“Why this sudden change?” he asked, eyeing her curiously.
“Well, I guess you could say I saw the light,” Casey replied.
“Did they push you out? Is that why you’re here? Lemme guess. If they hadn’t gotten rid of you, you wouldn’t be kissing ass right now, would you?”
“Jeremy! What the hell?” Regan cried.
“No, Regan,” Casey said. “It’s okay. This has been a long time coming between the two of us.”
“You fucking better believe it has,” Jeremy replied.
Casey stood up straight, lengthening her spine as far as it would go, filling her lungs with all the oxygen she could to expel the tough words that needed to be said.
“They didn’t kick me out,” she began. “But if they had, I wouldn’t have cared. I hated that group toward the end. I hated what it did to me. I’m not shirking responsibility for the way I acted, though, so close your mouth.”
Jeremy clamped his lips shut.
“I take full responsibility for the person I became. But don’t stand there and act like you didn’t know me all those years ago. You remember that girl. I was a good person, and you know it. She disappeared for a long time, but she came back.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“I’m not asking you to, Jeremy. I can’t make you believe me. I can only make you see with my actions.”
“Why did you change to begin with?”
“Because my life sucked. I hated being a dork. I had the most terrible time when my parents divorced. I was prime for manipulation.”
“You keep wanting to blame other people—”
“I’m not blaming anyone! But I know when I’m taken advantage of! And I was so desperate to be popular. I thought I’d kill for it! So when they ushered me in, I didn’t refuse. I thought it was the answer. I thought it’d make me happy.”
“And now?”
“What do you think? I’m wrecked! You know what it’s like to purge all that darkness? You know what that feels like?”
“You know what it feels like to be on the other side of that darkness?” he roared.
“Yeah, I do!” Casey screamed. “I was there in middle school with all the rest of you! I was teased and tormented over the dumbest shit! My glasses, for Christ’s sake! I mean, could it get any more clichéd than that? You know how much I begged my mom for contacts?”
“Oh, poor you,” Jeremy said. “How did you ever move on from the glasses?”
“Fuck you, Jeremy. Don’t trivialize my hurt. We all hurt differently,” Casey spat.
“You’re right. We do. And some of us have more legitimate hurt than others.”
“Yeah? What’s yours?” she challenged.
He thrust his face in hers and pointed to his scar. “This, you little bitch.”
“Back it up,” Regan demanded, shoving her body between them. She was afraid of a fistfight.
“Call me all the names you want if that’ll make you feel better,” Casey said.
“It won’t! I don’t even know why I’m here listening to your pathetic sob story!”
“You’re here to pick me up for our date,” Regan pointed out.
Jeremy ignored Regan. “You shit on everyone. You decide you don’t wanna do that anymore. And we’re all supposed to embrace you now with open arms? Fuck. That. Shit.”
“All right, that’s it,” Casey fumed, bringing her fists to her face in a guard position. She lunged for Jeremy.
“No!” Regan yelled, grabbing her wrists and pushing her back. “Casey, back up! Jeremy, go sit down over there!”
They didn’t move.
“Fucking do what I say!” Regan screeched.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Mr. Walters yelled, throwing the bedroom door open.
“Dad, hello! We have rules in this house!” Regan cried.
“Don’t talk to me about rules when you’re about to referee a fistfight,” he said, noting Casey’s power stance.
“I’m trying to prevent it!” Regan argued.
Mr. Walters looked at Jeremy. “Really, Jer? You’re gonna go at it with a girl?”
Jeremy bristled. “No. I would never hit a girl.”
“Good. Gives me the advantage,” Casey said, and lunged for Jeremy again.
Regan held her back.
“Casey, sit down on that bed!” Mr. Walters demanded. “Right now! Jeremy, get in that chair!”
“We’re late for the movie . . .”
“NOW!”
The teens reluctantly took their seats.
Mr. Walters drew in his breath. “All right, then. We’ve got a best friend and a boyfriend who clearly hate each other. How do we make this work?”
“A schedule,” Casey said.
“I get Fridays and Saturdays,” Jeremy said.
“Those are prime days. You can’t have both prime days,” Casey argued.
“Oh, I think I can. You treated my girlfriend like shit for months on end. I think that warrants Fridays and Saturdays.”
“I apologized to your girlfriend.”
“Words meaning nothing.”
“They mean everything,” Regan reminded him.
For the first time in ages, he thought of his red notebook and all the words housed within the worn pages. He couldn’t argue with her. They meant everything.
“I want Fridays!” he heard Casey cry.
“All right, stop it!” Regan said. “This is ridiculous! Jeremy, you have every right to be mad at Casey. She’s done terrible things, but she’s owned up to them. She APOLOGIZED to you, and you don’t have to accept it, but don’t sit there saying her words mean nothing.”
“She has to show me,” he said bitterly.
“I can’t show you in one night!” Casey argued. “It’s gonna take a while.”
“That’s fine. I’ll wait,” he said.
Silence.
Casey sighed. “Then can we, at least, come to a truce?”
Mr. Walters raised his eyebrow at Jeremy. Jeremy grunted.
“You’re not gonna go away, are you?” he asked.
“Never,” Casey replied. “I will never do that to my friend again. You’d have to put a bullet through my heart to keep me away.”
Jeremy tensed, tugging on his fingerless gloves. He saw Casey’s name fade from the list of targets. She wasn’t cleared, but she was definitely in limbo.
“Fine. Truce,” he mumbled.