"I don't think we can do two rooms. The tree is big, but not that big."
Sameen pointed out the window. "We could do two rooms if we build vertically."
Root laid back on the bed, content to let Sameen and the boys argue about how to build their treehouse. They wanted to build it over Winter Break. It was about a week before Thanksgiving and Root hadn't decided if she was going to try to make Thanksgiving for her mother. Would her mother even be home?
She felt bad about spending so much time at Sameen's sometimes. She couldn't take care of her mother as much as she used to, but it didn't seem to have made much of a difference. As long as she was home enough to steal money to pay the bills, it didn't seem to matter what she did. Root had been taking care of her mother for years now and she deserved a break.
"What do you think, Root?" Lionel asked her from the window.
Root sat up and shrugged. "I can make a 3D model on my computer and come up with some plans."
"Sweet," Lionel held out his fist for a bump. "You're really good with computers, huh?"
Root and Sameen laughed. Root was more than really good with computers.
Sameen crossed her arms. "Remember that test you had a few weeks ago? That you thought you'd failed?"
"Yeah," Lionel shrugged, "so what? I did better than expected."
"No, you didn't. Root changed your grade for you so they wouldn't call Mrs. Reese."
Lionel looked at Root with wide eyes. "You hacked into the school?"
"Into the school's grading system, yes," Root confirmed, smiling. "I have to look out for my friends."
Lionel jumped forward, throwing his arms around Root and knocking her to the bed. "Thank you!"
"Lionel, get off her!" Sameen grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him off Root. She pushed him towards the window. "Weirdo."
Lionel stuck his tongue out. John stuck his head out of the window, craning his neck to look at the sky.
"Hey, I think it's going to rain," he said, holding his arm out.
Mrs. Reese walked into the room, pulling her raincoat on. "Kids, Hurricane Samuel changed course. It's going to make landfall in a couple of hours. We need to get some supplies. Root, honey, do you need to get things from home?"
Root jumped off the bed, panicking. She hadn't prepared her house at all. She'd been so busy with her friends and Science Bowl that she didn't do her normal hurricane season prep. She started grabbing her things.
"I have to go home! We're not ready!"
Mrs. Reese stepped into the room, pulling Root's arm, making her face her. "Honey, calm down. You kids can take my car." She looked at John. "Get those spare containers from the office. You can help Root pack up. The car keys are on the hook."
John nodded and gestured for Lionel to follow him. Sameen put Root's wallet and keys into her pockets and nodded to Mrs. Reese.
"I'm going to go to the store with Grace. Call me if you need anything." Mrs. Reese said, letting go of Root.
She led them downstairs and handed Sameen some money before leaving the house. Root stood in the hallway not sure what to do. Sameen ran into the kitchen and came back with a box of trashbags and a roll of duct tape. She handed Root a raincoat and led her outside. Root looked up at the rapidly darkening sky, pulling the raincoat on. Hopefully they could be back before the storm started.
"Come on!" John called over the wind, waving the girls to the car.
Lionel was putting the last of the plastic tubs into the truck of Mrs. Reese's Escalade. Sameen opened the passenger seat for Root, waited for her to step in and shut the door. Root stared out the windshield, her stomach heavy.
It was bad enough all her friends knew she was poor, but now they were going to see the inside of her house. She should be grateful that they were so willing to help her, but she just wanted to tell them to wait outside.
John asked her for her address and they sped off. Root watched the town race by and remembered that she should call her mom.
She pulled out her phone and dialed her mom's cell. There was no answer. Root looked through her contacts, pulling up the number for Hersch's, the bar where her mother worked. Nobody answered there either. Root sighed and dropped her phone into the cup holder.
Should she look for her mother if she wasn't in the house? What would happen if her mom got caught outside, drunk, when the hurricane hit? Root sighed heavily and dropped her head back against the seat. She was going to prep her house as best she could and that would have to be enough.
The car slowed and Root blinked, surprised. She had lost track of the time. She opened her car door and circled to the back of the car.
"Go on in," John said, nodding to the house. "You should do a quick inventory of what you think should be packed away. We'll use the trash bags to cover windows and then push all the furniture to the center of the room."
Root shrugged. "There's not a lot to move, but sounds like a plan. Thanks."
