“And listen,” I whisper, “I forgive you for the…what you said before the crash…” I can’t even say the words out loud, like speaking them might make them real. “We’ll talk about it when you’re awake.”
I kiss him, a long, heartfelt kiss on his jaw, where he’s already developing a five o’clock shadow.
Hopefully, by the time Jason wakes up he’ll have changed his mind about the breakup. But there’s a thought percolating in my mind, like a slow-kindling fire. It’s what the nurse said about Jason possibly hearing everything we’re saying.
You have a job to do, the nurse said, and maybe she’s right. Maybe this is on me.
Maybe I can fix everything that went wrong with us so by the time he comes out of this coma, it makes absolutely no sense for us not to be together.
All I have to do is figure out why he felt he had to end things.
All I have to do is read an unconscious boy’s mind.
Three
I don’t remember falling asleep, but I must drift off for a few minutes.
I’m still lying on Jason’s bed when, without warning, his door swings open and what seems like all of Sterlingwood comes bustling in. First, the Riddicks: Jay’s mom, Cara, and dad, Rhett. His uncle Tommy and little cousin, Joey. Then, the soccer team, complete with coach and assistant coach. There’s fourteen players, and they’re all dressed in their soccer uniforms.
Great.
I realize that some kind nurse must have let me sleep, as I climb down off the bed, adjusting my dress. I must look awful with my smudged-off makeup and no-longer-controlled edges. Both coaches squeeze my shoulders, and all of Jay’s friends hug me and tell me how sorry they are, how glad they are that I’m okay.
None of his friends say anything about Jason having broken my heart. Honestly, none of them even look like they have a clue, and I start to wonder if it’s possible Jason told no one what he was planning to do. My first thought would have been to get his friends to tell me what he told them.
“Zadie, he’s coming on back to you. Just give him time,” Coach Kyle says, and something about his ferociously tender confidence makes my stomach twist.
I give him a sheepish smile. “Thanks.”
“Fellas, thank you for wearing your uniforms and coming out so late and on such short notice.” Coach Kyle addresses the team like they’re in a mid-game huddle and not an intensive care unit. “I thought it would only be appropriate to bring Jason some of our team spirit, because he needs it right now more than ever.”
A few people yell “Hell yeah” and echo his words. I quietly slip out of the room and head to the family waiting area, feeling the pinch of guilt under my skin. I know that technically I’m not doing anything wrong in letting everyone think I’m still Jason’s girlfriend. Jason and I were broken up for maybe ten minutes. That can’t be worth announcing. Plus, if I have my way, we’re probably not even staying broken up.
Still, maybe I should try to tellsomeone. I find Amber in the waiting room.
“Ambs, I have to tell you something,” I say, after I’ve apologized for abandoning her and falling asleep in Jay’s room. She’s flipping through a magazine next to a vending-machine feast of chips, pretzels, and candy.
“Don’t even worry,” Amber says, grinning for the first time since I woke up. “I already sent the word out and everybody’s going to look for the ring…”
I think I’ve misheard her.
“Wait, what?” I frown.
“The ring. Sterlingwood is on it.”
Sterlingwood is like an entire human body. It functions as a unit, thinks as one group. If she says the town is on it, then thetownis on it.
Dread creeps over me as she continues to explain.
“I told everyone Jason gave you a promise ring but it got lost in the wreck,” she says. “I put it out on social.”
“Amber!” I’m horrified. “Why would you do that? Are youcrazy?”
“You’ll find it faster this way. Maybe even before Jason wakes up—”
I bury my face in my hands, every cell in my body buzzing with horror. Now what am I supposed to do?
Either I play along and hope Jason follows my lead when he wakes up—if he wakes up—or I have to tell the truth and out myself as both a liar and the girl who wasn’t worthy of Jason Riddick.
