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Chapter One
Tess
“Wake up, bitches!” Jade squeals, jumping on the bed where Morgan and I were fast asleep approximately ten seconds ago. “Last day of high school!”
I groan as I force myself to sit up, head throbbing painfully and stomach rolling.What the hell?Jade looks at me strangely as I slap a hand over my mouth and practically shove her out of my way to fling myself out of Morgan’s bed.
“Seriously, Tess? You had like two wine coolers last night.” Jade’s voice is equal parts judgment and concern, just like a true bestie.
I wave her off as I rip the bedroom door open and dart for the hall bathroom.
I brush past someone—Morgan’s brother, Hunter, probably—and barely manage to mutter, “Sorry,” under my breath. The pain in my head graduates from a dull ache to a painful stab. I hear Hunter say something behind me, but I can barely see straight at this point, much less pretend to hold a conversation while it feels like my internal organs are about to spew all over their parents’ pristine marble bathroom.
This is why we can’t have nice things.
I barely manage to lift the toilet seat lid before throwing up all the junk food we splurged on last night in celebration of the end of our high school careers.
I expect to feel better after emptying my stomach, but I’m still dry heaving several minutes later when there’s a soft knock on the door.
“Tess? Are you okay?” Morgan calls out, her voice sleepy.
The best I can manage is a groan in response.
She pushes the door open since I didn’t bother to lock it and eyes me with a pitying look. “I told Jade it’s probably food poisoning or nerves but—”
“Tomorrow is my birthday,” I finish for her, nodding because I should have expected this. We spent too many years growing up listening to my sister’s stories about turning eighteen to pretend to be surprised.
After Morgan’s birthday passed relatively easily, I, for some reason, decided that I would be in the clear too. I’m the last of us to turn eighteen. It sort of felt like maybe the universe owed me something because of that, but the joke’s on me.
I feel like my body is trying desperately to turn itself inside-out.
“I can call your brother if you want,” she offers.
“No. No way.” It’s been fourteen years, and my brother is still obsessed with his own eighteenth. The last thing I want to do is talk to him about mine. I would rather ask him to give me the birds and the bees talk again.
The memory makes me shudder.
“What about my mom? I mean, she could at least call you in sick to school.”
“I’m not missing graduation day, Morgan,” I tell her, painstakingly rising to my feet despite the stabbing pain that seems to be taking over most of my body. I have to remind myself this is only for one day. By this time tomorrow, the pain will be a distant memory as I finally come into my own.
“Tess, c’mon, you can’t…” She trails off when she sees the look of sheer determination on my face. She caves. “Alright, well at least sit down and let me do your makeup. There’s got to be something we can do to make you look more, uhm, alive.”
She gives me an apologetic smile.
I make the mistake of glancing in the mirror. I cringe when I see what she’s working with. My skin is alarmingly pale, making the dark circles under my eyes—a permanent fixture of mine—even more pronounced than usual.
For the first time in my life, I curse the universe for not letting me be born later. Just an extra day or two so that I could safely deal withthison any day other than the day of my high school graduation.
“It’ll get more bearable,” Morgan promises as she starts to lay out a small fortune in makeup on the bathroom counter.
I close the lid of the toilet and sit as she begins to fuss over me. It only takes a few minutes before Jade slides in sheepishly, much calmer than this morning’s bed-shaking wake-up call. She skirts around Morgan and takes a seat on the edge of the bathtub facing me.
“Sorry if my bouncing made you a little seasick,” she half jokes, though the guilt is clear on her face.
“Don’t worry,” I reassure her, “I think it’s just the nerves of graduation and my birthday all happening back-to-back.”
She breathes a small sigh of relief at being let off the hook. “Yeah, eighteen finally.”
