Lymber craft's Arc

Chapter 61 of 70

Wednesday after school, Violetta came in through the front door and slammed it. Lymber was at the kitchen counter cutting apples for Missy. She heard the backpack hit the stairs and then the crying start, the loud kind Violetta usually hid behind her bedroom door. Lymber set the knife down and went to the hall. Violetta was on the third step with her face in her hands. Her mascara ran in two black lines. She said Vinnie broke up with her at lunch in front of everyone. Lymber sat down beside her on the step. She did not touch her yet. She waited. Violetta wiped her face on her sleeve and said he told her he liked someone else and it was fine and she didn't even care. Then she said she cared. Then she said the worst part was Jordie Daniels. Lymber asked who Jordie Daniels was. Violetta said the boy with the black hair who sat behind her in math. She said he had walked her to her locker after and asked if she was okay, and she had said yes, and now she couldn't stop thinking about him, and she felt sick because Vinnie had only broken up with her two hours ago and she was already picturing someone else's face. Lymber thought about what her own mother would have said. Polly would have told her to fix her makeup and go back to school tomorrow like nothing happened. Lymber did not want to say that. She said, you're allowed to like someone else. She said, it doesn't mean you didn't like Vinnie. Violetta looked at her. Lymber said, but you don't have to do anything about Jordie right now. You can wait a week. You can wait a month. He'll still sit behind you in math. Violetta laughed a little through the crying. Then she leaned against Lymber's shoulder and stayed there. Lymber put her arm around her and felt Violetta's ribs move under the tank top. They sat on the step until Missy called from the kitchen about the apples. Lymber told Violetta to wash her face and come eat. Violetta went upstairs. Lymber stood up and pressed her hand against the wall to steady herself. The turn in her stomach came again, sharper this time, low and to the left. She stood still and counted to ten. It was not the cake. She walked to the kitchen and finished cutting the apples and slid the plate to Missy. Then she went to her office and closed the door and locked it. She sat at the desk. She opened the bottom drawer where she kept the box of tests she had bought months ago for no reason and never used. She took one out and set it on the desk in front of her.