The Garden

by Amy Sparling

  I pull open the heavy door, and my jaw drops at the sight before us.

  “Whoa,” Belle says, taking a step forward into the garden.

  I follow behind her, confused and overwhelmed and on the verge of tears, because what’s in front of me is not how I left the garden earlier today. It’s been transformed. In the dark of midnight, our little private oasis has been given light. All over, little battery powered fairy lights are decorating the garden. They hang from the walls, and drape across the vines. They’re wrapped around the statues and fountains and they outline the wooden bench.

  “You didn’t tell me it had lights,” Belle says, her face childlike as she gazes around at the beauty all around us.

  “It didn’t,” I croak out. Okay, I might actually cry. This is stunning. It’s beyond beautiful. It’s so much better than in the daylight. “Declan must have done this. He knew I was bringing you here tonight.”

  “Wow, that boy is a keeper,” she says, beaming at me. She takes off, skipping around the cobblestone pathway, her fingers trailing along the flowers and plants as she goes. She throws her arms out and turns in a circle. “This is amazing. This was worth leaving my dorm room. Hey, what’s that?”

  She points to the bench, at something I haven’t noticed yet. It’s a vase filled with flowers, and a little card attached to it. I open it up.

  Dear Sophia and Belle,

  I thought you could bring a little bit of the garden home with you. Hope you’re both having a magical night.

  -Declan

  “Um, wow,” Belle says, waving the card at me. “This boy is so totally a keeper.”

  I grin, because that’s about all I can do right now. He must have spent hours decorating the garden tonight. No wonder he told me to go home early and get some sleep—he wanted to surprise us. And these flowers picked and arranged into a vase is some top-notch romance stuff. Totally hit it out of the park, this one. That’s going to make it even harder to leave him, to leave this garden, to leave everything behind.

  A single tear rolls down my cheek.

  Chapter Twenty

  My phone has been almost comatose since I moved to Shelfbrooke Academy. Viv stopped calling altogether, and my other friends couldn’t even spare me a text or a Snapchat now that I’m no longer in Malibu, hooking them up with party invites. But it all changes a few days later when I wake up to my phone buzzing on the nightstand.

  It’s not just buzzing, it’s practically losing its mind.

  I sit up in bed and check my phone. All the noise wakes up Belle, who puts her pillow on top of her head and rolls over.

  Texts. Snaps. Even a few missed Facetime calls from friends I haven’t talked to in weeks. Suddenly everyone wants to talk to me.

  It takes me a few minutes, two cups of coffee, and one trip down to the dining hall for breakfast to figure out what it’s all about. My mother has decided to reveal her Africa trip to her many adoring fans, via a quick guest appearance on her favorite morning TV show. I find the clip online, and watch my mom, all dolled up and looking half her age, as she tells the hosts that she and my dad are so very happy to be making a difference with this new charity project. Then the tells them that her daughter—me—was so thrilled at the opportunity to help the less fortunate, that I begged to be taken out of school early so that I can come along and help.

  Oh, please.

  I can’t believe my mom thinks she can trick me like that. Of course I have nothing wrong with helping people, but this charity isn’t some praiseworthy thing. It’s money laundering or tax evasion or some other fancy term for making my parents and all their rich friends even richer all under the shadow of pretending to do good in the world.

  The messages from my friends are all a mixture of excited for me, jealous, or that fake kind of happy where I can tell they’re glad I’ll be gone longer and they can rule the party scene without me. But I don’t care. I don’t reply back to anyone. My life is here, in Shelfbrooke, with Belle and Declan who are my real friends.

  I ignore all of it and I hang out in the dorm with my cousin.

  “Soph,” Belle says, her mouth full of cheese Danish, “I think I’m ready to go back.”

  “To the garden?”

  She nods, then takes another bite. “I’ve been dreaming about that place. Every single night since we went.”

  Me too. But probably not for the same reason Belle dreams about. I can’t stop thinking about that night because that night was the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me. Declan went out of his way. He went above and beyond. Just because he wanted to, because he likes me. No guy has ever done that before. I’ve always felt disposable to everyone. Even to my own parents. But not to Declan.

  No friend, no family member, no person on earth has ever done something like that for me.

  I bite the inside of my lip to keep from grinning like a fool. I’ve been trying to balance my time equally between hanging out with Belle and cuddling with Declan in the garden. Both of these people are so important to me, and both of them feel like secret friends. Declan and I can’t be seen in public, and Belle never goes in public.

  “Okay,” I say. “I’ll go first and turn on the lights and then come back and get you. What time are you thinking? Midnight?”

  She shakes her head. “I want to go in the daytime.”

  A million reasons to tell her no cross my mind. It’s too much, it’s too scary, you’ll freak out. But I hold them back. Belle needs me and I’m going to be there for her. So I grin.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  We spend the next two days practicing. Once before I go to school in the morning, and several times once I get back in the afternoon. Belle has me step into the hallway first, and make sure it’s clear. Then she walks to the door, takes one step out, looks around, and goes back into our dorm.

  But now, after dozens of tries, she’s walked all the way down the hall to the exit door with me. I step outside and peer around. A few students are on campus, but no one walks directly this way since students don’t have any reason to go to the staff dorms. So no one is that close to us.