She caught the keys Sameen tossed to her and started towards the house. Hopping onto the porch, Root looked down at the steps next to her. She turned back to the car.
"Don't use the stairs, just hop up." She winced as they studied the rotting steps and looked away.
She unlocked the house, pushing the door open and slipping a shoe underneath to hold it open. Walking down the hallway, she felt like she was seeing the house for the first time. Every dirty floorboard and stained wall weighed on her. She turned right into the living room and felt nauseous.
It smelled like cigarettes and bourbon, like something had died. This was where her mother normally slept, what her mother smelled like. There was only a couch and broken TV in the living room. The empty space mocked her and reminded her of her father's absence.
Root had sold almost all the furniture in her house to keep them out of foreclosure. They were close to owning the house, only a few payments left. She moved to the dining room, staring at the dirty walls. Squares of clean wallpaper pointed out every piece of artwork she'd sold. Her mother used to love hanging pictures of lakes and birds, an oasis in the desert.
She heard her friends come through the door and stepped through a doorway arch to the main hall, wiping her face. At some point, she'd started crying. She smiled at them.
"Um, there isn't too much to pack away. I'll take a couple boxes up to my room, if you guys could start on the windows?"
The boys nodded and Sameen took a few containers from John and followed Root up the stairs. The boys moved to the kitchen to start covering the windows. Root led Sameen to her room, finding the key on her ring to unlock the door. She pushed it open, the usual squeak of the hinges sounding like thunder.
"I want to, uh, pack my electronics," Root said, pushing her hair behind her ear nervously. "And the books."
Sameen nodded, looking around the room silently, her face neutral. Root didn't have to read her to know what she was thinking. She was thinking that Root's house was disgusting and she wanted to reconsider their friendship.
"I like your bedspread," Sameen commented, putting the containers down and separating them. "Where'd you get it? I want one."
Root glanced at her sheets. They were galaxy print, dark and purple. She'd found them in a dumpster a few years ago.
"Target," she lied, stacking the pieces of her computer-in-progress and carefully putting them into a container.
They worked in silence. Sameen packed away Root's books and rolled up her posters. Root gathered her electronics and packed them away. When everything was put away, Root grabbed the last empty tub and laid on the floor next to her bed. She started pulling out her food collection of energy bars, cereal, crackers, tuna fish, and dropping them in.
She tried to ignore the feeling of Sameen's eyes on her back. She wondered if Sameen was thinking back to a few months ago, before their friendship, when they'd run into each other at the store. Root had been buying supplies.
Root sat up, looking into the tub. She smiled up at Sameen. "Mrs. Reese shouldn't have bothered shopping. I'm basically a one girl hurricane supply center."
Sameen didn't smile back. She just kept looking at Root with dark, impassive eyes. Root scowled.
"I don't need your pity, Sameen." She jerked the plastic lid off the bed and slammed it onto her box, popping all the sides in.
"I don't pity you. I admire your strength."
"Well, stop it." Root glared at her. "I don't like being looked at like I'm pathetic."
Sameen looked away, her face unchanging. "I'm going to put these boxes in your closet."
Root nodded, watching her slide the first box in. She remembered something and climbed across the bed.
"Hold on, I need to grab something."
Sameen stopped and let her go into the closet. Root moved the box out of the way and knelt, wiggling up a floorboard. She pulled out shoebox. It was full of her memories of Hanna and her dad. She never looked at them, but she couldn't bring herself to throw them away.
She stepped out of the closet and nodded to Sameen, crossing the room to her desk. She put the box down and slid the desk forward a couple of feet. Squeezing behind it, she squatted down and pulled the back panel off one side. She grabbed her box of spare cash and pushed the panel back.
The boys walked into the room as she was standing.
"We finished the other rooms," John said, tossing the box of trash bags and tape onto Root's bed. "Any boxes you're bringing back to our place? Lionel and I can bring them down if you'll do this window."
"Just these two," Root gestured to her box of food and the box holding her computer project. "Thanks."
The boys nodded and picked up the boxes. Root watched them leave her room and sighed. If anything happened to her house, she didn't know what she'd do. They obviously couldn't afford any repairs.
Sameen picked up the roll of bags from the bed and started covering Root's window. Root pulled a duffel bag out from under her bed and threw some clothing inside. She slid the box of memories and the box of money inside. If she pretended like this was a normal sleepover, maybe everything would be ok.
