was just a pair of breasts with legs. Too heavy breasted to be a ballerina and too short to be a bombshell.
Chloe wondered why it was that Hannah was loved through and through by Blake and still it wasnât enough. What she would give to just once be loved like that.
She fell asleep on the floor, her head pressed into the railing. She was woken up at one in the morning by her mother, prodding her, caressing her, helping her into bed.
Please, Mom, she whispered half-asleep, reaching out to touch her motherâs face, or maybe she only thought she whispered. You wanted to be a dancer once. Let me do this one thing for me, but also for you. Let me live what you never lived, far away in whirling dancing noise and nights of magic flowers until the world blows up.
7
Olivia the Dancing Pig
C HLOE DIDNâT KNOW HOW B LAKE HAD MANAGED IT, BUT BY the time her mother dropped her off in front of the Academy bus circle the next morning, every single person she met on the way to homeroom knew about their impending Catalonian Bacchanalian sexcapade. That must have been how Blake painted it, judging from the arched eyebrows and the innuendo smiles.
Her friends Taylor, Courtney, Regan, Matthew, his sister Miranda, and four girls on the cheer squadâwho for some reason were hypnotized into believing Chloe did not despise themâcornered her between her locker and the door of the physics lab.
âWhen are you going?â
âDid you already buy your plane tickets?â
âCan I see your passport?â
âCan you bring it to school tomorrow?â
âWhatâs the weather like in Barcelona?â
âDo you think your Spanish is good enough?â
âDoes anyone speak English over there? Because frankly, Chloe, your Spanish isnât that good.â
âAnd Mason doesnât speak Spanish at all,â bubbled up Mackenzie OâShea. There wasnât a girl in six counties Chloe hated more than Mackenzie, with her twisty body and twisty pigtails and mouth full of Bubblicious gum. One time in Science she popped the huge bubble wad in her mouth, and the gumburst from her cheeks to her chin and she got gum in her hair. In front of everyone. That was an excellent day.
âWhere are you staying?â
âI canât believe your dad is letting you go. My dad would never, and heâs not even the chief of police.â That was Mackenzie.
âAre you allowed to drink over there?â
âReally, you shouldnât drink. Youâre not used to it. Youâll vomit. Like that other time.â Still Mackenzie.
âDonât they drive on the wrong side of the road?â
âI thought the capital of Spain was Madrid. Are you sure itâs not Madrid youâre going to? Because I donât think Madrid is on the beach. Blake tells us youâre going to an Olympic beach. Heâs wrong, isnât he?â
âMy auntâs second cousin went to Madrid. She said it was dusty.â
âIt wasnât Madrid, genius. It was Mexico City.â
âSame difference. Very dusty. And crowded.â
âIs there skiing there?â
âDo they take American dollars?â
âHow would you even change dollars into pesos? Or are they on the euro now?â
âWhatâs a euro?â
âBlake and Mason are not going to like it. They get sunburned. Mason especially.â Still fucking Mackenzie.
âYou must be thrilled,â Taylor said as they took their seats in Physics. âTo travel through Europe with Mason. Itâs a dream.â
Chloe heard Mackenzieâs high-strung voice from behind her. âMason is not a city guy. Heâs a ballplayer. A skier. Heâs not gonna like it.â
âDonât be a fool, Mackenzie,â said Taylor, sparing Chloe a crackling response. âYou think varsity players donât like traveling?â
âNot Mason. He doesnât like empanadas or that weird Spanish food they
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