the photographer. [zdh]

twenty-eight

"we have arrived in dallas, texas. the weather is eighty-nine degrees farenheit and sunny. we at american airlines wish you a good day."

after clearing baggage check, zach and i hailed a cab back to his house, where we were greeted enthusiastically by mr herron, mrs herron and reese. ryan was, of course, playing fortnite upstairs and had no time to come down to welcome us.

"you're back!" reese squealed, wrapping an arm around her brother's waist before quickly turning to me.

"leah!" she grinned widely as i bent down to hug her tightly. "i've missed you!"

taking my hand, reese led me into the kitchen to sample some cookies that myta baked earlier in preparation for our arrival. out of the corner of my eye, i saw zach and myta talking. straining my ears, i heard a tiny bit of their conversation.

"...be your girl," myta said softly.

i saw a hint of a smile cross zach's face. "i have a plan, mom."

what?

**

"wake up, lovesick boy," ryan whispered loudly in my ear.

"what?" i mumbled. it was the day after leah and i arrived in dallas, and squinting at my clock, it was only five a.m.

"yesterday, you promised to pay me ten dollars if i woke you up at five a.m. today. i assume it's to prepare something for leah, since you told mom to make sure leah slept in reese's room last night."

"oh! right!" i said, sitting up at once. quickly reaching for the shirt i'd left on my bedframe the previous night, i slipped it on as ryan simply looked at me.

"what is it?" i asked.

"do you need help? i think you need help. i know you've got everything in order, but i still think you need help."

"yeah," i said, grinning at my younger brother. "just wake leah up at six a.m. and tell her to come to school."

ryan nodded before walking back to his room. "that'll be an extra ten dollars, or i also accept payment if it's you letting me play fortnite in peace. anyway, i'll wake her up and get her going."

retrieving a plain wooden box from under the bed, i clapped ryan on the back before leaving. "thanks, bro."

**

"leah," ryan hissed. "leah, wake up!"

i groaned and turned my back to him. "ry, what time is it?"

"six a.m., but you need to wake up and go to school."

"what?" i sat up. "go to school? ryan, are you freaking-"

"ssh, don't wake reese," he mumbled, but reese was already awake. sitting up, she glared at her brother.

"ryan, you woke me up when you stepped in," she said, also sitting up.

he shook his head in frustration. "leah, get changed, zach's waiting for you at elementary school. it's weird, but yeah."

i sighed, walking to my luggage to take a set of comfortable clothes for the dallas heat. "i'm going, i'm going. but zach had better have a good reason for dragging me out of the house at six a.m. in the morning."