The Rockstar Chronicles

Packing

Sunday afternoon was long and lazy. I spent the morning reading and cleaning up my room at Mom’s insistence. Little did I know, she was planning another attack.

“Lindy? Lindy?” Her voice echoed down the hall.

“What?” I asked, not moving. I knew it was risky to be so rude, but I wanted her to know I was still unhappy with her.

“Lindy! Come here. Right now.”

Uh oh, I thought, her office. She stood in the doorway, beckoning me to follow her inside. My thoughts went crazy. Dad betrayed me… I left evidence… she knows!

But when I entered the room, she wasn’t sitting behind her desk, cool and calm, like I had expected. Instead, she was kneeling in front of the closet, tugging at a suitcase. Her blonde hair was escaping from her ponytail and she blew it out of her eyes impatiently.

Grady was in the corner, stacking luggage into three piles. Three piles!

He looked at me, shrugged helplessly, and I knew.

“Mom?” I asked. She heard the warning in my voice.

“Oh, seriously, Lindy,” she said, straightening up and slapping her hands against her legs. She pushed the loose hair out of her face, glaring at me. “Did you think you were staying here?”

“I can’t miss school!” I protested.

“I’ve already called and arranged it,” Mom said. She pulled out the suitcase and stood, handing it to Grady.

We all three stared at our individual piles of luggage. It was one thing we were all in agreement on. We hated packing.

“How long should we pack for?” Grady asked. He nudged a pile with his shoe and it toppled, sending luggage raining down.

“A week,” Mom said. I started to protest, but I got the death glare from her.

“So how is school going to work?” I grumbled.

“We’ll switch to online.” Mom is smart, I’ll give her that. She enrolled us in a new school program that allowed online classes when needed. I knew a few kids were already attending my school virtually. The thing about it was, they usually only allowed the change to virtual schooling on a long-term basis.

“So we’ll be back in a week?” I asked.

“Well, we’ll see when the time comes. Just pack lots and lots of mix and match outfits and we’ll buy anything else we need there.”

Me and Grady exchanged a look. We’re not coming back in a week, are we? I telegraphed to him with my face.

I wouldn’t count on it, his expression said back.

I lifted a suitcase with a sigh.

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