A Blossom of Bright Light by Suzanne Chazin Page B

November 1. Luna could tell he was frustrated that she hadn’t submitted her paperwork. It was too exhausting and embarrassing to explain why.
    The hallway had started to thin out by the time Luna grabbed her backpack and made her way to the buses. It was an odd feeling to be in your childhood and aware that it was almost over. She wasn’t ready for it to end.
    She’d been going to school in Lake Holly since she was in second grade. She knew it wasn’t cool to say you liked school, but she really did. She liked the way her principal, Dr. Larkin, greeted all the kids by name in the mornings and announced everyone’s birthdays over the PA. She liked the way the gym floors gleamed when the sun struck them at just the right angle. She liked going out with her friends at recess and sitting under the three enormous maple trees by the soccer field. Lake Holly High was built in 1957 when those trees were much smaller. The original builder had nailed the school’s chain-link fence to their trunks. Now those trunks were so huge, they encased the fence. Luna was sure there were nice schools in Queens. But they’d never have trees like those—and her friends would never be sitting under them at recess, waiting for her.
    She’d really wanted to sing that Beyoncé duet with Grace in the talent show.
    She’d really wanted to get into that summer science honors program.
    Outside, Luna hefted her backpack over her shoulder and scanned the row of yellow school buses for the one that would take her to La Casa. She heard her brother calling her name.
    â€œMateo. What are you doing here?” Mateo and Dulce were in the elementary school about a mile down the road.
    â€œPapi’s in the car,” Mateo said breathlessly. “He wants us to come with him.”
    â€œIs something wrong?” Luna felt a panicked squeeze in her gut.
    â€œPapi’s court date has been moved to Thursday.”
    â€œ This Thursday?” Three days more as a family. Three days! She felt light-headed and queasy.
    â€œPapi spoke to Mr. Gonzalez, and he told him to come over right away,” said Mateo. “Papi didn’t want to have to worry about picking us up later from La Casa, so we’re going with him.”
    Luna’s father looked pale and hunched when she got into the car.
    â€œI’m hungry,” Dulce whined in back. Papi hadn’t thought to bring anything to eat. He probably ran out of the house in a panic when he got the news. His hair was still wet from a shower. Luna fished around in her backpack for half a roll of Life Savers that Lindsay had given her earlier in the day. She tossed them in back to Dulce.
    â€œSuck them, don’t chew them. They’ll stick to your teeth and give you cavities.” She sounded like Mami.
    Her father eased his brown Chevy past the school buses and out of the parking lot.
    â€œWhy did they move up the court date?” asked Luna.
    â€œI don’t know,” he said. “Mr. Katz called me, and I called Señor Gonzalez and Señora Figueroa about it right away. The señor was working from home today. He told me to drive to his house and Mr. Katz would be there too.”
    â€œDo you think they can do anything?”
    Papi looked straight ahead without answering. Lately he’d been wrapping their possessions in newspaper and packing them into cardboard cartons. His stuff mostly. But some of theirs as well. Luna knew that’s what he did all day when they were in school.
    â€œMaybe we should point the car to California and just keep going.” Luna said the words half-jokingly, though she couldn’t deny that the possibility had crossed her mind.
    â€œI have the ankle monitor, Mija . I wouldn’t get ten miles. And they’d lock me up for certain after that.” From the way Papi said it, Luna knew that the idea had occurred to him too.
    He shot a glance at Dulce and Mateo in the rearview mirror.