Where We Used to Roam Jenn Bishop (red white royal blue TXT) 📖

He said something back, but I couldn’t make it out.

“Bye,” I said.

As I headed down the stairs to wait for my ride, I had this gnawing feeling that maybe something was wrong. I couldn’t put together why exactly, only for the first time I could remember, I felt uncomfortable being in the house, just Austin and me. Used to be, that was the most fun thing I could imagine. Just me and Austin, no parents around to enforce any rules. Austin could play his music as loud as he wanted. I could eat my favorite Trader Joe’s mac and cheese for every meal.

But all I noticed now, as I sat peering out the front window, was the eerie quiet of the house. If there was one thing my brother wasn’t, it was quiet.

By the time Lucy’s stepdad was pulling into the driveway, though, excitement over hanging out with my new friends replaced that fading uncomfortable feeling.

Kennedy’s house was an old Victorian, the kind Mom always rooted for the couples on House Hunters to choose. Posters of Ken’s two favorite figure skaters, Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno, hung above her bed, and pasted over her desk were sketches of anime characters: action shots, faces, close-ups of their eyes. An enormous bookcase filled with manga and graphic novels was tucked into a corner. The best part: Kennedy had the entire third floor all to herself.

Well, maybe not all to herself.

“Lincoln,” Kennedy hissed. “What did I tell you? Get out of here.”

Her little sister had sneaked up the stairs for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. “Mom!” Kennedy shouted. “Linc’s not leaving us alone.” She shot her sister a glare.

Lincoln was five years younger than Kennedy, just a first grader, and it took me less than a second to realize how much she looked up to her big sister. Her face radiated when Kennedy introduced her to me. All she wanted was to hang out with the big kids.

But she was still just a first grader. She wouldn’t understand half the jokes in the new season of Haikyu!! that Kennedy had just paused. Plus we wanted to be able to talk about middle school stuff.

Was it like that for Austin when I was that young? Did it still feel like that sometimes even now? Was that why he’d seemed so irritated with me lately?

The age gap between us felt huge when I was a little kid, but now that I was in middle school, it felt smaller. Like it was closing, even though it wasn’t. We’d always be five years apart. But maybe that was only how it felt to me.

Soft footsteps on the stairs meant Lincoln’s time with us was dwindling. Her goofy grin turned into a pout as Mama K emerged from the stairwell.

“I don’t want to go!” Lincoln whined.

“Linc, the girls need some time to themselves. You can visit with them later, right?”

Kennedy sighed. “Fine.”

“How about we do something special downstairs, just you and me. Bake some cookies?”

Lincoln’s eyes widened at that word. Mama K flashed us a thumbs-up, and they headed downstairs.

“Finally!” Kennedy collapsed on the full-body pillow and propped herself up with her elbows. “Sorry about that. I love her, I do. Just—Lord, she’s been such a pain lately. I know she’s only seven, but she still sucks her thumb. In public! And my moms let her. I swear, she’ll still be sucking her thumb in sixth grade.”

I grabbed a handful of popcorn. “If no one makes you stop, you’ll just do it forever. Like Becca. She still has her baby blanket.” It came out before I’d even thought twice about it.

Kennedy coughed and grabbed her Sprite, taking a big swig. When she finally got her coughing fit under control, she said, “No!”

“It’s not that big a deal,” Lucy said quietly, twisting her hair into two buns. If I ever tried to do that, I’d end up looking like a toddler, but somehow when she did it, it looked cool.

“I’m sorry—yes it is. Her baby blanket?” Kennedy shook her head.

I could feel my ears warming as the guilt crept in. But wait a second. What did I have to feel guilty for? I was only making a point, a completely valid point. If no one forces you to give up your weirdo little-kid habits, you will keep doing them all the way into middle school. It wasn’t my fault Becca still had her baby blanket.

“Wait, does she really still have it?” Kennedy stared at me.

“I think so?” I said, even though of course I knew so. I’d just seen it myself. But it was the next lie that I couldn’t so easily excuse. “I haven’t been over to her house lately to look or anything. We don’t hang out that much anymore.” I couldn’t let Ken think I regularly hung out with someone who still had something so babyish.

Kennedy lay back down on her pillow. “I mean… it’s one thing for Lincoln to suck her thumb. But to still be carrying around your baby blanket when you’re in middle school? Sorry, but that’s messed up. What’s she going to do when she goes to college? Take that thing with her? Get married with it?”

“Actually—” Lucy tried to butt in.

“Oh my gosh, Emma. That’s too funny.”

“Yeah. It’s weird.”

“Well, enough about baby blankets and thumb sucking,” Kennedy said. “Haikyu!! time!” And with that, she pushed play.

For the next six hours, only bathroom breaks and the smell of chocolate chip cookies could distract us from our show.

As we passed by Becca’s on the way to my house, my stomach clenched. I hated that I still felt guilty for telling Ken and Luce about the kitty blanket. Especially when Becca was so okay with it in the first place!

“Does your family have any big plans for the rest of break?” Mr. Kovacs asked.

“Not really,” I said. “I’ll probably help my mom out at the store.” As we pulled into my driveway, my mind returned to