My phone buzzes in my back pocket. I almost don’t pick it up, but it’s my mom. The first thing I hear is sirens. My heart forces its way into my throat. I stand up, my chair scraping against the floor. James glances over at me. I think he says my name, but I can’t hear him, not over the sirens, my heartbeat, and worst of all, my mother’s frantic sobs. “Mom,” I say. “Slow down, I can’t understand you.” “It happened so fast!” she says. “Bex, I don’t know what to do!” I hurry around the table, making a beeline for the stairs. I burst into James’s room, grab my bag, and shove all my crap into it.
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