Free Everything by Jeri Williams Page B

said, laughing and pushing her off playfully, “I won’t miss those hugs. But I will miss you, kid. Take care of your sister while I’m gone. You know how she can get sometimes.”
    “Pfft, I totally got this,” Aria said.
      I just rolled my eyes.
    “Okay, well, I’ll go wait in the car. I don’t want to witness two old people cry—talk about awkward .” She barely made it to the door before the yearbook was tossed at her.
    “Old,” muttered Tina mockingly.
    “You know how she is,” I said by way of explanation. I went and sat down next to her on the bed, and she handed me a box. “What’s this?” I asked. With raised eyebrows, I opened the box and saw that it was a silver chain with a small shovel attached to it. The shovel was like the kind found in a preschool sandbox...I looked up at her and smiled. Leave it to Tina to do something annoyingly caring.
    “Whatever. I was feeling epic. I have one too. Don’t make a big deal about it.” She waved her hand in the air to play it off.
    “Does this mean you’re my pimp now?” I joked. “Do pimps get their hos jewelry?”
    “Only if they want them to bring in the big-time money, so I better start seeing some big-time money soon!”
    “I’ll get right on that,” I stated mockingly as I rolled my eyes and put on my necklace.
    “So I hope I meet some cute Miami bo—”
    I slammed into her with a fierce hug and held on tight. This was how I wanted to leave things: us laughing and making stupid jokes—no crying, no sad good-byes. She seemed to understand as she hugged me back tightly and didn’t say a word. We sat like that for about three minutes. Then, like nothing, I got up and went to the door.
    “Love you, bitch.” It came out like I wasn’t saying good-bye to my best friend for what would be the last time in this room.
    “Later,” she said, like her voice wasn’t thick with emotion.  
    I went downstairs and passed the empty hallway and out the door without really looking. I didn’t want to remember this house that I practically lived in over the years, being as empty as it was now. I wanted to remember everything as it once was.
    “Are you okay, sissy?” Aria asked in a small voice as I got in the car.
    “Yeah.” I let out a loud sigh. “I will be.”
    “It’ll be okay,” Aria said, tilting her head to the side and giving me a sad look.  
    I gave her a smile back. It would be okay. After all, it was just a move. I could handle a move.

Chapter 4

    I found that adjusting to life without Tina was just that—adjusting. Now, instead of me seeing her every day, it was me texting her every day. A lot . Thank god for unlimited text messaging. It made life without her more bearable.  
    Her new life in Miami was going well. Turns out, there were tons of Adam Rodriguezes in her classes, and she already had a study session lined up to get “caught up” on what she missed. When I asked her what she could have possibly missed the whole first week of school besides the syllabus notes, I got a smiley face reply back.  
    I filled her in on Opal: The Untold Story , as promised, and she still ate it like Nutella on toast, even by text. Opal was still Opal. Not better, but not worse, and Tina had gotten a good laugh when I told her how Opal had told me to tell Tina, “Stay away from that ol’ red lipstick while in Mi-ama ’cause red lipstick is the hussies’ color and Tina ain’t no hussy, but if she put on that ol’ red lipstick, she would be one.” Tina told me she was actually wearing “the red lipstick,” to which I replied, “Hussy.”
    That’s how our conversations went. It was like she was here, but she wasn’t. She sent me pictures of Miami and her new house, which was colorful and big. I could see the appeal and why people left Shaddy Groves. It was beautiful in Miami, with the lush trees and the beaches and so many shops and different things to do.  
    Aria was settling in to her new life of a college student pretty well,