Kylie Cantrall's Arc

Chapter 28 of 78

Kylie climbed out of the pool dripping and awake. She had found one thing she wanted. Now she wanted to give Arianna something back. All year Kylie had only guessed at what Arianna liked, pulling clues from old letters. The letters told her about grilled cheese and lemon cake. They never told her what Arianna wanted for herself, right now, on this ship. So Kylie decided to stop guessing. She toweled off and sat beside Arianna at the pool's edge. The puppy dozed in Arianna's lap. "Your turn," Kylie said. "You made me name a want. Now you name one. I don't want to guess it from a letter. I want you to tell me." Arianna laughed. "You're stealing my move." "I'm learning it," Kylie said. "Come on. One thing. Just for you." Arianna looked up at the ship. Its bright hull rose above them, painted in bold stripes of color, all gold trim and stacked decks. She was quiet a while. Kylie waited. She did not fill the silence with a plan. That was the hard part, and she held it. "The top deck," Arianna said finally. "I keep looking up at it. I want to stand at the very front, where the ship cuts the water. No cameras. No dog. Just wind." Kylie's chest tightened. She almost said she'd arrange it, book it, make it perfect. She stopped. "Then let's go find it," she said. "Right now. However it turns out." They left the puppy with the steward. They took the elevator up past deck after deck. At the top the wind hit hard and cold. The front of the ship narrowed to a point, and the sea opened huge and gray below. Arianna walked to the rail and gripped it. Her hair blew straight back. She was not performing for anyone. Kylie stood one step behind and watched her want something out loud, for once, and get it. "This is mine," Arianna said, half shouting over the wind. "It's yours," Kylie said. They stayed until they were cold through. Kylie had not planned a single second of it. She had asked, and listened, and let Arianna choose. It was a small thing, a windy rail and no schedule. But she had given Arianna a real want instead of a guessed one, and that had never happened between them. Going down, Arianna leaned into her in the elevator. "We should do this every day," she said. "One want each. Trade them." "Deal," Kylie said. Then she felt the old worry return. She could name wants now, and hear them. But the fifteenth was coming. Their week had a bottom edge. Soon the label, her mother, and the whole loud world would want their turn. Kylie wondered how much of this quiet they could keep once the ship reached port.