Valley of the Moon Read Free

asphalt.
    Ferraris are like that. Even vintage ones.
    From our house in Glen Ellen, it usually took me thirty minutes to get to school in the hills overlooking downtown Sonoma. But in my dad’s navy-blue Ferrari Maranello, I made it in fifteen. I took the off-ramp like I owned it and raced up the rolling hills east of town towards school.
    Halfway up the steep road that led to the parking lot, I blew right past a small girl wearing a giant pink backpack.
    Dark hair cut into a sharp bob. Bangs. Too skinny. I reined the Ferrari to a stop, threw it in reverse, and rolled backwards until I got next to her.
    I lowered the passenger window.
    “Eden? What are you doing?” Eden Crawford stopped in her tracks. Tears streaked her face.
    “We had a fight,” she said. “She made me get out and walk.”
    “Get in,” I ordered. Eden scrambled into the passenger seat and stuffed her backpack at her feet.
    “I hate my sister,” she said. She wiped her wet cheeks on the cuff of her sweater and looked around. “I love your new car.” She reached down and pulled up her white knee socks, which clearly were having trouble clinging to her skinny calves. She was small for twelve.
    “It’s not mine. What’d you fight about this time?” We cruised into the school parking lot, packed a usual with Sonoma’s finest cars and worst parking jobs.
    “You. We always fight about you.” My foot slipped off the clutch pedal. The gears squealed noisily.
    “Hey, you and I are allowed to be friends. It’s a free country, right?” I asked.
    “I guess.” She pursed her lips. “She said if she sees me talking to you again she’ll do something…bad.”
    “To you?” I passed a brand-new black Range Rover sporting a peace-sign sticker parked at a 45-degree angle taking up two spots.
    “No,” she said shaking her head. She fidgeted on the seat until it squeaked. A shiver ran through me.
    “Oh please. I’m not afraid of your sister.” No one had to know this wasn’t entirely true. I nosed the car into a slender space between a BMW X3 and an Audi A6 just as the first bell rang. “We better run.”
    An imposing stone staircase led up to the building’s front doors. We stopped to catch our breath at the bottom of the steps and Eden stared up at me, her cheeks pink and her eyes wide. She clamped her thin arms around me.
    “I wish you were still my sister. Merry Christmas, Lana.” She jogged up the steps. Her backpack jiggled from side to side on her narrow frame. I watched her until she made it to the top of the stairs. Then I glanced higher.
    In a second-story window, I caught a flash of white-blond hair right before it vanished.

Mare Ingenii ~ Sea of Cleverness
     
     
    Calculus 401 Midterm
    Question 20.
    An object falls 200 feet.
    Almost the height of the bridge.
    What is the object’s average velocity as it falls?
    It was December. The water was 49 degrees, according to the coroner.
    How many seconds does it take the object to fall?
    She’s been falling my whole life.
     
    Please show your work.
    ***
    “One minute, girls.” Mrs. Ridpath strode up the aisle. She stopped at my desk. “Miss Goodwin, are you all right?” I snapped out of my reverie.
    “Yes, sorry, almost done.”
    Reading about plummeting objects tended to distract me. I scribbled something I knew was wrong and totally didn’t show my work. There goes the old GPA.
    I stood up and handed in my exam. My palms were damp and my fingers felt stiff from gripping a pencil for 90 minutes.
    It was midterm week for the seniors at the Briar School for Girls. Just one more day. Then one more semester. It was the only thing keeping me sane.
    Especially with The Anniversary coming up. Ten years this year.
    After Calculus, I white-knuckled it through a brutal French midterm. We had to translate an entire Rimbaud poem, and my late-night cramming session hadn’t helped much.
    After all, it’s kind of hard to study when things move all by themselves in your room. I had a good