Later that evening, after quite a bit of begging on Lauren’s part to let Margalo stay until she had to go to the airport, the girls sat on the soft carpet of Lauren’s room.
“So are you just going to tell everyone at school what you told me?” Lauren asked.
Margalo shook her head. “No, not everyone will be nice enough not to ask questions. They’ll probably find out the truth anyways, but I’ll tell them…I’ll tell them my lamp overheated, and my room set on fire, and I have to go away until the repairs are done.”
“That sounds believable.”
“God, I know. I should have just told you that.”
Lauren threw a handful of popcorn at her. “But seriously, everyone is going to miss you so much.”
“I doubt it. I mean, you and Luke and Emily probably will, but everyone else will be sighing in relief.”
“Oh, shut up!”
“What?” Margalo laughed. “You know it’s true. I’m the neurotic girl who cries a lot, right?”
Lauren rolled her eyes. “At least you’re not the class airhead.”
“You’re not even an airhead. You’re just…logically challenged.”
“Oh wow, thanks.”
Margalo frowned. “Wait, is tomorrow Friday?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“I never thought I’d say it, but I’m actually sad that tomorrow’s my last day at our goddamn school.”
It seemed that today was a day full of sad, strange, gut-wrenching revelations, and that one was the most unexpected of all. She had spent so many days complaining about her school—how annoying and bitchy the girls were, and how arrogant the guys were, and how frustrating most of the teachers were. But as she thought about leaving, she was suddenly filled with a sense of injustice at the fact that she only had one day left to say goodbye.
“How do you think I feel? I still have to go to the stupid place, and you’re not even going to be there anymore,” said Lauren. “I think I’ll die.”
“You still have Emily and Luke.”
Lauren nodded. “So when do you think you’re coming back?”
Margalo was taken aback by the question. With all the thoughts that had rushed through her head in the hotel room, with everything she and her parents yelled and cried and scolded back and forth, she hadn’t even thought to ask just how long her stay at Aunt Cathy’s would be. She realized her absence could be anywhere from a month long to several years, and her stomach hurt at the thought. “I don’t know,” she said quietly.
“You have to text me, like, every single day.”
“I will. I promise.” Margalo fell back against the carpeted floor and laid her cheek on the ground. “I’m sad.”
“Me, too.”
YOU ARE READING
Haunting Margalo
Teen Fiction{NANOWRIMO} Margalo and Violet are rivals. They have been since the second grade, and they will be until the day they die--which, for Violet, is a little sooner than expected. After Margalo almost burns her house down, she's sent to stay with her au...
