Chapter 13
It’s after seven by the time Livi finally gets here. I’ve been pacing by the living room window, watching for her mom’s Prius to pull into the driveway and drop her off. Getting through today was a complete nightmare, and as soon as I saw her after school, I nearly burst into tears. But I couldn’t tell her anything there, not with all the people around.
Instead, I begged her to spend the night tonight. Thank God, it’s Friday and I won’t have to go back to homeroom for another two days. Even then, I’m considering heading to the courthouse and legally changing my last name so they’ll put me in a different homeroom class. A little dramatic, yes, but then I’ll never have to see Gavin again.
I rush to the front door and pull it open just as Livi walks up. I wave at her mom as she backs out of the driveway.
“Have you eaten?” Livi asks, holding up a pizza box. “I haven’t, so I got something on the way.”
The smell of Magic Mark’s pepperoni pizza makes my mouth water, which is a nice feeling because I haven’t eaten all day. After being completely blindsided in the office first thing in the morning, my appetite disappeared. But now it’s back, and I take the pizza box from my best friend.
“I’m starving. Let’s sneak this to my room.”
“I heard that,” Mom says, appearing in the foyer.
Shit. She puts one hand on her hip and gives me a Mom Look, then she turns to Livi. “Hi, Livi. How are you?”
“I’m doing okay. I wish summer break wasn’t so short.”
Mom laughs. “Enjoy it while you can. Once you’re out of school, it’s work every day.”
All this small talk is killing me. I’ve already felt like a bundle of anxiety and anger since this morning, and I’m tired of holding onto it. I need my best friend.
“Let’s eat fast. I have way too many things to tell you,” I say.
Mom sighs. “Oh, what the hell. You can eat that in your room, but if you spill even a crumb of it, I’ll be pissed. And you’ll attract roaches, which should be punishment enough.”
Mom has a very strict no eating in the rooms policy. I blink. “Really?”
She nods. “Sure. You’re almost an adult so I’m going to go crazy and trust you to keep your room clean. Don’t spill anything.”
“We won’t,” Livi says. “Thank you, Ms. Voss.”
We grab some drinks and napkins and then head into my room. As soon as the door closes behind me, Livi’s eyes widen. “Tell meeverything.”
Everything is a lot. I’m still trying to process everything. Livi has only been caught up just a small bit on the date I had on Wednesday because I’d called her right after and gushed to her. Then we just haven’t had time to catch up lately.
I sit on the floor so as not to get pizza grease on my bed by accident, and open the pizza box between us. “Gavin is the one who ruined my greenhouse.”
Just saying the words feels wrong. Impossible. Like I’m living in some parallel version of my life where that amazing date with Gavin never actually happened.
But I was there, and I saw his face, saw the fear beneath his eyes when he thought his parents would find out. I don’t know why I stood up for him like I did—he certainly doesn’t deserve it. But he just seemed so unbelievably desperate in the moment, that I had to ask the principal not to tell his parents.
Livi’s jaw falls open. “You’re kidding, right?”
I shake my head.
“But…Gavin is the guy you went on a date with?”
I nod.
“And…. he’s also the guy who ruined your greenhouse?”
Another nod.
Her brows pull together. She takes a hair tie off her wrist and pulls back her golden curls, tightening them into a bun on the top of her head. She hardly ever does that unless she’s at home because she likes to keep her hair looking gorgeous in public. But this isn’t public, and this is some serious shit we’re about to talk about. The hair thing seems necessary.
“I don’t understand,” she says, staring at the untouched pizza between us. “I mean, it happened before you met him, right? So he didn’t know it was yours.”
