“The hotel with the football-game thing,” I say, which doesn’t seem to clarify it for him yet. “The tradition. I’m sure Madison went last year.”
He scratches his head but nods slowly, still out of the loop. “That kind of rings a bell. Did you ask your mom?”
“I just decided to go today.”
“Oh, I see…”
I step around him to slide my shoes on. Should I have asked permission? Since I’ve been living back home, we haven’t really specified any rules. “And I need to hurry. The bus leaves, like, now.”
“Um.” Dad seems unsure but doesn’t stop my leaving. Maybe he’s relieved I’m finally partaking in Amber activities. He offers a feeble “have fun” as I race down the drive to my car. I throw my bag in the passenger seat and hit the road.
Four nineteen. I curse, getting stuck at a long red light at the second-to-last intersection before the school. I’m so close. Another minute ticks by. I reach for my phone to text Jackson, but the light turns green, so I keep my hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. I’m almost there.
They can’t expect everyone to be exactly on time, can they? There’s no chance I’m the only one who had to stop home first and is running a little bit late.
Picturing Jackson waiting outside the school for me, I squeeze through a yellow light and take a deep breath.Four twenty-five.I might make it thererighton time.
Finding a quick parking spot, I grab my phone and notice several missed calls from my mom. I guess Dad told her I left for the night. Do they really think I’m going to answer this?
ELLIE:
What do you need? I’ve told you before, I don’t do phone calls.
If you need me, just text.
But then my mom calls again. They’ll never learn.
Chapter Twenty-two
Jackson
My duffel bagis on the ground at my feet. Darius and I are standing next to the bus that’s boarding in front of Amber High. I rub my hands together, then slide them in my jacket pockets. I’d brought my stuff with me to school today, but Ellie mentioned something about having to stop at home. And now she’s still not back here…
I’m swaying a bit and could really use a seat, but we’re about to be sitting on a bus for two hours, so it doesn’t make sense to wait down on the curb or something. Just in case, I packed the anti-dizziness and anti-nausea meds. I haven’t taken either yet today. They don’t seem to work, only make me sleepy, which would put a damper on tonight’s festivities.
“Are you sure she’s coming?” Darius asks as he shifts his bag to the opposite shoulder.
I stare into the parking lot, not seeing any cars arriving. Maybe she changed her mind. “It’s okay; you can get on the bus.”
He checks his phone. “We do leave in three minutes.”
“Right.”
I blink a few times, staring off into the distance at a red car, trying to discern why my right eye seems funny. Cupping a hand over it and then my left eye, nothing really seems different, but something I can’t place seems off. Like there’s a darkness encroaching around the periphery. It might be time to get another exam and see if I need glasses. Especially after how difficult it was to see driving in the dark the other night.
Darius continues to wait beside me. “I haven’t really asked, but how have things been going with the new girl? Ellie, I mean. How do you even, like, talk to her?”
Most of the time Ellie and I have spent together has been on our own. Traipsing through the woods during the 5K. Eating lunch in the hallway outside the teachers’ lounge. Even our desks in study hall are off in the corner alone. But outside of our own little bubble, it’s like we’re from totally different worlds. I can’t really imagine bringing her to chill with the soccer guys or her taking me to hang out with friends from her old school.
Yes, Ellie and I have made communication work, but how does it go when other people are around? Maybe that’s why she didn’t want to come.
“Well, I—” I look up and see Ellie rushing across the parking lot toward us. “You made it!” I say as Ellie joins us.
She’s changed out of the skirt she was wearing earlier today at school into jeans and an oversized dark green sweatshirt. Instead of the clips she usually uses to hold her hair back, there’s two small braids tucked behind her ears and devices. The setting sunlight casts a glow behind her, almost straight out of a movie. She looks beautiful.
“So are you two gonna share a bed or…?” Ellie asks with a smirk, staring at me and Darius.
My eyes go wide. I really hadn’t thought about the logistics of sharing the room. I figured we’d all just go to the game, hit up the after-parties, and then crash back in the room, exhausted and not overly concerned with any of this. But now the side-glare I’m getting from my cousin says that I’m not the one he wants to share a bed with tonight.
