I sat at my desk, well, sort of away from it, since my belly was getting so big. Little Jaxlyn pressed her foot up against my side, right as the AC kicked on. I took another spoonful of my fudge brownie ice cream, right as Jen and Karly popped up on the screen.

"Hey, preggers!" Jen said.

"Uh-oh. Someone let her have more ice cream," Karly said.

"Shh...this is only my second bowl today," I said. "So what's up with you guys?"

"We're going to our first protest!" Jen said, waving her arms in the air.

"Oh, the one downtown tomorrow?" I asked.

"That's the one," Karly said.

"Hell yes, girl! Because we need to do something about all the unarmed black people getting killed in this country!" Jen said.

"Aww man. I wish I could be there with you guys," I said.

"Wait, you're not coming?" Jen asked.

"Jen, she's pregnant. It's a risk for her," Karly said.

"Nuh-uh! It says right on Facebook that everyone has to wear a mask and stay apart. It's probably way safer than going to any of the big box stores!" Jen said, pouting. "Come on, Aster! We haven't seen you at all and we miss our bestie."

"I...I know. I would love to get out of here, but for me it's different. If I can stay home, I'm going to. Plus, I have to work," I said. I watched as Karly rolled her eyes. "What, Karly? I know you wanna say something."

"Well...I was just thinking...you go to work in a musty, old flower shop with poor ventilation multiple times a week."

"Right. Where I stay in a back room away from customers. Which, by the way, we only let two people in at a time," I said.

"Anyway, do you want to see the sign I made?" Jen asked.

"You guys are making signs?" I asked.

"Imma get it!" Jen said, going off screen.

"She's pretty proud of it," Karly said.

"And, ta-da!" Jen said, holding the big sign up to the screen.

It read "Racism SUCKS!" with the SUCKS in big, bulky letters that were covered in pink glitter.

I laughed. "Of course you put glitter on it, Jen!"

"I mean, you gotta," she said.

I looked down and saw that my phone was buzzing on my desk.

"Oh, someone's popular," Karly said.

"Nah, it's just my Aunt. It's probably flower shop related. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Let me know how the protest goes!"

"You'll see it! It's going right past the shop. If they let you out of the back room," Jen said.

"They probably won't," Karly said.

"Just let a girl dream, would 'ya?" Jen said. "Okay, bye Aster!"

"Bye you guys!" I said.

The screen went black and I picked up the phone.

"Oh, hey Aunt Cathy," I said.

"Hi Aster. I'm so sorry to bug you right now, but I think your parents have their phones charging in the other room. Can you fetch them for me?"

"Uh...sure. Give me a second to get up," I said.

I got to my feet, took the phone, and went downstairs. As I walked through the kitchen, I saw both of their phones on the counter. I sighed and went through the living room to the new deck.

My parents were sitting in their new lounge chairs, my Mom with a gossip magazine and Dad with a sci-fi novel. Faye was sitting in one of the swivel chairs that came with our outdoor dining set, totally focused on whatever game she was playing on her Switch.

I walked in between my parents and said, "Hey, Aunt Cathy wants to talk to you."

"Just put her on speaker," Dad said, turning a page.

I pressed the button on the screen of my phone.

"Yes, Cathy. What is it?" Mom asked.

"It's the shop," she said.

"We figured. What happened? Is the ceiling leaking again?" Mom asked.

"No...it's not that. Did any of you hear about some big protest tomorrow?" Aunt Cathy asked.

"Yeah. It's supposed to go right past the shop! My friends are going!" I said.

"Wait, what protest?" Mom asked, an edge to her voice.

"It's for Black Lives Matter," I said. "Because of that guy who got killed a few days ago."

"Wait, which one?" Dad asked.

"What? The one who was high and tried to fight a cop?" Mom asked, her voice growing louder with every word.

"Mom, what in the conspiracy theory are you talking about? The cop literally suffocated him for minutes!" I said.

"That's what they want you to believe. It's all part of their agenda," she said.

"Okay, I'm just going to ignore every single thing you said because it's all ridiculous and I can't even," I said. "So, what about the protest, Aunt Cathy?"

"The whole street is starting to board up. Everyone is putting up plywood," she said.

"Good. Go get some before the store runs out," Mom said.

"No way! That's totally defeating the purpose and also mega racist. No one boarded up when there was that big animal rights thing last year, but now, because it's a protest about black lives, everyone is putting up plywood?" I said.

"I'm on Aster's side here. Putting boards all over the place might send a message that we're somehow against these people. My grandfather opened this shop when Jim Crow was still in effect, and he made a point to be inclusive to all customers. I don't want our shop to say, 'hey, we don't trust these protestors because of who they are.' I think we should leave everything as it is, because I don't assume people are violent or bad because of who they are," Dad said.

"That sounds good to me," Aunty Cathy said.

"You all are out of your minds," Mom said.

"I hate to break it to you honey, but it looks like you're outnumbered. That's the way it goes," Dad said. "We'll see you tomorrow morning, Cathy."

"See you guys," she said, hanging up.

I didn't want to talk to anyone and just went straight up to my room. Every time something bad happened, Mom was always so delved into her conspiracy theory news sites and shows. No matter how many times we tried to fact-check all of her crazy claims, she just wouldn't have it. Sometimes it really just boggled my mind. How could anybody live that way?

The next morning, it was all hands on deck at the shop. Dad, being business-savvy, had a strategy to sell to the customers he knew we'd be seeing, since our regulars wouldn't be coming through the closed streets. He did all his selling from the sidewalk, so Mom, Faye, and I could work on our projects at the nice, sunny front desk.

"Roses! Lilies! Five bucks each! Great to take to the memorial at the capital!" Dad said, waving his flowers to the hundreds, probably even thousands, in the crowd.

"He's running out. I think we should wrap up some more," I said.

"I'm on it! Almost done!" Faye said.

I watched as she put on her mask and ran the flowers wrapped in messy cellophane out to Dad. She ran back in and started on the next round. The crowd kept going and going.

"Faye?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Remember to look up from what you're doing every once in a while and watch the people outside. They're making history, and we have a front row seat!"