Page 9 of 4-Ever

Ronin placed the receiver on my bed.

“But they can’t do that! So what if you’re not great at writing boring essays? I’m not. It doesn’t mean we’re not smart. Just not book smart. You’ve learned to play the piano and drums in a couple of years. And you’re not just good, you’re amazing. How many of our classmates can do that?”

“I know that, you know that, but my parents don’t care about the music thing. They want me to be like Rae and get straight A’s. To go to college and shit. Become a scientist, or a mathematician or something. And I don’t have a choice. I’m being tested whether I want to or not.”

I should be grateful. I guess. Ronin’s mom didn’t have money to spend on tutors or testing. Not that I wanted to be tested. I already felt different from other students given my grades. I didn’t need an exam to tell me that.

But I was really worried about the idea of being sent to a new school. About being separated from Ronin.

After Ronin’s dad left a year ago, he never came back. Not a call or a visit, nothing. Ronin didn’t talk about it, but he was hurting. Who wouldn’t be after their father walked out like that? Just gone, forever? I couldn’t even imagine. Ronin acted like his usual silly self at school, joking around, playing off like everything was okay.

But it wasn’t. He wasn’t.

Ronin liked to talk, a lot, but not about his dad. Instead, he dove into music and he didn’t look back.

I’d finally started to come out of my shyness, and me and Ronin had made a few friends at school. Most of them were in the music program. And if Ronin or I got picked on by the popular students, we had each other’s backs. So, thinking about leaving him, leaving my school behind, made me feel like I was gonna puke.

“Will you come with me?” I asked.

“What time?”

“Eleven. We could hang out after. Maybe check out that music store in Providence?”

“Sure. Maybe. I think,” Ronin muttered and looked away from me. “Look, I don’t feel so good. I’m gonna head home.”

“Okay, but?—”

Ronin grabbed his backpack and headed for the door.

“Ro.”

He didn’t reply. Instead, he left and slammed the door behind him.

I was too shocked to move at first. Then, I finally followed. But when I stepped outside my bedroom, and walked downstairs, Ronin was already gone.

“Everything okay?” My dad asked.

He worked from home now and had an office on the main floor of our house.

“I don’t know. I told Ronin I was going to get tested and everything. And then he said he didn’t feel good.”

My dad walked over and gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“Probably all that junk food you guys eat when you’re upstairs in your room.”

I hid chips, candy, and soda in my bedroom, far away from my mom. Dad knew and had thankfully kept our secret. For now.

“I don’t think that’s it,” I paused, feeling kinda sick myself, rubbing my stomach. “I’ll go get tested but I’m not changing schools.”

“What?”

“You can hire another tutor for me if you want. But I’m not leaving. I can’t leave him there alone.”

“But Faise?—”

“No!” I shouted.

Which, for me, was unheard of. Least of all, to my parents.

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