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Eve shrugged. “Being smart is overrated. Of course she’s rethinking it, because she’d miss me too much.”
“We can visit each other,” I reminded her.
“Not that often, though, right? How much are tickets to California?” Asher interrupted suddenly, making me pause.
“I don’t know, but we could make it work somehow.” The words rang false, even to me.
“Sure, these things start out with the best intentions, but we all know Lily’s gonna forget all about us,” Marcus quipped.
I gave the group a lopsided smile, aware of the tension radiating off Cayden, and forced myself to eat lunch.
* * *
After a Sunday morning skate at Miller’s Pond with my parents, Eve, and Asher, I collapsed in my mom’s car and grinned at her as she got in. She had an excited air about her today, and it seemed like there was more to it than just nerves about the game.
“I have a surprise for you,” she said quickly as she pulled out onto the busy road, well, as busy as Hade Harbor ever got.
“Really?”
“Really, and I just can’t keep it in!” She beamed at me. “Okay, I’ll tell you. I called your dream school the other day and managed to wangle us an early admissions campus tour,” she said, chuckling at the stunned expression on my face.
“When?”
“We have to leave tomorrow afternoon,” she said.
“Tomorrow? But the game is tomorrow, the important one,” I said, my chest feeling hollow.
“I know, but your dad understands. As long as I call him before and say good luck, he’s fine.”
“I don’t know what to say.” My voice was muted. It felt like it was coming from very far away.
“Say you’re excited!”
“I’m excited,” I parroted and then flushed. “I really am, honestly.” I was aware that I sounded anything but. “I just thought Dad really wanted us at the game. The scouts are there to watch him, too, right?”
“Yes, they are, but these campus tours don’t happen all the time, and you don’t have long before you have to accept your early admission spot. You need to be sure…you’re just as important as Dad, sweetheart,” she reminded me.
I nodded. My throat felt constricted. The truth was, I’d been looking forward to going to the game. The thought of flying across the country tomorrow felt jarring and unwelcome.
“You need to see the place, walk the halls, see if you feel at home there,” she continued.
I nodded, the subdued feeling not fading as I watched the countryside pass by outside the window. I should be excited as hell to get to go and see my dream school tomorrow, shouldn’t I?
* * *
That night, I sat in my bed and smoothed the cover of my faded journal, the one that Cayden had read and published. All my secrets exposed. Everyone seemed to think it had been a cruel prank, and that was fine. It had blown over. Still, I could remember the white-hot terror and hurt that I’d felt when it had been exposed. It had been a moment of change for me in so many ways. Sure, it had embarrassed me, but it had also forced me to find my voice. Could I really forgive Cayden for what he’d done?Hadn’t I already?
Tonight, he’d gone to his room early, exhausted from training and trying to prepare for the big game. He was still injured, and now he had to play his most important game to date.
I opened my journal and sighed as I took in the last thing I’d written, the entry from before Cayden had set his sights on me and exploded my world.
I felt like a different girl than the one who had written those dreamy, guilt-ridden fantasies and panicked about her parents finding out about the early admissions application.
Everything had changed in a matter of weeks, including me.
A soft knock pulled me from my thoughts, and my heart leapt at the thought that he was at my door.
My foster brother.
