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Angel: Is Bianca in the room?
Olivia: Yeah.
Angel: Did she come running when you started screeching?
Olivia: No, but the bodyguards did.
Angel: Of course they did. Bianca is invited too. If she wants to come, of course.
The screeching stops and I fall on the bed with a thud. Bianca freezes too.
“What?” she asks, but she already knows. “I’m invited too, aren’t I? To a freaking Issy Woo concert.”
“In Greece,” I add.
She swears. Bianca never swears. I know why she’s so upset: she can’t come.
“Isn’t there a way…?” I start asking, but she’s already shaking her head. “Yeah, ok, I know.”
Bianca is in love with one of my brothers. And he… I don’t think he likes her back. Actually, I think he hates her. Well, he told her he did—I was there.
“I can’t come,” she says quietly. “Not with…”
I mean, it’s not ideal, my brother and my best friend hating each other. But I think they would make an effort to stand each other in order to be around me at the same time, if it wasn’t for Bianca’s crush. I hope she gets over it soon, but until then, she can’t be around him. And as much as I would love for her to come to Greece with us, I don’t want her to be in pain.
“Oh, Bee,” I sigh.
“You’ll have so much fun,” she says, “seeing Issy Woo and your brothers. Just try to forget everything you’ve learned this semester and you’ll be fine.”
I laugh, I can’t help it. “It won’t be the same without you,” I tell her. “Can’t you just… you know, get over it?”
Now she is the one laughing. “Oh, I will, have no doubt. I just need a second. I’m sure I’ll be cured come September. It’s just a stupid, annoying crush. It’s not like… you and Marco.”
I look down, my cheeks flaming. Marco and I have been texting nonstop since I last saw him, two months ago. He’s been studying at the Royal Guard Academy to become a head of the royal guard in Asteria. He looks so hot in his new uniform it should be illegal. But that’s not why I’m blushing.
It’s the pics he sent me last night when he took it off.
And the texts to go with it.
“Oh, lord,” Bianca groans, realizing I’m thinking about him. She lifts her hands in front of her face. “Forget I even mentioned him. I don’t even want to know. Ok, you need to pack for Greece. I’ll help.”
…
I have been to Greece many times since I was a little kid. My dad has a palace there, after all. Where, it’s called a ‘palace’ but in reality it’s a huge villa built on the rocks by the sea. The water licks the steps on the east side, and on the west there is a huge garden drowning in flowers and green trees.
I have spent some summers there, with my nannies and an army of servants, bathing in salt-water and sunlight, but… But it’s never been like this.
There never were brothers to throw me into the pool and eat barbecued meat chops in my swimsuit with while watching the sun set. I’ve never watched horror movies while my brothers were taking notes so that later they’d try to recreate the most horrible scenes and scare me half to death. I’ve never ended up in giggling piles on the floor with them before, just because they are so incredibly stupid. And there have never been takeout nights and movie nights and going out and swimming and jumping off rocks and shivering under blankets, hair dripping wet and howling to the full moon, just because we can.
There never were brothers before.
…
Late May in Greece is one of the most beautiful things I have experienced. It’s almost a season on its own; and it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world, and I’ve been almost everywhere. But May in Greece is like magic brewing with jasmine flowers and pink sunsets and cicadas only just warming up their voices and trying out their summer song. It’s warm but not too hot, and the sun sparkles over the wide expanse of sea as if it’s midsummer. All these freezing months in Vermont, breathing and texting with my brothers was enough for me to survive.
But now… Now it’s time tolive.
People say they need to ‘blow off some steam’ with your friends after exam season, but… Do those people have brothers? Because nothing, and I do meannothingcan compare to the fun you can have with your own siblings. Siblings are people you don’t have anything to prove to, but are always there, annoyingly, amazingly available. Always.
