Page 8 of Five Survive

“What?” Oliver looked between them.

“I’m not going to college this year,” Red said, relenting. It was fun while it lasted, living that other life.

Oliver laughed, a sigh of relief buried in there somewhere. “I was going to say. Full scholarship at Harvard, ha! Didn’t think so.”

Oh he didn’t, did he?

“You’re not going anywhere?” he asked now, fully recovered from the shock.

“Red missed the application deadline,” Maddy explained for her. Which wasn’t the truth, but it was a good lie, a convenient one, because how veryRedit was.

“You know me,” Red said, just to hammer it home.

“How could you miss the deadline?” Oliver turned to her, a look of cold concern on his face, and Red didn’t like where this was going, but she was trapped right here in this fucking booth forever.

She shrugged, hoping that would shut him down.

It did not, Oliver opening his mouth to speak again.

“I don’t understand it,” he said. “You were such a smart kid.”

Don’t say it, please don’t say it.

“Seems a shame,” Oliver went on. “You had so much potential.”

And there it was. The line that ripped her open. She’d lost count of the number of times it had been said to her, but there was only one that truly mattered. Red was thirteen and Mom was alive, screaming at each other across the kitchen, back when it used to be warm.

“Red?” Maddy was saying.

It was too hot in here.

Red stood up, knocking her knees against the table, swaying as the RV turned.

“I gotta go—”

But she was saved by Arthur, calling: “Shit, I think we went the wrong way.”

“What do you mean?”

Oliver got up from the booth—thank God, Red was free—and walked the four strides to the front, nudging Simon out of his way.

“Let me see,” he said to Arthur, holding his hand out for the phone with the directions.

Red was free and she wasn’t about to sit at this table any longer. She sidled along and out, moving toward the congregation at the front, perching on the corner of the sofa bed. Oh yes, now she remembered.

“Maddy, which side—”

“—No, it’s fine.” Oliver spoke across her, swiping his finger on the screen. “It’s redirected us. Just keep going down this road, it takes us past a small town called Ruby. Then it should be a left turn and we go south for a bit, toward theCarolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge,” he read from the screen. “Campsite is right around there. We should be just over ten minutes, everyone.”

“Perfect,” Reyna said, taking one hand off the wheel to rub at her eyes.

“You getting tired?” Oliver asked her. “I can take over?” His voice was different when he spoke to Reyna. Softer at the edges.

“No, I’m good,” she said, shooting him a quick smile over hershoulder, stretching wide across her light brown skin. It seemed almost a waste, that a smile that nice was meant for Oliver. That was a mean thought. He meant well. Everyone always meant well.

“You okay?” Arthur asked Red, vacating the passenger seat so Oliver could take it and coming to stand beside her.

She nodded. “RV feels smaller when you’ve been in it for ten-plus hours.”

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