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“Yes. You can watch the ceremony, and then we can go and get something to eat afterwards, if you want. Get to know each other.”
“I’d love that,” she said, smiling shyly. “But… are you sure?”
“Yes. But we might not be alone. My boyfriend will probably want to come and get to know you too.”
Skye nodded. “Jensen, right? I saw him on TV, when you two did that big interview for CNB.”
“Yeah, that’s him. Jensen Lockhart,” I said, smiling faintly. “We live together, so we basically do everything together.”
“I think I also heard you say something about living with a couple of other people too. Is that right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, we live with our friends Addy and Piper. Piper owns the house.”
Most assets belonging to Rosmerta Society members had been seized by the government after our exposé, and that included most of the glitzy mansions along Cliffside Drive, like Cliffside Manor and also the Macintosh place down at the end. However, Zara and Ali had been smart enough to put their house in Piper’s name years ago—just in case—so it technically belonged to her even though she wasn’t legally old enough to officially own property yet. That meant it had to be held in trust until she turned eighteen, but she was still allowed to live there.
Once that was all settled with the lawyers, she invited me, Jensen, and Addy to live with her, seeing as we had nowhere else to go and needed somewhere to stay while we finished the school year.
At first, it felt quite daunting to be living in the same house where I’d almost been driven mad by the society’s nightmarish scheming, but eventually, the four of us managed to create enough happy memories in the place to overpower all of the negative ones.
Now, whenever I looked up at the mansion, I felt the same sense of reverence I experienced when I arrived in Vanderwild Bay all those months ago and spied the soaring spires and widow’s walk for the very first time. Houses weren’t inherently bad or good. It was the people who lived in them that made the difference.
Skye looked down at my belly and smiled. “How have things been with this one?” she asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I had a ton of morning sickness at the start, but it’s not too bad now, as long as I eat regularly,” I said.
She nodded slowly. “I was the same when I was pregnant with you,” she said. She paused and tilted her chin. “I always craved the strangest things.”
“Me too. You won’t believe the stuff I’ve been eating.”
“For me, the weirdest thing was fried meat with strawberry yo—”
“One plate of fried chorizo with strawberry yoghurt, coming right up,” Jensen said, stepping up to us with a plate. He looked between me and Skye. “Oops. Sorry to interrupt.”
I snorted with amusement, and Skye started laughing.
“I feel like I’ve missed something,” Jensen said, eyes flickering with confusion.
I accepted the plate with one hand and patted his arm with the other. “Jensen, this is Skye Munroe. She came to watch our graduation.”
Jensen’s eyes widened. “Oh. Wow. That’s, uhh… that’s great.” He looked at me quizzically. “Right?”
I smiled. “Yeah. I was thinking the three of us could go and eat at Satchmo afterwards.”
“Sure. Sounds good.”
I wolfed down the yoghurt-laden chorizo in three mouthfuls. “We should probably go and find our seats,” I said, glancing down at the stadium again.
“Where can I sit?” Skye asked. “Any free spot in the guest section?”
“Yup, that should be fine.”
“All right. I’ll be waiting to cheer for you two,” she said with a smile.
“Could you do me a favor?” I asked. “When you hear Addy’s name, can you cheer for her too? Her parents and brother were indicted with the rest of the Rosmerta Society, so she doesn’t have any family here today. Just us and her boyfriend.”
“Of course.” Two lines appeared between Skye’s brows. “I imagine there’s quite a few kids in that position today.”
“Yeah. Tons.” I let out a sigh. “A lot of them changed schools after it all happened, though.”