  “Want to step outside?” I ask.

  Her teeth dig into her bottom lip, but she nods. She’s still wearing the walking boot on her sprained ankle, so her steps are slow, but she presses on, and soon she’s outside. In the sunshine.

  “You did it,” I say, beaming at her.

  My phone rings.

  “Answer it,” Belle says, her hand on the door of the building, but her gaze sweeping around us. “I’m okay.”

  I take my phone from my back pocket and check the caller ID. “It’s just Declan. I’ll call him back later.”

  “No you should answer it.” Belle is the biggest supporter of my secret thing with Declan. She makes me tell her every single detail about every time I see him. She loves that we meet in the garden when we can’t meet in real life. It’s some kind of romantic secret like in the books she reads.

  “Tell him to come over,” she says.

  The phone is still ringing in my hand. “Are you sure?”

  She nods. “We’ll order pizza for dinner.”

  I answer the call, and Declan is just as surprised as I am when I tell him to come visit us. I give him directions to our room, and promise him that no other students will be here. No one will see him and me together and report it back to Chad.

  A short while later, I am so nervous I could burst into electricity at any moment. Belle plays music on her laptop and she braids my hair and I add a little bit of makeup to my bare face.

  The pizza is ordered. All we’re missing is the boy.

  And then there’s a knock on the door. Belle draws in a deep breath.

  “You okay?” I say.

  She nods. “Yes. Totally okay.”

  It doesn’t look like she’s lying, so I walk over and let Declan inside. He’s more adorable than ever in jeans and a T-shirt. I usually see him in his school uniform in classes, or wearing his gardener jumpsuit while h
e’s working. But Declan in normal clothes is a sight to see.

  “You look pretty,” he says softly. I know we both want to kiss, but we’re also smart enough not to flash around the PDA in front of my cousin.

  “Hi,” Belle says with a smile. She’s sitting on the foot of her bed with her sprained ankle propped up on some pillows.

  “Declan, this is my cousin, Belle.”

  “Nice to officially meet you,” he says.

  I was worried this might be awkward, but Declan and Belle get along great. We talk about the garden, and how we’re going to visit it soon, in the daylight.

  “Spring Break is in a few days,” Declan says, reaching for another slice of pizza. “Maybe we could plan a picnic or something. The Wi-Fi signal is good out there in the gardens, so we could bring a computer and watch movies.”

  “It’ll be a mini vacation,” Belle says, her eyes lighting up. “I think I’ll spend every single day of Spring Break in that garden.

  I raise my glass of soda to hers in a toast. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

  We all press our drinks together in a celebration, and I try really hard to hold back my worries. My mom had said she was pulling me from school soon. I might not last until Spring Break.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  A woman walks into my history class and says something to my teacher in hushed tones. The teacher nods and then her eyes go straight to me. My heart races. I hope that maybe I’m just mistaken and she’s looking at the person behind me.

  “Sophia?” my teacher says.

  Dang.

  “Yes, ma’am?”

  “You’re needed in the office.”

  I grit my teeth and pack up my school work, ignoring the stares of other students in the class. I have a pretty good idea of why I’m being called to the office, and I refuse to cry in front of all these people.

  But I know the tears will come sooner or later because I can’t help it. My mom is here. I just know she is. She’s here and she’s taking me out of school. I’ve been ignoring her calls for two days now, and I even ignored a call from my dad, who only calls me when my mom is really mad at me.

  I had stupidly thought that maybe I’d get to stay at school if she couldn’t reach me. But I guess not.

  My throat is tight, and my vision is blurry with unshed tears as I make my way down Kellylynch Hall. I walk slowly, taking in the sight of everything, because this is probably my last time to step foot in this building. I wonder if she’s already packed up my dorm room. If she’s freaked out Belle by barging in there and grabbing all my stuff.

  Anger rolls through me. I stop on the second floor landing and grab my phone. I text Belle.

  Me: Everything okay?

  Belle: Yeah, why?

  Me: Just wondering.

  Okay good, Mom hasn’t gone there and terrorized my half of the dorm. She’s probably going to make me do that.

  My feet feel like heavy anchors as I walk across campus toward the front office. I don’t want to do this, but I have to. When I reach the doors, the same ones I walked through on my first day here, I am so angry and upset that I can barely control my breathing.

  My mom isn’t here. Ms. Beverly sits at the front desk. She looks up when I enter and gives me a quick smile. “Sophia Brass?”

  I nod.

  “There’s a phone call for you.” She nods to the phone on her desk.

  I pick up the receiver. “Hello?”

  “Sophia Elaine Brass!”

  Well, she might not be here in person, but hearing her voice on the phone makes me cringe just the same. “Is your cell phone broken? Is your email broken? I have been calling all day.”

  I know she has. I’ve ignored them all. But I try for a more diplomatic answer. “Er… I’m in class. I can’t answer my phone in class. School rules are different than homeschooling.” I throw in that last part just to remind her that me being here is her fault.

  She huffs. “I am your mother. When I call, you will answer, do you understand me?”

