The Meadow 71 “You call for an Uber er what, Miss?” he yells in a thick New Mexican accent. I slump into the passenger seat and he gives me a tentative smile. “Hey, at least your car isn’t worth much. She probably won’t try to sell it.” I groan. “Netflix and queso?” he asks and I nod. Today is Sunday, so it’s my Friday. I have to open with her. I wake up early and agonize over what to wear, but in the end, I settle on a basic green button-down shirt and black pinstripe pants. I leave her hat on my pillow. The back door to the library opens before I can even put the key in the lock. I brush past Lupita to my locker. She hovers behind me, a static electricity running up and down my back. “Will you just say whatever it is?” I open my locker and shove my purse inside. When I turn around, her eyes are on the floor. “I’m sorry,” she whispers. All of my anger deflates at her expression. “Hey,” I say, standing up, taking her face in my hands. “I understand.” I don’t really, but what else is there to say? At the end of the day, regardless of whatever she actually wants, she’s going to play the part of a the good girl and please her parents. I kiss her, a gesture of goodbye, acceptance, I think, but her mouth responds with such hunger that I forget Danny even exists. So does she, I guess, because the next thing I know we’re in Katherine’s office, and she’s sitting on the desk beckoning me to her. After, I kiss her forehead and leave her there, crying, because I know this can’t go on. I’m going to ask for a transfer. Clouds cast pockets of shadow on the Sandias, as though the two are conspiring together, concealing secrets. Some people
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