Moonglass

dad’s—treat! He totally loves being able to give to people who need it.” She caught herself, or at least had an inkling that she had said something that could be misunderstood.
    “You know, like the beautiful women in his life and their friends!” She punctuated this with a nod, clearly happy with herself for her recovery.
    I shook my head. “Thanks anyway, but not this time.”
    Now she looked hurt. And a little ticked off. And kind of pouty. “I thought you’d be excited. I told my mom all about you, and she wants to meet you, and I was excited to meet your mom, and—”
    I set down my wrap and looked right at her, sorry for what I was about to say, because I knew it would shock her. “Ash, I don’t have anything planned with my mom…. She’s dead.”
    She flinched, then leaned in, trying to understand. “What?”
    I rubbed my forehead. “She died when I was seven. She drowned. It’s just me and my dad.” Her face had already fall en into the deeply sad and sympathetic expression I dreaded. “I didn’t tell you before because I just wanted a fresh start here, because before I moved, everybody knew about it and …” I looked down at my lap, then back up at her, feeling tears well up. “I’m sorry.” I bit the inside of my cheek and looked down again.
    She was silent, which I had expected. What is anyone supposed to say to something like that? Then her eyes lit up a bit. “You’re like a Disney princess!” It was my turn to flinch. “What?” I asked, wondering if she had heard me right.
    “You know,” she continued, matter-of-factly. “Ariel, bell e, Cinderella, Jasmine … none of them had mothers.” I still wasn’t following, but she continued, obviously excited. “When I was little, I used to think that meant that life had to make it up to them, for taking their mothers away, and so that’s why they ended up having the whole fairy-tale happily-ever-after magic happen to them. They deserved it more than other girls.” She looked at me intently. “Life will make it up to you, Anna.”
    It was so ridiculous, yet she said it with such confidence and sincerity, I was almost convinced. No one had ever reacted quite like that, but in a way it didn’t surprise me with her. I laughed and wiped at my eyes, then breathed in deeply, thankful she had somehow said the exact right thing.
    The bell rang, and I went to pick up my half-eaten wrap, but she handed me a mirror instead. “Here. Fix your eyes. In case you see your handsome prince.” I took the mirror and the tissue she handed me and dabbed at my running mascara. “Thank you, Ash.” She smiled at me simply. “That’s what friends are for. And you’re still coming. But now I’m ordering you every treatment on the spa menu. Plus products.”
    “I can’t do it that day. We have a race. A big one.”
    She frowned. “What about if you run, I watch, and then we go?”
    I considered. It might be nice after the race. “Okay, yeah. That’d be good.”
    We cleared our table and headed up the path to where it split. She patted my shoulder. “One more period. Then you can try to beat Jillian for once.” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. That’ll be the day.”
    She gave me a quick hug before we went our separate ways, and I walked slowly, not in the mood for sitting through another class. The hall ways were nearly empty now, and quiet, everyone having filed into their last period of the day. A steady breeze of cool air blew up the hill from the ocean, and I looked out over the horizon, which had darkened considerably since I’d come outside.
    I wasn’t going to seventh period. I walked past my classroom, then turned the corner to the back of campus, where I had seen a massive elm tree with branches like an umbrella.
    It was good to be alone. Even better that I was missing class. I leaned my back against the elm tree’s knobby bark and looked up through the leaves that rustled above me in the breeze. The sky was a pale slab of marble now, white and gray with darker veins running through it. It had yet to spill a drop, but it felt like rain today, and smelled like it too. I closed my eyes and breathed it in, finally relaxing a little.
    “Mind if I share the tree?”
    I opened my eyes to Jillian standing above me with one hip cocked out, her hand resting on it. I shrugged. “Sure.”
    She sat down without saying anything, settled her back into the bark of the tree, and took out her iPod. I cleared my throat and looked around,