Free The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson Page A

appetizer section.”
    “Good to see nothing’s changed,” Nina’s mom said with a laugh. Her mom always laughed at Avery’s little comments. Avery had always been Avery—a little cranky, observant, wry. Avery was like that when she was
eight
, giving running monologues, entertaining the grown-ups. Mel had always been the sweet, shy one everyone said was cute. And Nina was the laugher, the talker, the planner. The loudest voice.
    So why didn’t she feel like it was the same? Why did she feel like she wasn’t even here, like this wasn’t her life?
    Because she had a
life
with Steve. They had lived together, and done routine things together. They saw each other first thing in the morning in the hallway. (Sometimes they had their first kiss before Nina even had a chance to brush her teeth.) They’d meet up after Nina had her run and Steve had his morning ride, and they’d go to breakfast and microeconomics together. They sat side by side in class, and when it was over, they figured out when they would meet for dinner, since they had different afternoon schedules.
    In the evening, they’d spend way too long at the dining hall with the other people from their floor. Steve would always watch Nina’s big plastic cup, jumping up to refill it with water or diet soda whenever it got low. Someone would point this out and make a remark about it. These ranged from the nice comments about being the perfect couple, to the not entirely joking remarks about Steve being whipped, usually from one of the guys. (But he
wasn’t
whipped. He was just unbelievably attentive. He was the best kind of abnormal, and those guys just didn’t know how to take that. She always blew these remarks off, but they bothered her. She didn’t like the idea that anyone thought she was ordering Steve around.)
    Her soda was low now. And as obsessed as their waiter was with refilling their water, he didn’t take the same interest in the other glasses.
    Right about now, just as it was starting to get dark, they’d usually be having their nightly discussion about whose room they were going to work in. This depended on whether Steve’s roommateMike or Strange Ashley were around. Sometimes they’d walk into town, to the place that sold both the regular and the soy ice cream, or they’d end up out in the hall, playing textbook hockey (a sport that was developed early on). Then there were the few, amazing nights when Ashley was gone and Steve had stayed with her….
    It was too much to think about. Nina stared at the lemon cake that had just been stuck in front of her and tried to look interested in Avery’s story of how she’d managed to convince a couple of her customers that nachos were a genuine Irish food developed during the potato famine.
    Everything was the same for Mel and Avery. They’d stayed here. They’d keep working during school, just switching their hours around. Nina was not the same, and she didn’t know how to explain that Steve affected every part of her day, and that now she was away from him, she wasn’t actually sure if she could breathe.
    She took a moment and forced a deep, even breath from her abdomen. It didn’t help. She took another.
    “You in labor?” Avery asked, cocking an eyebrow.
    Nina’s mom paused with a spoonful of sorbet halfway to her mouth, obviously trying to figure out if jokes about pregnancy were funny or not.
    “I’m just so happy to see you,” Nina said, steadying herself and forcing a wry smile. “I can barely breathe.”
    “Yeah,” Avery replied. “I have that effect.”

11
    Stickboy
,
    Back twelve hours and already busy. Everything feels off
.
    I just did the math, and guess what? If we arrive at Stanford this time next year, then we will be back together in 8,736 hours. I know that sounds like a lot, but I always feel better when I have exact figures and know what I’m up against. Besides, we can watch the number go down every day and feel a real sense of progress
.
    Do you know how much