Page 10 of Right Side of Paradise
Until I saw the teddy bear peeking from under the stack of bikinis she’d shoved into the luggage.
Memories swarmed me until my brain lagged and I spoke without turning around, expecting Rico to still be outside the door.
“Yo, she can’t stay in here.”
“Sorry.” The scent of oranges and cinnamon tickled my nose as Harlow rushed past me, falling to her knees to close her suitcase. “I didn’t know this was your room. It’s so neat it didn’t look like anybody was using it. I just picked an empty one to get ready in.”
“Fuck, Harlow. My fault. I thought you were Rico.”
“It’s fine.” She looked up at me with an uneasy smile and the hurt clouding her eyes slammed into my chest.
The sound of her zipper closing snapped me into motion, but she was already hauling her bag across the room toward the door before I could move.
“Are you okay?” she asked quietly, staring into the hall and not in my eyes.
“Yeah, I’m just tired.” It was the oldest lie in the book and Harlow didn’t buy it.
Her weak smile melted into an expression I couldn’t name. “You’ve been off all night. I feel like I did something wrong.”
“Hey, Harley. I got you some towels and a pillow from Rico’s bed. I promise when you wake up in the morning—shit, what I miss?”
Soul’s attention bounced from her to me and back to her.
Harlow gave me one last look and dragged her suitcase behind her. “I accidentally took over Christian’s room earlier. Show me the other empty guest room?” she asked with more levity in her voice than her face conveyed.
Soul slid me a look full of questions I didn’t want to answer then grabbed the handle from Harlow and led her away from my door.
My exhale was audible when I was alone again. I closed the door this time, shaking my head.
It was her first night here and I was already fucking up.
I Got You
January 23, 2004 | Age 9
I hated this class. Ms. Drew had taught my mother and all my older cousins. She’d been teaching for longer than my mother was alive. And shestillchose to come to school every day instead of retiring like my granny had last year.
She was clearly bored.
That had to be why she called on Harlow every Friday during reading class when she knew she would get the same result.
I frowned hard at her while she watched the girl beside me roll the top of the page between her shaky fingers. Over and over again.
Harlow’s other hand was under her desk, rubbing up and down her corduroy pant leg.
All around us, the third-grade classroom was silent, waiting for whatever came next.
Across the room, Rico sucked his teeth and mumbled something that made Ms. Drew pinch her wrinkly lips and squint her eyes in his direction.
We all used to sit together. Me, Soul, Rico and Harlow. But she separated us before Christmas break because she said we talked too much.
Now it was just me and Harlow at this table with three other students.
Rico was the only boy at his table closest to Ms. Drew’s desk and Soul was on the other side of the classroom, twirling his pencil between his fingers.
“Ms. Westbrook, are you gonna dog-ear that page into oblivion or are you going to read your paragraph?”
“Can you come back to me?” Harlow’s soft voice was shaky and small.
