Two Homes, No Place for Me Chapter 04

Two Homes, No Place for Me Chapter 04

The next morning, at 6:50, Mom pulls up outside the old cabin.

I put my ID, enrollment papers, and a few clean clothes into a canvas bag and get into her car.

She knows my train leaves at 8:20. She also knows I have to complete my in-person check-in by 5

p.m.

I told her all of this more than once last night.

Less than ten minutes after we pull away, Juliet calls.

She has her first-day ceremony at her new school that morning too.

Dad, Derek, and Holden are all there with her, but she stands at the school entrance crying and

refuses to get out of the car.

“Mom, everyone else has their mom here. Why am I the only one without mine? Are you really

going to leave me alone just to take Anne to the station?”

Dad calls right after her.

“Can you come over first? Just for a few minutes. She needs you here.”

Derek’s voice comes through the phone too.

“She’s crying so hard she can barely catch her breath. It’s her first day. She can’t start school like

this.”

Then Holden adds, “I’ll take Anne to the station later. You go be with Juliet.”

At the intersection ahead, one road leads to the train station. The other leads to Juliet’s new school.

Mom slows down, then she pulls over.

“You wait here for me, okay? The ceremony won’t take long. I’ll take a few pictures with Juliet and

come right back.”

I look at her.

“They’re all there with Juliet. You’re the only one I have.”

But Mom reaches over and opens my door.

“Juliet needs me right now. Please don’t make her feel worse on her first day because of this.”

I get out with my canvas bag.

Mom turns the car around and heads toward Juliet’s school.

I stand by the roadside, watching her taillights disappear into the distance.

7:20.

She still hasn’t come back.

I call her.

“Mom, I need to leave. If I miss this train, I won’t make the check-in deadline.”

There’s a wall of noise on the other end.

Mom’s voice comes through the crowd.

“She just finally got out of the car. Give me ten more minutes.”

Dad takes the phone.

“Anne, you can change your ticket. Stop stressing over this.”

Derek speaks next.

“We’re almost done with the family pictures. Just be patient for once.”

Then Holden’s voice comes through.

“I’ll finish helping Juliet with her things and come get you. You’ll make it.”

I look down at the time.

7:40.

Still, no one comes.

I call Mom again.

“The next train doesn’t get in until this afternoon. I’ll miss the five o’clock check-in. I told you this last night.”

Mom finally sounds irritated.

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this? You’re going to a local college. Just wait until Juliet’s ceremony is over. I’ll take you.”

I grip my phone tighter, “My school isn’t local.”

There is a brief silence on the other end.

“If I lose my early admission, I don’t have another school to go to this year.”

Mom is silent for a few seconds.

Then she says casually, “Then go next year. You have good grades. Taking another year isn’t the

end of the world.”

She pauses, “Juliet only gets one first day of school. Let her have it.”

The call ends.

I stand by the roadside, watching the time on my phone change to 7:42.

The train ticket in my hand is now nothing more than a ticket I’ll never be able to use.

Mom isn’t unaware of what I’m going to lose.

She just thinks the year of my life I’m about to lose matters far less than one family photo of Juliet’s first day.

The two family group chats quickly come alive.

Photo after photo appears.

Dad carries Juliet’s backpack. Mom stands beside her.

Derek and Holden stand on either side of her.

The five of them stand in front of the new school, smiling like a picture-perfect family.

Dad: “Our girl’s first day! Look at her go.”

Mom: “My beautiful girl. You’re going to have an amazing year.”

Derek: “First day at her new school. We’re all so proud of you.”

Holden: “You’ve got this, Jules. Your whole pack is behind you.”

No one remembers that I’m still standing alone by the roadside with a canvas bag over my shoulder.

It isn’t until that evening that Mom returns to the old cabin.

She pushes open the door, but I’m not there.

She freezes for a few seconds before pulling out her phone.

Mom: “Where’s Anne?”

Dad replies almost immediately.

Dad: “Wasn’t she with you? I thought you were taking her to the station.”

Derek responds right after him.

Derek: “I assumed she missed the train and went back to the cabin. She can just start next year.”

Holden replies too.

Holden: “I thought someone else was taking her.”

The screen slowly falls silent.

Only then do they realize something.

Not one of them has actually asked where I am all day.

Mom calls me over and over.

Once. Twice. More than a dozen times.

No one answers.

She frantically contacts my school, asking whether my early admission has been forfeited.

The school replies quickly.

A moment later, Mrs. Moreland calls her back.

‘Anne checked in this afternoon. She’s already at Yale.”

Mom freezes, “Yale?”

Her voice trembles.

“She’s two thousand miles away? How did she even get there by herself?”

She hurriedly picks up her phone, ready to call me again.

But the next second, system notifications appear in the two family group

chats.

[Anne left “Dad’s Family.”]

Then, seconds later:

[Anne left “Mom’s Family.”]