"Ready?" Sameen asked, standing by the door. She was holding Root's favorite stuffed animal, a black vampire bat. She noticed Root looking at it and held it up, shaking it. "You didn't tell me about your friend here."
Root laughed, throwing her bag over her shoulder. "It's not exactly cool to sleep with a stuffed animal."
Sameen rolled her eyes and led the way downstairs. "You don't care about being cool."
"What if I did?" Root asked, closing the front door behind her and handing her bag to Sameen so she could lock it.
"Well, I wouldn't have joined Science Bowl for starters," Sameen said. "I would have joined the soccer team."
Root pushed her off the porch, giggling. They got into the car and started back to the house. The sky had darkened while they were at Root's house, looking almost black despite it only being 4 o'clock.
They pulled up to the house just as Mrs. Reese was unlocking the door, her arms full of supplies. Lionel ran to help her as John and the girls got Root's stuff out of the car. They went inside, starting up the stairs. Mrs. Reese came out of the kitchen and stopped them.
"Leave that in the living room for now, we need to get ready." She instructed, pulling her raincoat off. "John, Lionel, you two start pulling the shutters closed. Girls, can you pull in the pool furniture?"
The kids nodded and split up. Root followed Sameen out into the screen-covered pool area. They dragged the chairs into the house, leaving them stacked in the small changing room. They were pulling the pool cover across the water when it started drizzling. Finishing as quickly as possible, they ran inside and made for the kitchen.
Mrs. Reese smiled at them pouring the last of a bag of ice into a cooler. "You girls done?"
"Yup," Sameen said, pulling two sodas out of the fridge. "Are the boys done?"
"We are," John answered, walking into the kitchen. "What now?"
Mrs. Reese shrugged. "Now we wait."
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Sameen glanced across the living room to look at Root, who had been staring down at the couch for almost half an hour. She wondered what was going through her head. Sameen had never been very good at reading people. It was usually ok, because Root was so expressive, but now, she looked…empty. That's the best word Sameen could think of to describe her.
Sameen looked back at the TV, picking at her blanket. They'd set up camp in the living room, rearranging the couches and laying down sleeping bags. Root had claimed the long couch, pouting until John volunteered to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag.
Sameen had offered to take the other sleeping bag, saying that Lionel would probably snore if he didn't sleep on the couch. Honestly, she slept on the floor for selfish reasons. The last time she'd slept on the couch had been at her own house, the night before she and her father had taken to the road on their trip. Sleeping on the floor eliminated any potential nightmare situation.
Sameen rolled onto her back, stretching her neck to watch The X-Files upside down. Root had brought her DVDs over a while back, so they could watch it on TV instead of her laptop. Usually, they watched it alone, but under the circumstances, they let the boys join in on their marathon.
"So, the guy is Scully and the girl is Mulder, right?" Lionel asked from his seat on the couch, using his phone as it charged.
"No," Sameen rolled her eyes. "The other way around."
"Huh," Lionel snorted. "But they're dating."
"Nope," John said, sitting on his sleeping bag.
"So, they spend…what season is this? Four years together and they don't date?"
Root finally spoke up. "They spend ten years together and don't date."
"That's crazy." Lionel squinted at his phone. "I couldn't wait that long. If you're friends and you like each other, just date!"
Sameen stopped herself from looking at Root, reminding herself that Root kissed Martine and not her. If Root liked her, she'd have said something. Root didn't hold anything back.
Sameen shrugged and turned back to the TV. "We should make those pizzas now before the power goes out."
She stood up and headed for the kitchen. Mrs. Reese was in her room, calling everyone she knew and making sure they were all ok. Sameen walked into the kitchen and turned the oven on to preheat; she made frozen pizza so often, she knew every step by heart.
She heard someone walk into the kitchen and looked up. Root smiled at her and hopped up onto the counter, stretching her legs out to rest her feet on the island. Sameen nodded to her and pulled three pizzas out. She unwrapped them and slid them into the oven, checking the time.
"How's it going?" she asked Root, looking at her finger nails.
"Fine," Root replied. "I love storms."
"I hate them," Sameen grumbled, leaning her arms on the island. "I used to hate the loud thunder, but now I just hate being trapped inside."
