Dangerously Right

2

Siena POV

This time tomorrow, I’ll be at my new home for the next few years.

Well, sort of.

My new home isn’t going to be exactly what I had planned. I worked hard at school to earn a full scholarship to Carver University, where I’ll study Business Economics. When I graduate, I will work with my Uncle Frederick. That was my dream. It had been my dream since I was a little girl, when I first saw how enormous my Aunt Sophia’s house was. Aunt Sophia was my mom’s older sister. She met Uncle Frederick right out of college and had my cousin Bennett, or Benny, as I like to call him. She and my mom are close, but my mom was a proud woman and refused the financial help my aunt offered. So when college rolled around and the panic set in about how I was going to pay, Aunt Sophia stepped in to help. But I had seen my mom working hard, earning everything we had herself, and that made me proud. I wasn’t about to start taking handouts. I wanted to earn my place in the world. So I concentrated on school, and it paid off. The scholarship I got included tuition and housing, but a clerical error meant the dorms were overbooked, followed by a very polite email a few weeks ago informing me there was nothing they could do. That I would have to find temporary accommodation, but I was on a list. All the apartments or houses close to campus were completely out of my price range.

Now my only option is staying with Benny, who also happened to go to Carver, and the group of guys he lives with in a house near campus.

God.

I really wasn’t looking forward to that.

I grab my suitcase and begin folding my clothes, smoothing each piece before placing it inside, like keeping things neat might somehow keep everything else under control. Most of my books and the few sentimental things I couldn’t leave behind were already boxed up and shipped ahead of me, thanks to my aunt Sophia.

It was because of her that Benny agreed to let me stay with him.

I’d heard the stories about Benny and his friends. About the house, the parties, the kind of girls who came and went. I had seen his i********: stories, and wow, his life seemed wild. And now I was about to step into his world. Sharing a house that seemed the complete opposite of what I was used to or wanted. God, I was going to be surrounded by girls who were loud and confident and knew exactly where they belonged. And I was terrified. I never had much luck with girls or friends. The boys at my school were cruel. And I was about to step right into the middle of my worst nightmare. The only thing stopping me from spinning out of control with worry was knowing Benny would be there. Even though I hadn’t seen him for a few years, I knew he would never let anything bad happen to me.

As soon as I’ve finished packing, I slide the shoebox out from under my bed and lift the lid. Inside is everything I’ve saved over the last four years.

Crumpled bills. Neatly folded ones. A few envelopes with my name written in my mom’s handwriting.

Late nights at the pizza place. Babysitting the neighborhood kids while everyone else from school went out partying and drinking underage. Birthday cards and Christmas mornings where I smiled, said thank you, and tucked the money away instead of spending it.

It isn’t much, but it’s mine.

Proof that if things go wrong, I won’t be completely stranded. That I can buy my own textbooks. Pay for groceries. Get myself out if I have to.

This was supposed to make college easier.

Instead, it feels like a safety net I’m already afraid of needing.

I tuck the money into an envelope and hide it between layers of clothes in my suitcase. As soon as I get there, I’ll start looking for a job. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but at least now I have something to fall back on.

Still, something aches in me in a way I don’t quite know how to name. Like I’m already missing something I haven’t lost yet.

“Are you ready, sweetheart?” Mom asks from the doorway.

I look up. Her blonde hair is pulled into a messy ponytail, a few strands already slipping loose. Her blue eyes glisten, the tears right there, unshed and stubborn, held back by sheer will.

I stand and cross the room, wrapping my arms around her. The familiar scent of her shampoo hits me instantly, and something in my throat locks up. I don’t want to let go. I don’t want to stop memorizing this.

It’s always just been Mom and me.

My dad was a police officer. He died in the line of duty a few weeks before I was born, leaving Mom to raise me on her own. I never got to know him beyond the stories she’s told me over the years, the photographs tucked away in albums, and the few things of his she couldn’t bring herself to part with.

Sometimes I wonder what he would’ve been like.

Whether I would’ve had his eyes or his smile. Whether he would’ve been the kind of dad who embarrassed me in front of my friends or taught me how to ride a bike and pretended not to let go.

I’ll never know.

But Mom never made me feel like I was missing something.

She gave me everything she had.

Maybe that’s why leaving her feels so much harder than leaving this place. But I was doing this for her. I wanted to make sure she could have the best of everything once I finished college. She did that for me, and I was going to give her the world.

“I’m gonna be okay, Momma,” I whisper, holding her a little tighter. Even as I say it, part of me already feels the distance stretching between us.

“I know you will, sweetheart,” she says softly. “I’m so proud of you.”

Her words settle in my chest, warm and heavy all at once, and for the first time, the idea of leaving feels real.

I pull back first before I can talk myself out of it. If I don’t leave now, I might never.

Mom wipes at her cheeks quickly, pasting on a brave smile. “Text me when you land. And when you get there. And tomorrow morning.”

I nod, my voice not steady enough to trust yet.

Mom had wanted to come to the airport with me to say goodbye. But I couldn’t break down in front of strangers, and saying goodbye to the one person who always had my back would have shattered me. She fought tooth and nail for me, gave me all her love, and wanted nothing in return.

No. I refused to break down in front of anyone ever again. School really had been cruel to me.

The house feels different as I roll my suitcase down the hallway, smaller somehow. Quieter. Like it already knows I’m leaving. I pause at the front door, my hand resting on the handle, taking one last look at the space that’s always been mine.

Then I step outside.

The air is cool, the street unfamiliar in a way that makes my stomach flip. The cab waits at the curb, engine idling, patient and inevitable.

I load my suitcase into the trunk, slide into the back seat, and watch my mom shrink in the doorway as we pull away.

This is it.

No more planning. No more what-ifs.

Just me, a suitcase full of carefully folded clothes, a hidden envelope of savings, and a house near campus filled with people I don’t know.

I press my forehead to the glass and let myself breathe.

Tomorrow, everything changes.