  “Yes,” I say, biting off the word even though I’d rather say a lot more. “Why are you calling?”

  “I’m sending a car to get you tomorrow morning. Have your things packed. Eight a.m. sharp.”

  “I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here and graduate.”

  Ms. Bev gets up and walks into another room, and I get the distinct feeling it’s to give me some privacy. I’m grateful for it. “Mom, just let me stay,” I plead into the phone.

  “I don’t understand why you have to be so difficult. Just pack up your things and be ready to go tomorrow.”

  “Please, Mom. Just let me stay. I promise I’ll fly to Africa as soon as I graduate.”

  Mom breathes a long, annoyed sigh into the phone. “You’ll be eighteen in a few days,” she says, sounding utterly exhausted. “Almost an adult and you still act like a child.”

  She hangs up the phone after reciting to me once more that she’ll have a car here at eight in the morning. But I barely hear the words she’s saying, because she’s just given me an idea.

  I’ve been so busy with my new life that I totally forgot about my upcoming birthday. I’ll be eighteen. A legal adult.

  And legal adults can’t be forced to quit school, or move away, or do anything by their parents.

  I just need to stay at Shelfbrooke long enough to turn eighteen.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I don’t bother going back to class. There are still three classes left until the end of the day, but I have other plans to worry about now. Like how I can somehow stay at Shelfbrooke until my birthday, where I’ll get to tell my parents that they can’t force me to go anywhere. My tuition is all paid up anyway, and they couldn’t get a refund even if I did leave now. The only smart choice is to stay and graduate.

  And then maybe I can figure out another path for my life, one that isn’t guided by my parents and their greedy intentions. Maybe I can do something for myself, something that makes me happy and keeps me around the people I like.

  Suddenly I have a whole new understanding of my Aunt Kate. She left home when she turned eighteen, too. She didn’t want her trust fund, or the family money. She made a new life for herself here on the east coast.

  Who says I can’t do the same thing?

  Belle is paler than usual when I get back to our dorm. “You’re leaving,” she says just before she crushes me to her in a hug. “I can’t believe they’re making you go.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “My mom just called. She said your mom is coming to get you tomorrow. She wanted me to be prepared for when the driver showed up in case they knocked on the door.”

  “Yeah, well that’s not happening.”

  I walk past her and reach into the closet, taking out my suitcase and hefting it onto the bed. I start putting clothes in there. Enough for four days.

  “Then why are you packing up?” Belle says, eyeing me like I’m not making any sense.

  I turn to her. “What if when they come to get me, I’m not here?”

  Belle lifts an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

  “What if I’m gone? What if they can’t find me?”

  “Okay…” she says, staring at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Are you just going to run away?”

  I nod. Her eyes get even bigger. “Sophia! You can’t run away! It’s not safe out there.”

  “I’m not going far. I’m going to the garden.” I give her a wild grin and then turn back to my suitcase, tossing in a few outfits, but mostly filling the space with blankets and pillows. I flip the suitcase lid closed and press down on it, zipping it up. “Just until I’m eighteen.”

  Belle glances at the dry erase board calendar on the wall, where I’ve written my birthday, which happens to fall in the middle of spring break. “That’s four days from now.”

  I nod. “I’m going to hide out in the garden and wait until I’m old enough to make my own decisions. My parents can’t take me from Shelfbrooke. I’m go
ing to stay, and I’m going to graduate right next to you.

  She puts a hand on her hip. “That’s assuming I actually go to graduation. Which means I’d have to actually get over my fears long enough to attend a huge, packed ceremony.”

  “You will,” I say. “I have faith in you.”

  Belle stares at me for a long time, her thoughts clearly going in circles as she thinks about my totally insane plan. She gnaws on the inside of her lip. “If you’re not here when they come to get you, they’ll be barging in our dorm looking for you.”

  “I know,” I say. “And I’m sorry. Maybe you could stay with your mom for a few days? Just lie and say you have no idea where I am.”

  She shakes her head. “No. If you’re hiding out in the garden, then I will, too.”

  “What?” I say, bursting out into a laugh. I don’t know why this is funny, but the idea of Belle and I in the garden for four days is kind of hilarious. “You’re going to be so bored! There’s not even a bathroom!”

  “What’s your plan for that?” she says.

  “I was going to slip out of the side gate, then run to your aunt’s house.”

  She laughs. “Sounds like you’ve got this all figured out. I’ll get my suitcase.”

  Declan calls me about two seconds after school gets out for the day. Belle and I have already discussed if we should tell him about our plan or not, and we’ve decided that’s a definite yes. Declan can be trusted. And we figure someone needs to know where we’re hiding just in case a freak hurricane or something comes our way.

  “Hello?” I say, feeling that whoosh of warm fuzzy feelings when I answer the phone. It happens to me every time he calls or texts. Boys are weird that way.

  “Are you okay? You weren’t in last period. Just making sure you’re not sick or something.”

  “I’m not sick, but… some weird stuff has happened since you last talked to me.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  Declan’s voice is so cute over the phone. “Yeah,” I say, glancing at Belle. “You should probably stop by my dorm so I can tell you about it.”