Remember to Forget, Revised and Expanded by Ashley Royer Page B

slowed
down as we walked.
    I nervously rub my nose and shrug.
    â€œI won’t tell Aiden about what happened back there if you don’t want him to know.”
    I nod my head. It’s good to know that she won’t share that with him. I don’t want
everyone to treat me like a child.
    I turn my phone on, and multiple texts and missed calls from my dad immediately pop
up. I type something on my phone and press speak. “Can you tell me something funny?”
    Delilah looks over at me. “What?”
    â€œTell me a funny story.” I want something to keep my mind from thinking about Delia
and getting upset again. I think Delilah realizes that, so she starts to talk.
    â€œUmm . . . Okay, I got one,” she says, a small smile growing on her face. “In second
grade, we had a dinosaur play. And of course I had a solo. You’ll never guess what
I was.”
    I look over at her with raised eyebrows. She looks so cute.
    She giggles a little and starts talking again. “I was the baby dinosaur. I had to
come out of this giant paper egg—it was huge. I sang this song in a high-pitched
voice, and then I was born . Like, I had to literally jump out of the egg. So I jumped
up to be born, and as I sprang up, I stepped on my costume. Well, it ripped in half
and fell down to my ankles! Thankfully, I had clothes on underneath. People teased
me all the time about it. It was so embarrassing! I even had a huge binky around
my neck and a giant bonnet.” Her cheeks are slightly red, and she covers her face
with her hands. “It was horrible! I didn’t know what to do. I looked behind the curtains
at my teacher, who told me to continue. I heard all the kids behind me gasp!” she
says, her voice muffled.
    I can only imagine this happening. I wish I had been there to see it. I smile as
I imagine it.
    â€œHey, you have a dimple,” Delilah says, poking my cheek.
    I roll my eyes and swat her hand away, trying not to smile any wider.
    â€œI’ve never seen you smile before,” she whispers.
    I shrug and continue walking.
    Delilah’s right, though; she’s never seen me smile. Barely anyone has these past
few months.
    Aiden and my dad pull up to the house at almost the exact same time we get there.
My dad runs out of his car and pulls me into a tight hug.
    â€œDon’t ever scare me like that again,” he says. “Do you know how worried I was?”
    I notice that his hands are shaking slightly. I didn’t think he’d care if I was gone
for a few hours.
    â€œThank you for finding him, Delilah. And thanks for your help, Aiden. I don’t know
what I would’ve done without you guys,” my dad says.
    â€œNo problem!” Aiden says. “I’m happy Levi’s all right.”
    â€œYeah, same here,” Delilah says. “You guys want some alone time?”
    â€œThat’d be great,” my dad says.
    â€œOkay. I’ll see you later, Levi,” Delilah says, waving as she walks away with Aiden.
    I could’ve sworn I saw some sadness in her smile as she left. Maybe I’m wrong, as
I don’t know why she’d be sad.
    My dad tells me we have to talk, which I was expecting. We go inside and sit down
at the table, and he has a stern look on his face. He asks me what I knew he would
ask.
    â€œWhy did you leave?” he says.
    I write down everything that happened. I let him know what was going on in my mind.
I tell him I needed to be alone in order to figure some things out. I had been thinking
a lot about Australia and Delia, and especially moving to Maine. I felt trapped and
just needed some time to sort my thoughts. I was feeling flustered and anxious about
everything, so I decided to leave. Figured that maybe I would feel better if I was
gone for a little. It feels good to let it all out for once. I leave out the part
about it being two hundred and ten days since Delia died.
    Although he didn’t say too much, he