THE BRIGHTSIDE, robby keene

028 - el dragón

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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
EL DRAGÓN
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MERCY HAS NEVER SLEPT SO WELL.

When she woke up this morning, her head still resting on her boyfriend's chest, she knew that every interaction and every word from that night wasn't a dream. And although she told him about a time in her life she so desperately wants to forget, she isn't even embarrassed.

And then there's the thing with the email she got. She read it more than one hundred times, just to make sure that it really is her reality and that she's not dreaming.

Her SAT score is 1580 out of the possible 1600.

A silly voice in her brain taunts her for losing twenty points, it's the perfectionism in her. But she can't be more happy. Getting into one of her dream schools to study Astrophysics should be possible now.

She couldn't get her eyes off her phone's display, not even when Robby told her over and over again how proud he's of her and that he knew that she would do great on that test.

"You're the smartest person I know," he told her.

Not even Johnny's frosty attitude this morning can ruin her good mood. He hadn't been happy to see his son leaving his girlfriend's room this morning, despite the previous evening's talk about the importance of three rooms, aka one room for each of them.

Mercy thinks he's acting ridiculous and also he reminds her of her own dad and his reaction when Robby suddenly appeared at their breakfast table wearing the man's clothes that one Sunday morning months ago.

Anyways, Mercy still has a bright smile stuck on her face as she's looking at the different kinds of souvenirs. She can't decide what she should get Tory and her parents and...

Well. That's it. There are no more friends for whom she would buy a souvenir for. Furrowing her brows, she thinks it's kinda sad that the once large circle of friends has reduced to two people, one of them being her boyfriend. She wouldn't trade these two for anything in the world, but still.

It makes her wonder what her life would be like now if she'd still be friends with Eli and Demetri. But there is no such thing as what if.

She doesn't even notice that Johnny leaves the store, presumably having bought enough supplies for the next part of their journey.

Although she's far from home, being surrounded by people speaking Spanish gives her a strange feeling of belonging, even though the Spanish is different from the one she's used to. Still staring at the shelves in front of her, she finally decides what to get for her parents and Tory.

"Mercy!" Robby suddenly yells as she's talking to the woman at the counter. Not knowing what the hell is going on now, she slams a few bank notes on the counter, well knowing that it might be too much, grabs the plastic bag the woman is holding, and bolts out the door.

"What?" She yells back as soon as she's outside and gets a glimpse of Robby and Johnny running after the van that is getting towed.

"Seriously?!" She yells and starts running down the street to follow the two.

"Where've you been?" Johnny asks her accusingly as she's finally caught up with them.