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I’ll be able to send you some money. Things have been pretty tight up to now. But up ahead it looks good.”
    I didn’t want her money. “You think you’ll be happy out there?”
    â€œI think I could be.” Which meant that she was thinking about never coming back. Until then, I believed she’d finish the course and move back. Now it was starting to sink in.
    â€œDo you miss Willis Harbor? Do you miss the sea?”
    â€œSometimes.” She didn’t sound convincing. I was fairly certain I’d lost my mother for good. But the anger had all drained out of me.
    â€œI just wish things could be like they used to be,” I said, my voice sounding weak.
    â€œI know, Quinn.”
    â€œBye, Mom.”
    â€œBye. I’ll talk to you again soon. I promise.”
    And I hung up.
    I called Jasmine, and I told her about my phone call. I don’t usually open up to anybody about my personal life. But this was different. Jasmine was different.
    â€œCan you take me to that town where you grew up?” she asked.
    â€œYou really want to go?”
    â€œYes. Will you take me?”
    â€œAbsolutely. We’ll take the bus there Saturday.” And then it dawned on me. “Oops. I forgot. I don’t have any money. I used every cent I had fixing my skateboard.”
    â€œWhich is why you should not skateboard off people’s roofs. It doesn’t matter though. I’ll pay.”
    â€œYou will?”
    â€œSure. Girls pay for some things. You give me the tour, I’ll pay the fare.”
    â€œCool.”

chapter nine
    Saturday was a bright warm day. The bus was crowded, but we found two seats together near the back. We both had our skateboards. People stared at us as we went down the aisle. Funny how older people think that anyone with a skateboard is a troublemaker. I just don’t get it.
    â€œThis is like an adventure,” Jasmine said, sitting down beside me.
    â€œIt’s like going back to my past,” I said.“I haven’t been back home since we moved to the city.”
    She smiled. The bus began to pull out of the station as she put her hand on my arm and leaned against me. If I had been carrying any troubles in my head, they immediately vanished.
    â€œEver wonder what it would be like to skate on the moon?” she asked.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThink about it. The moon. Not the dusty part but some place solid. You’d have such low gravity, you’d get major air.”
    â€œI never thought about it. But isn’t it the gravity that gives you speed? You go down and then you go up, using momentum?”
    Jasmine looked surprised. “Yeah, you’re right. I hadn’t really thought about it that way.” She was about to say something else— something like,
For a guy who isn’t smart in school, you’re actually pretty bright.
But she didn’t. It just kind of hung in the air.
    â€œWhat kind of rocks would be on the moon?” I asked.
    â€œI’m not sure. I think there’s a lot of nickel.”
    â€œNo granite?”
    â€œI don’t think so.”
    â€œToday, I get to show you granite. Today, I show you what it’s like to
skate
on granite.”
    The bus dropped us off on the hill by the main road. We walked down the turnoff that led to Willis Harbor. In the distance you could see the sea sparkling in the sunlight.
    Jasmine seemed dazzled by how beautiful it was. “This is amazing.”
    We were back in my world now. A powerful mix of so many emotions swept through me that I felt dizzy. I was home.
    Just then, a truck came up behind us. It was loud—no muffler. I recognized the sound. It was Reggie, an old fisherman friend of my father’s. I turned and waved as he approached. The truck roared to a stop.
    â€œQuinn,” he said. “Good to see you, lad. Hop in.”
    I smiled at Jasmine to let her know it was okay. We opened the squeaky door and got into