Thirteen Years Ago
SULLY
There was no school today.
Which was great because I hated school.
I wasn’t like Blake, Natalie, or Theo, who I swore to God got off on studying. And I wasn’t like Noah, who was good enough at other shit that he could get away with not studying.
I mean, I got away with not studying, too. For the most part, I didn’t really need to study to get A’s. But my A’s didn’t matter when I got in trouble for fucking off in the back of class because I was so bored out of my mind that I didn’t know how to keep my mouth shut for one more minute.
So anyway, I hated school, but that wasn’t the reason I was so happy that it was canceled today.
The skies opened up and dumped a good nine inches of snow on us overnight, which was that sweet spot in Minnesota winters.
Enough snow that they actually called a snow day—any less and we’d probably be fighting our way through slushy streets to get to class—but not too much snow that it was a hazard to go outside.
Sublime. Perfection. Maple Street was a sea of white, the image of a snow globe all shaken up.
I didn’t care about having school off for the same reasons that other kids cared. I hated school, but what I hated the very most about it? The fact that Eleanor Summers wasn’t there.
The girl I thought about when my brain couldn’t concentrate on the Pythagorean theorem for another second.
The girl I had to go without for eight hours every day because she just had to be born a year earlier than me.
Or rather, because my mom just had to birth Noah before she birthed me.
I hated that Noah came home from school and told me things about Ellie—things I should know, should be there to witness myself. A home run in PE. An aced quiz in Chem. A lopsided mug in Pottery.
But there was no school today.
No separation.
I was already running across the street, jumping the snow piles that had formed on the sides of the roads from the plows.
“Eleanor!” I yelled up at her window before packing a ball of snow in my palms and lobbing it up at the second story of the house. “Wake up!”
I only had to wait a second before her window creaked open, and a bleary-eyed Ellie stuck her head out.
Snowflakes dotted her dark hair.
She looked like a fucking angel.
“What the hell, Sawyer?”
My stomach warmed despite the chill in the air.
God, I liked her.
I liked her so much, and I had no idea what to do about it outside of the obvious, which was just to try to spend every available, waking moment I had with her.
“Come on!” I called.
“Come on where?”
“I’m sorry, are you new to the concept of snow days?”
“I’m sorry, are you new to the concept of sleeping in?” she countered, rubbing her eyes.
Suddenly, I had the urge to scale her house, climb in through her window, and watch her go back to sleep.
Was that creepy?
I didn’t know.
I didn’t care.
I was so screwed.
“On snow days, you are basically contractually obligated to do one winter activity before going inside and drinking hot cocoa by the fire. Didn’t you know, El?”
She laughed. It sparkled like the snow in her hair.
“Which winter activity are we doing today, Sawyer?” she asked, like she was resigned to the idea. Maybe even excited for it.
“Well, I cleared a portion of the pond to skate.”
“Already?” She laughed again. Magic. “I don’t even have skates.”
“Natalie has extras! And don’t worry, I already woke her with a snowball, too.”
“Oh my God.” Ellie shook her head, smiling. “Okay, I’ll be down in a bit.”
“Sounds good.” I grinned back at her. “I’ll be waiting.”
I would wait.
And wait and wait and wait for as long as it took for Eleanor Summers.