Reasons To Stay

EIGHT

The bumpy road made the bus wobble and that made my attempt at painting Mrs. Goode a disaster. Since I knew I was ruining it more than making it better, I gave up and placed my tablet in the empty seat next to me. I was thankful that I had managed to get two seats for myself, since the bus was practically full.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep, I opened my curtains slightly to look out into the night. My aunt and I had tried to book a last minute flight to New York, but every plane had been full. In the end, we had decided that it would be best to just take the bus instead of relying on the slight chance that someone would cancel on the last moment. So there I was, taking a ten-hour bus on my way to New York City.

The good thing about aunt Rae living there was that I didn't need to book a hotel or ask for housing at Parsons, which had been the key factor in them letting me join even if I had been accepted for the previous session.

As I looked out at the stars I couldn't help thinking about my sisters and everything that had happened the day before.

The first thing I had done after breakfast (which I had alone because no one wanted to sit with me. I didn't blame them) was calling Parsons. After three long conversations with three different people, they finally gave their approval for me to attend. Then I called my aunt. She had been so happy for me and soon we both got ourselves to work on getting me a last minute plane. Of course, we hadn't been able to do that, but she got me the bus ticket.

And then came the Telling My Sisters part. Getting them all together, knowing that I would be joining them, was hard. Which is why I left that part to Mrs. Goode.

I knew getting the attention of the little ones would be easy, but in order of getting Trish to actually look at me and not ignore me completely, I decided to wear a dress I had bought during my shopping trip. I had to give those clothes some use.

I knew the dress had worked as soon as I stepped into the room.

"You look... pretty," Ro whispered. I knew for a fact that she would be the first one to speak, since she was the one with the least reason to be mad. Also, Mrs. Goode had tried to explain to her to explain why I had raised my voice at her and that I hadn't meant to.

"Thank you, Ro." I smiled at her as brightly as I could, and she immediately smiled back. I loved that she couldn't be mad at anyone for too long, she was just amazing like that.

Little Jenny was staring at me, and I could tell she wanted to say something but was fighting with herself whether to or not.

Trish... well, she was glaring at my dress, but at least she was, in some way, looking at me.

"Well, you all know you are here because I have an announcement to make, so..."

"Make it fast, then," Trish growled as she hammered her eyes onto mine. Unlike our younger sisters, both Trish and I had light brown eyes. I had always compared their color to that of almonds, but right then Trish's eyes looked more like burning wood.

I help my sister's gaze for a few seconds. She didn't falter, so I sighed and told them all why I had gathered them together against their will. "I'm leaving for the rest of the summer." That got their full attention. And even made Jenny speak.

"What? Why?" she whispered. She looked almost guilty, like she thought it had been her fault. I felt a pang of guilt in my heart that I forced myself to ignore.

"Because the situation was too overwhelming for her, of course," Trish spat and I really wanted to answer, but I had promised myself I wouldn't let this conversation turn into a fight.