Chapter 5: Eighteen Hundred Miles

I stepped away from the telescope line and answered.

"Greer Pennock, where on earth are you?"

My mother's voice was high and shaking.

Behind her, people were arguing. I heard Tanner, and Kenzie crying.

"At school."

"What school? The boys came at six this morning for the beach and you weren't here. Your bed hasn't been slept in all summer, Greer, I checked."

"I told you. I'm in Arizona."

"For the summer! The program ended! Move-in's tomorrow!"

"Not for me. I start classes here on Monday."

There was a long silence.

"Here where?"

I said the name of the university.

She said it back to me slowly.

"That's in Flagstaff."

"Yes."

"You applied to the school down the road. Kenzie said you all agreed."

"I never applied there."

"But Kenzie said..."

"They agreed. The four of them. It never had anything to do with me."

I could hear her breathing.

"This is a huge decision. Why didn't you talk to me about it?"

"Did you ever ask?"

The line went quiet.

Last fall my mother took Kenzie to the guidance counselor three times.

She printed admission numbers for a dozen colleges and stuck them to the fridge with magnets.

She read Kenzie's essay out loud at the kitchen table and cried at the end.

I did my applications at the same table, on my old laptop, by myself.

Once she walked past, glanced at my screen, and told me not to hog the table because Kenzie needed room for her binder.

It wasn't that she didn't know applications mattered.

She just didn't think mine needed her.

"Greer, honey, I know I've been busy. I know I've let some things slide. But you can't throw your future away to make a point."

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