Page 11 of The Odds of Happily Ever After
“Will you two stop harassing Luna?”
My body nearly melted with relief at Ate’s voice.
“I think it’s a great opportunity,” she told our parents. “You need to trust her more.”
“Youmoved to the States and fell in love with some basketball player,” Papa muttered.
“I moved back here, didn’t I?” Moving into the screen, Ate waved at me.
Papa just grunted. “For now.”
“Speaking of Jason, did you see his game yesterday?” I said, attempting to switch topics. “They destroyed the competition.”
“Oh, yeah,” Lonzo called out from beyond the screen. “Jason’s double-double was epic.”
A grin stretched across Ate’s face. “That was his best game this season so far.”
“I’m crossing my fingers they make it to finals,” Lonzo said, squeezing himself in next to her.
“They will.” I refused to believe otherwise.
“Alonzo,” Papa interrupted. “Did you tell Luna the news?”
“What news?” I asked.
Lonzo rolled his eyes. “It’s not a big deal.”
“He was recruited by the debate team. Usually, you have to sign up but they asked him to join,” Papa explained.
I smiled at my brother. “That’s great! Congratulations!”
“Thanks,” he said. “I wasn’t going to apply but I might as well try it out.”
He spoke about school, then Ate told me about the dance classes she was giving at a local studio. Our parents commentedhere and there, and they all seemed so at ease with each other. Sotogether. After years of us being separated across three different countries and time zones, this felt like a blessing.
Seeing the obvious change, in Mama most especially, made me happy, but at the same time, I felt even more alone. Like an outsider looking in.
After the call ended, I returned to my study guide and spent the next hour trying to understand the marketing concepts on the screen. My eyes scanned the same words over and over, but my brain couldn’t move on from the knowledge that my parents didn’t believe I could succeed on my own—and the realization that they only let me come here because Ate had been here too.
Everything I’d achieved didn’t seem to matter because someone else had done it all before me,betterthan me. Ate was the standard I measured myself up against since the day I realized she could do so many things I couldn’t. Then Lonzo defined what it meant to do well in school. Sometimes, it felt like I was forever trying to reach for the bars that my siblings set, which rose higher with each bit of progress I made.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You have the chance to change your parents’ minds—don’t waste it by falling apart.
I psyched myself up and forced my mind to focus. I would prove them wrong even if it meant I had to give up sleep trying.
chapter five
luna
Lonzo
You ok?
Luna
Yup! Why??
Lonzo
