Catch My Fall | ✔

26. That's Not The Way I Tell It

"Watch the curb," my mom warned from the passenger's seat.

When she picked me up from babysitting, she offered to let me drive home. She wanted to see where I was at before she took me to take my driver's test. Other than going a little too hard on the gas a few times, I think I did well.

I parked in the driveway next to Indy's car. She'd spent almost every day here this week. It was an adjustment, no longer having a bathroom all to myself and the snacks running out faster, but I loved having her there. Especially since I was still technically grounded and only allowed to socialize at school.

Indy was like a loophole because she could have friends over. Even when those friends were actually my friends. Nia and Keraun had been over a few times. Romeo seemed to always be busy.

At school we talked. Kind of. It was mostly small talk--homework, teachers, the lunch specials. We didn't feel like us. I was afraid we may never go back to the way it was. Not after what happened last weekend.

You couldn't bare your soul to someone and pack it back up.

"Did I pass?" I asked.

My mom turned to me, eyes glossy. "Can't you stay my little girl for a bit longer? Another year? Ten years top."

I laughed. "I will always be your little girl. Especially when I need someone to cook me food, or do my laundry, or detangle and re-twist my hair."

"I take it back." Her phone rang. She glanced at the screen before saying, "Work."

I left her alone to take her call and went into the house. Indy was in our room, sitting in the middle of the floor with one of those muscles roller things.

"Have fun at practice?" I teased, flopping on my bed.

"You laugh, but this is going to be you over the summer," she said.

I sat up so fast I knocked my backpack on the floor, its contents falling on Indy's legs. "Umm...no."

"Umm...yes," she countered, gathering my things back into my bag and out of her space. "Because, as Valle Vista's new dance team captain, I'll need someone to practice new dance team routines with."

A high-pitched squeal came from me as I tackled my sister to the floor. "You're captain?"

"I'm captain!"

"Wait," I sat up. "What happened to that Mariah girl?"

Indy rolled her eyes. "She was still trying to make her sister, Erykah, captain. Erykah finally stood up to her and quit. But not before telling everyone that I would make the best captain.

I squealed again, wrapping her in a hug. She laughed, falling back on the floor. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you, thank you. Now let me get back to my massage." I went back to my bed and tried to reorganize my backpack. "What's this?"

I looked to see Indy holding the white envelope Romeo gave me last week. "Pictures that Romeo took."

Her eyes lit up. Even though she hadn't entirely forgiven Romeo for making me cry back in middle school, she warmed up to him a little after I told her everything. She said him having a million pictures of me saved on his phone was creepy, but after what happened with Andre, she wasn't getting involved with my relationships anymore.

She opened the envelope, pulling out the glossy photos as she joined me on the bed. The pictures were mostly random--blurred cars as they drove by, a tree, his dad's pizza oven. There were even a few of him, Keraun and Jason, playing video games.