"I love the thunder. I love the way the sky gets dark and cloudy and the air feels charged. I always wanna run around in the rain."
"Well, you can do that. I'll sit on the porch with a towel," Sameen joked.
"Deal," Root laughed. She ran her eyes over Sameen. It made Sameen's stomach feel warm and she shifted uncomfortably.
"What?" Sameen asked, glancing at the time again. Only a few minutes left.
"Nothing," Root said, shaking her head. "Are you ever going to cut your hair?"
Sameen reached behind her back, playing with the end of her ponytail. Even tied up, her hair hung almost to her butt. She shrugged and opened a cabinet under the island. "Maybe. It's not really bothering me." She pulled out baking sheets and spread them out.
Root nodded and dropped her feet, lightly kicking against the counter's cabinets. "I might dye mine brown soon. Since the roots are coming in dark anyway."
Sameen nodded and turned to pull the pizzas out of the oven. "Do you want to do anything tonight? Besides X-Files?"
"Maybe. No real ideas."
Sameen put the pizzas on the tray and turned the oven off. "Come on, let's go check in with the boys."
Root jumped off the counter and followed her across the house. They walked into the living room just as the power went off. Mrs. Reese came out of her room holding a flashlight.
"You kids ok?" she asked.
"We're fine," Sameen said, taking the flashlight John handed her. "We just made pizza. They're cooling."
"Ok," Mrs. Reese said, smiling. "I'm going to bed. You kids have fun." She winked and turned around.
Sameen waited until her door shut and turned to the boys. "Hide and Seek?"
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The next morning, they were hanging out in Sameen's room, waiting for the all clear to go check on Root's house. The storm had lasted through the night, rattling trees and dropping power lines. School would probably be cancelled for the next few days, not that Sameen was complaining. She hoped they'd still be able to have their soccer game next weekend. It was the second qualifying match for Championships.
For now, Sameen was content to hang out at home with Root and the boys. They'd spent the night playing hide and seek and eating pizza. Well, the pizza had only lasted an hour or so, but the games had lasted all night. When they'd finally passed out, the storm was beginning to lessen.
Now, Root was snooping around while Sameen was attempting to draw various cryptids. They'd done a pretty good Nessie earlier. Sameen put a few more spikes on her drawing and stepped back from her chalkboard to survey her work.
"Tell me again," Sameen demanded, turning to find Root half under the bed. "The Chupacabra?"
"A fox, but also a fuzzy lizard, but also a vampire," was the muffled response. There was a dull thud and a muffled curse before Root's lower half started slithering backwards.
Sameen watched Root's slim shoulders appear, then her hair tie get pulled off as she pulled her head out from under the bed. Her hands were last, holding a black box. Sameen swallowed.
"What's this?" Root asked, putting it on the bed and pushed herself up to sit next to it. She blew off the box as she pulled her hair down.
Sameen shrugged and turned back to the chalkboard. "Nothing. Mementos."
She heard the scrape of cardboard and waited to see what Root was going to say. She wasn't a sentimental person, but she'd kept some pictures of her parents and an old medal her father had won in the army.
"Your mother is beautiful," Root said behind her. "Sorry, I know you don't like to talk about her."
Sameen turned around and tossed the chalk onto her desk. She moved to the bed and sat down, crossing her legs. Root held out the picture she was holding.
"She was really kind. That's what I remember the most. She never pressured me to be like other kids."
Root dug through the box. "Do…I pressure you?"
"What?" Sameen looked at her. "You pressure me to punch you."
Root laughed and snatched the picture from Sameen's hand and looked at it again. "Huh, their height must have skipped a generation."
Sameen pushed Root down, throwing a leg over her and tickling her stomach. "Call me 'short' one more time."
Root laughed, her legs kicking behind Sameen. "Short," she gasped, eyes watering.
Sameen ran her hands up and down Root's sides, refusing to relent until Root gave in. Root's bare legs were soft under her own. Root threw her arms up in surrender.
"Uncle!" Root screamed. "Uncle!"
Sameen laughed and rolled to the side, dropping down next to Root on the bed. She sighed and put her arms behind her head. She could hear Root panting beside her.
She turned her head to look at Root. "You don't pressure me, Root. I like being friends."
Root smiled back at her. "Me too."
There was a knock on the door and Mrs. Reese entered with her phone. She smiled at the girls as they sat up.
