Cade unhooked Bekah and set her carefully on the floor.
“I have to tell you something.”
“What?” She looked at him, her eyes shining and her eyebrows raised, like she was expecting a surprise. Like he was going to whip out a box tied in a big bow, and she was the one lucky enough to open it.
She was so naive. So hopeless.
“We can’t go.”
She blinked. “What?”
Cade turned his back to her and looked out the window, onto the lawns they couldn’t afford anymore. The fountain in the higher lawn was running low—barely a trickle erupted from it, and then it ran slowly down to the base. A couple more days without rain and it wouldn’t run at all.
“My dad says I should stay here and take a course for college credit. Get ahead, you know.” Cade’s voice was quiet, calm. Like he didn’t mind staying. Like it didn’t matter.
Because really, it didn’t, Cade reasoned. There were worse things than missing a stupid trip, even if you’ve been planning it and looking forward to it and finally, finally getting away from your father, just for a little while.
“It makes sense for me to stay here.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the couch.
Outside, the lawn crew had just started. There were hedges to trim and the grass was just a tad long. The faint hum of lawn mowers reached his ears.
“But we’ve been planning for this for ages! Don’t you even care?”
Cade shrugged. It wasn’t that he didn’t care. It was that he didn’t really want to care. “I guess I care.” But he only said it because it seemed right.
“Did your father put you up to this?” Bekah asked, her finger in his face. “Was it his idea to cancel the trip? He said it was fine. He said he didn’t mind. He can’t go back on that, Cade. He can’t.”
“No. It was my idea. Dad mentioned the course, yeah, but it was my idea to call off the trip.”
Cade hated himself a little for the lie. He tried to take it back, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. The words weren’t there.
Bekah stared at him, and her mouth dropped open, just slightly. “I don’t believe that. You wouldn’t just change your mind like that, Cade.”
“I did. I’m being responsible.”
“You’re being an asshole!” Bekah shouted. “This trip was important to us!” Her eyes grew large and wet, and she sucked in her lips.
Cade shrugged. “Sorry, Bekah,” he said. “We can do it another time.”
She shook her head. Her face was an angry red now, and the color clashed with the soft flame of her curls. The tears that had been welling overflowed onto her cheeks. “No. No, Cade, we can’t.”
Cade frowned. Where was the easygoing girl who let him do anything he wanted? Where was the Bekah who always laughed and told him it was fine? Where was the Play-Doh Bekah who would always rearrange for him?
“Why not?” he asked.
Bekah pulled at her hair. “Because those are the kinds of trips that you take with your girlfriend, Cade.”
“And you’re my girlfriend. So?” Cade reached for her, just like he always did, waiting for her to melt into him. But she stepped out of his grasp.
“So nothing.” She pawed at her face with the back of her hands. “I’m not your girlfriend anymore.”
And Bekah Clark, Cade’s second-favorite person in the world, grabbed her backpack off the table and left, crying.
And Cade was alone.
Ivy
Tuesday, June 9
“Hey, Ivy. Do you remember that time freshman year when you had to take a pregnancy test? Wasn’t that hilarious?”
Ivy’s former best friend, Klaire, grinned at her from across the table.
Ivy’s father coughed and thumped his chest.
“Ivy?” Mrs. McWhellen asked, touching her daughter’s arm. “Is that true?”
Ivy glared at Klaire. This is what the hussy chose to bring up at a family dinner. The absolute worst thing that Klaire could have come up with.
But then, Klaire had never been creative. That was why she’d been Ivy’s second-in-command.
Klaire shouldn’t have even been allowed to set foot in Ivy’s home, but Ivy’s older brother, Daniel, was engaged to Klaire’s older sister, Laila, and the McWhellens had decided to invite the Petrusky girls over to celebrate Daniel’s recent promotion. Apparently he was a Big Deal down at the precinct.
The whole thing made Ivy want to vomit. Why did Laila have to invite Klaire? Certainly Klaire must have told her that Ivy wasn’t her friend anymore.
Everyone knew by now.
“Sure it’s true,” Klaire poked, smiling at Ivy. “Remember? You used the girls’ locker room. We skipped PE.”
Ivy had underestimated her. Klaire was clearly willing to go further than she had ever imagined. Further than almost killing her beneath a vending machine.