Gabriel, Julia, and Sunny stare up at me.
“I messed up—big-time. But the truth is, I messed up way before I went back to the history center with Cam. I shouldn’t have been working on the hunt in the first place without Cam’spermission. I shouldn’t have pulled you in and pushed him out, then pulled him back in and pushed you guys out. This was always his thing, and I was petty, and I wanted to beat him at it. I thought if I found the treasure and used it for my application to Paris…I could finally get away from thinking about the time when he and I used to be friends. But that’s not how the past works, is it?”
Julia smiles.
“We’re supposed to learn from the past,” I say. “Like, we have to first know it, so we can understand it. I think that’s why Gilbert Baker made this hunt. And it’s funny, because I did learn a lot about Harvey and San Francisco…but I was also using the whole thing as a distraction. I didn’t want to look into my own past. But I’m doing that now.”
I hear a small snort from one of the chairs. Gabriel and Sunny both turn toward Julia, who is nearly shaking as she presses a balled-up fist against her mouth.
“Are you laughing or crying?” I ask.
“I’m sorry.” Julia takes her hand away and dabs at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I was laughing, because—well—you’re totally doing the Wizard of Oz thing right now.”
“I’m…what?”
Julia sniffs, beaming. She holds up the file and notebook I’ve just given her. “This is going to give me the courage to find my own magic, right?”
I nod, hesitant. “Yes…”
“And you didn’t exactly hand Gabriel a diploma, but you did just hand him a college guide. And Sunny—”
Gabriel gasps and brings his hands to either cheek. “You gave her that girl’s number! Like a heart for the Tin Man!”
Sunny cackles. She waves the note in the air. “Can you hear that? It’s ticking!”
“Hang on,” I say, folding my arms. “So, I’m the Wizard, then? Isn’t he the bad guy?”
“Kind of,” Gabriel says. “Depending on your perspective.”
I groan and plop down into my own chair. “Oh my God. Iamthe Wizard. How am I both Ian and the Wizard?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” Julia says, still clearly amused. She gives me a hug, wrapping her arms around both me and the chair. “For the record, if I do one of these new hunts, I definitely want your help. All of your help.”
Gabriel joins the group hug. “Shovels and Hoes forever,” he says into our shoulders.
I pull back and look at him. “Excuse me?”
He holds up his phone screen. “Oh, that’s the new name of our group chat. I’m going to change it now.”
“Maybe don’t put our group name in your application to Paris,” I say.
“I won’t!” he says, mock offended.
I grin. Something about his voice makes me know, right then, that he’s really going to apply. My heart hurts as it swells, like a sore muscle flexing.
It’s different from the kind of pain I’ve felt with Cam over the last two years. There’s the kind of pain you get from pressing on a bruise or accidentally rubbing hand sanitizer over a paper cut. It’s sharp and acidic, something to breathethrough, to get over, to move beyond and never look back. As I look at Gabriel and Julia and Sunny in front of me now, I feel the kind of pain I want to get better at. I want to keep caring about people like this. I want to be cared for by people. Even if we’ll hurt each other sometimes. I want to keep trying again and again.
Julia tucks the files into her backpack. Gabriel hugs the brochure to his chest.
“You know,” he says. “There’s a saying about treasure hunts. ‘Even if you don’t find gold, the real treasure—’ ”
Sunny turns to him. “Don’t you dare,” she growls. “I cannot handle that level of corniness right now.”
But Gabriel just winks at Sunny. “ ‘Therealtreasure is—’ ”
Sunny claps a hand over Gabriel’s mouth and muffles his voice. Julia and I grin at each other. We have to finish the corny quote for him.
“ ‘The friends you make along the way!’ ”