"Root, Principal McCarthy called. She says that your mom spent the storm at Hersch's in their stock room."
Sameen looked at Root, watching her slump with relief. She hadn't thought that Root might have felt guilty about leaving her mom out in the storm. Sameen frowned. Root's mother let Root take care of her, even though she was only 14.
Sameen might not be the best at emotion, but her parents had supported her and loved her. Root's mother just caused pain and Sameen wasn't sure where Root's father was. She ran her eyes over Root's face. Whatever she was feeling towards Root, she had to keep it to herself. Root needed a friend, not some complicated mess.
Root looked at her expectantly. Sameen realized she'd hadn't been listening.
"Sorry, what?"
Root laughed at her. "Mrs. Reese said we can take our bikes to my house to check it out."
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Root looked over at Sameen. They were riding back to Sameen's house. Root's house was fine, so they'd just taken down the garbage bags. Sameen still hadn't said anything about what Root's house looked like on the inside and Root was starting to think that maybe she wouldn't say anything at all.
Root watched Sameen lazily ride her bike around a rock and smiled. Maybe, if Root still had this crush in a few months, she'd say something to Sameen, once she was really sure she liked her like that. Maybe Sameen would even be receptive.
Root pedaled harder to catch up.
"Can I ask a personal question?" Sameen asked her, sitting up straight on her bike.
"Sure."
"Where's your dad?"
Root looked down at her handlebar, twisting her hands. "He left. About three years ago. Moved to Dallas, met a new woman, got married."
"I'm sorry," Sameen said, squinting against the sun. "That sucks."
Root shrugged, breathing in the cool, wet wind as it blew against her face. "I mean, it's whatever now, I guess. I kind of hate him, but it's not like I'm going to order 30 pizzas on the 13th of every month to be delivered to his house or something."
Sameen laughed, leaning over to punch Root's arm. "You could do a lot of damage with those skills of yours."
"Well," Root smirked, "Just don't make me mad. I could, like, cancel the soccer championships or something. Pre-emptively make you fail your SATs."
"You would hold a grudge."
"Oh, definitely," Root confirmed, taking her hands off her bike to tie her hair up. "I could fuck you up."
Sameen smiled softly. "Ok, I'll make sure never to upset you."
"Just don't like disappear for nine months without a word or something. I'd be forced to track you down and kill your kidnappers."
"That is specific."
"I just…" Root started, licking her lips and dropping her hands back on her bike. "I keep thinking about bad situations. Like, what would happen if my house got destroyed? Or my mom drank herself to death?" Sameen glanced over at her, but Root just kept looking ahead, her eyes on the dissipating clouds. "What would I do?"
"Mrs. Reese would adopt you."
"I'm being serious," Root scowled.
"Me too," Sameen said, putting her hands in her pockets, balancing on her bike. "She'd adopt you."
"Yeah?" Root asked, feeling a little relieved. She always felt so unsteady about her future, like she wasn't even real.
"Yes. In a heartbeat." Sameen smiled at her, but then frowned, distracted. She slowed her bike to a stop, looking around. "Do you hear that?"
Root stopped, dropping her foot to steady herself. She didn't hear anything.
"Come on," Sameen turned her bike and headed down a side street on their left.
Root followed her, racing to keep up. When Sameen stopped suddenly, Root had to slam the brakes, hopping on one leg to keep from falling over. She kicked out her kickstand and walked to where Sameen had crouched.
There was a small dog stuck in the gutter; its front paws and head the only thing visible. He was whining at them, his eyes scared.
"The water must have swept him away," Root said as Sameen reached down, gently wrapping her hands around him. "Can you get him?"
Sameen nodded and pushed the dog up out of the gutter. She lifted him into her arms, ignoring the water dripping down her shirt. The dog was tiny, clearly only a few months old. His fur was dark, but Root guessed that it was a light brown when dry. She didn't know enough about dogs to guess his breed.
"Let's get him home," Sameen said, adjusting her grip so she could carry the dog in one arm.
Root nodded and hurried to her bike. She watched Sameen start pedaling, one hand on the handlebar and one lightly scratching the dog's chin. If Mrs. Reese let Sameen keep the dog, Sameen was going to be the best mom ever. Root wondered what this would do to their sleeping arrangements.