Music From Another World - Robin Talley Page 0,120
but first I wanted to figure out if Tammy was just happy to see me or if there was any chance she might still be open to something bigger. “I’m so sorry. I’ve been grounded ever since you left. My mom wouldn’t let me touch the phone, and then I didn’t know how to reach you, and—”
“No, no, I’m so sorry.” Tammy shook her head, her smile now totally evaporated. “I got you and your brother into so much trouble. I messed up your entire life.”
“Are you kidding? My life was so much better when you were in it.” I couldn’t keep going or I’d say too much. “Did your aunt ever come back?”
“Not a chance. Once she had what she wanted, she was done with me.” Tammy laughed. “All for the better. Evelyn helped me get enrolled at Mission High, and I’m working three nights a week at the bookstore. I’m their first paid employee. Lisa thinks I might be able to get a scholarship to SFAI next year. It’s a completely different universe from my old life.”
I beamed. I was jealous of her freedom, but more than that, I was thrilled for her. “That’s amazing. I mean, I’d heard you were living with Evelyn and the others, and I’m glad you’re going to school and everything. Also I was wondering if, um—”
“Everybody!” Evelyn shouted from the corner. An ancient pale blue Volkswagen bus was trundling up to the curb, spewing exhaust behind it. Lisa was at the wheel, holding a cigarette out the window and twisting around to say something to Alex in the seat beside her. “Get in fast, it’s gonna be a tight squeeze and we’re running late!”
I turned back to Tammy and forced a laugh. Casual. I had to act casual today. “Guess we’d better…”
She laughed, too, but hers didn’t seem any more natural than mine. It was the first time I could remember us ever being awkward around each other. “Guess so.”
We were the last ones onto the bus, which turned out to be even less roomy than it looked. Behind Lisa and Alex were two wide bench seats, each of them already jammed with people sitting half on top of each other. Evelyn and Becky greeted me warmly, but there was no space for us in their middle row. Suitcases, boxes packed with brochures, rubber-banded campaign signs, and a big black trash bag stretched out over a wide rectangular frame were already stacked in the luggage section at the back, so we couldn’t sit there, either.
Peter and Dean were wedged onto the three-seater back bench with two other guys. The only spot in the entire bus that wasn’t occupied by people or stuff was the small patch of floor directly in front of them.
I glanced at Tammy. She shrugged. We stuffed ourselves into the space, carefully folding our legs and arms between the guys’ shins and resting our backs against the seat in front of us. We had no choice but to squish against each other, shoulder-to-shoulder and hip-to-hip, and I was blushing from head-to-toe by the time we got into place.
“Hope we all remembered to brush our teeth this morning,” Dean said brightly, stretching his arms out across the other three guys. The whole bus laughed.
“It’ll be six hours of luxury,” Tammy chirped, earning an even bigger laugh from the group. Laughter comes easily when you’re as excited about what you’re about to do as we were.
As soon as we hit the highway, I knew why Lisa got picked to drive. This should be a six-hour trip, but at the rate we’ve been speeding past the traffic on I-5, we’ll be south of L.A. by lunch.
“Are you staying over?” Tammy asked me as Lisa whipped across two lanes to pass a tractor-trailer.
I shook my head, gripping the seat behind me. “I promised Mom I’d be back tonight. You’re staying?”
“Yeah, we’re crashing with a friend of Leonard’s in Pasadena. There’s another bus heading back Sunday. Lisa and Alex and some of the others have pieces in an art show tomorrow down there, and they got permission for me to show a piece, too. That’s it right there.” She pointed to the enormous trash-bag-wrapped rectangle.