopefully still see her, but it still wasn’t the same. She was going to miss her like crazy.
She sat up when she heard the tap on her door.
Liz smiled at her and she smiled back. “You okay?” Liz asked, still worried about the day before.
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“Do you want something to eat? We have to get going. Reese and Lil have cheerleading practice.”
“Yeah, I’m starving.” She was starving. She had refused to eat lunch or dinner the night before.
Liz smiled as Quill slid off the bed, pulled on a pair of shorts and flipped her long hair into a messy bun on the back of her head.
Aquilla felt a little ashamed as she walked out to the deck with her mom. The whole family was there. They had all witnessed her little episode and she was a little embarrassed by it. Nobody made her feel bad about it. They talked as if nothing had happened. Quill was glad, not that she thought any of them would have had the nerve to mention it, but still.
Quill ate two plates of the scrambled eggs and three slices of toast with her grandmother’s strawberry jam. It was delicious, either that or she was really that hungry.
Aquilla tried to get away without all the hugs. It didn’t work. They all went down the line and hugged her along with Reese and her mother. As soon as her Uncle Jake was finished, she jumped in the passenger seat. That was enough of that.
Aquilla was quiet all the way back to their house. She rolled her eyes more than once at the two giggly girls in the backseat. By the time the hour and half drive was over, she was ready to pull her hair out, or theirs. She and Seri did text back and forth several times, and she talked to her mother when she would ask a question, other than that, she stared blankly out the window.
Aquilla settled in as much as she could. She spent most of her days alone in her room. She talked to Seri every single day, and met with Monica twice a week. Her mother asked her constantly to go places with them, practices, ball games, dinner, but she wasn’t interested. She wasn’t trying to be difficult, she just didn’t want to do the things with them that they wanted to do. She knew it wasn’t fair, and she was being unfairly angry at the wrong people. She just didn’t know who she should be angry at. Was it Julius for not wanting her? Was it her father for being involved in something that put them in danger? Was it Seri for bringing them down? Was it her mother for letting her be taken? She didn’t know. She was angry at so many people for uncontrollable reasons.
“You ready?” Liz asked, tapping on Quill’s bedroom door.
“I’m ready,” she said looking up from sliding on the new sneakers that she never asked for, “But I still think it’s stupid. I already graduated. I don’t need some aptitude test.”
“You did not graduate, Quill. We’ve talked about this. You have to graduate under Shelby Rimmer. Aquilla doesn’t exist here.”
“Whatever, let’s go,” Aquilla snapped, shoving past her mother. She was sick of having this conversation. She didn’t want to go to some stupid high school with a bunch of drama infested teenagers. They were making her. Her mother even had her dad call and talk to her about it. Like she would listen to him, anymore than her…as if.
“Quill, this test is very important. You need to go in here with all your bearings and do your best. If you don’t do well on this test, you could possibly start in the 10th or 11th grade,” Liz explained as she backed out of the drive.
Aquilla snorted. She wasn’t even going to respond. This lady had no clue. She was oblivious to the fact that she probably had more schooling than she did, and she had a degree. Aquilla’s father paid for only the best teachers and professors since she was four. She had half a notion to go in there and scribble in the circles in five minutes.
Aquilla was led to a room where a very old, frail, looking man sat at the front of the room. He looked sour with a grouchy expression. He nodded to the desk with the test and two sharpened pencils. He explained that she had one hour to complete it and could only use the provided blank pages for figuring, and wouldn’t be permitted to use a calculator. Aquilla didn’t reply and took her seat as her mother saw herself out.
Liz met Connor outside where he waited with coffee. He kissed her on the cheek and gestured toward the bench.
“I miss you,” he said.
“You just saw me two days ago,” she reminded him of their little rendezvous while Reese was at cheerleading practice.
“I want to see you every day. When are these girls going to stay with their father so that I can have you for a whole week?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t want to push Quill into doing anything she doesn’t want to do.”
“Quill doesn’t want to do anything.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, Liz, just that you are letting her control everything about you.”
“How so? You have no idea what this is like, Connor. She doesn’t talk to me. She stays locked away in her room. I offered to take her shopping for a new bedroom set the other day to get her out of the twin bed. She wouldn’t even do that. She is refusing to go to school. I don’t know what to do with her.”
Connor placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing her blonde head. “I’m sorry. I know this has got to be hard for you, and I wish I had answers for you, but I don’t. I do, however, miss you.”
“Do you want to go get something to eat later?” Liz asked, looking up.
Connor kissed her lips. “I can’t. I have to go to my parents for my dad’s birthday. Do you want to come?”
“I will let you know. Reese is going to Lil’s, I’m sure. I just hate leaving Quill alone.”
“Isn’t Quill alone whether you are there or not?”
“Good point.”
Aquilla laid the pencil down 45 minutes later. This test was a joke. If that’s all she needed to graduate in the United States, she was a genius.
“You have 15 more minutes, maybe you want to go over some of the math problems,” the old man who she hadn’t bothered to learn his name suggested.
“Maybe I don’t,” she replied. “Am I done here?”
“Yes, you can be excused Miss Rimmer. We will mail your results.”
“Thanks, and its Miss Chavez,” Aquilla corrected as she exited the room.
Liz stood taken aback when Quill approached. She wasn’t expecting her yet.
“Quill, this is Connor Sheffield. He will be your math teacher.”
“I know who he is. I saw him leave the other night around three in the morning. You really don’t have to sneak out. You are grown adults,” she blurted, not mentioning the math teacher remark. He wouldn’t be teaching her anything. She wasn’t going there. “Can we go?”
Liz gave Connor a deep sigh as he kissed her on the cheek. “Let me know if you want me to pick you up,” he whispered.
“I’ll call you,” she answered, following Quill, who had turned her back and walked away.