Free The Ocean by Mia Castile

they had liked her a lot when she’d visited me in summers past. Then I wrote Mitchel .
    Mitchell,
    School is going well. I’m sorry I haven’t called. We are getting settled in. The first thing we did was paint our bedrooms. We’ve been driving Oliver’s old truck around. They call it Bessie, but I call it The Green Monster. Alex is really excited about the game. I will tell him you’ll be rooting for him.
    I hope that you will reconsider selling the house if only for just a little bit. We have a lot of memories there. I know I speak for Alex, too, when I say that we were hoping to have it to come home to when we visit. I understand how hard it is though. I miss my mom so much, and being here has dredged up so many memories that I’m having trouble dealing with. We miss you too, and I promise I will call soon.
    Love
    -Gia
    My arrow hovered over the SEND button. I wondered if I should talk to Alex first. I was pretty sure he’d feel the same way that I did. I hit the SEND
    button anyway. Then I typed up an outline for my paper. I saw the note poking out of my bag. I wanted to read it, but I decided to reward myself with it after homework. Final y, I attacked my math homework. It was a surprise attack and I defeated my enemy. I figured I made some mistakes though; algebra wasn’t my strongest subject. I was on my last problem, also contemplating dinner, when my phone rang. It was Alex.
    “Do you need me to come get you today?” Of course, I didn’t say hel o first.
    “No, we’re going through a drive through. What do you want?”
    “You know me, cheeseburger and fries.” I smiled because he didn’t need to ask and was probably just giving me warning.
    “Sounds good. See you in fifteen.” I hung up the phone and began to clear my books, put them in my bag, and carry it and my laptop upstairs. I put my laptop on my dresser and surveyed myself. My hair stil hung pretty much in place. I had to put a curling mousse in it to get it to stay in loose curls every day. But if I didn’t bother it, it pretty much stayed there the whole day and was stil soft to the touch. My face was shiny though. I went to the bathroom and washed it with cleanser. I came back and lightly applied eye shadow and mascara. I looked at my jeans again and sighed.
    “I’m sorry, Mom,” I whispered. Suddenly my heart felt warm, and I felt that she had forgiven me and understood. I heard the front door bang as they came in.
    “Gia must be upstairs,” Alex said.
    “I’l get her,” Travis replied.
    “I bet you wil ,” Alex cal ed after him, and Travis came stomping up the stairs. I came to the door as he rounded the corner, and we were face to face. He stepped back as I reached for the doorknob.
    “Is that your room?” He looked around me as I pul ed the door shut.
    “Yes, is the food here?” I stepped past him to descend the stairs. He fol owed.
    “Yes.” We came down to Alex separating the food among us. I got condiments, and we al sat down to eat. They fil ed me in on the latest prank that Chiz and Brandon had played on the freshmen. They didn’t real y laugh about it, but agreed that it was the right of passage to be part of the team.
    “I’m just glad that I’m not part of the team. I don’t think I’d be very happy,” I said. Travis looked confused.
    “Gia doesn’t do wel with surprises. Last year, her best friends back in Indy threw her a surprise birthday party. She pouted al night,” Alex told Travis.
    “I just don’t see the point. I can help plan it and know what’s going on.”
    “She’s sort of a control freak about stuff like that,” he told him, ignoring me. Travis laughed. “Just warning you about what you’re getting yourself into,” Alex added. I stiffened.
    Alex cleaned up his wrappers and threw them away. He climbed the stairs and told Travis, “Later.” Travis finished and cleared his wrappers. He sat back down and waited on me to finish.
    “Two nights in a row; I could get used to