"
Thanks
,"
I mumble into her hair as I return
the
hug.
She pulls away.
"
And second
,
I
'
ll tell you just like I told him
,
what in the world were you boys thinking?
"
Sebastian jumps in
,
"
That we
'
re sexy and we know it!
"
We both start dancing. Aspen grabs ahold of him while Courtney and her husband Roger laugh. In between giggles she says
,
"
I
...
don
'
t
...
support
...
Oh
,
hell
,
it was pretty funny. You should have seen the look on your principal
'
s face!
"
It takes a good minute for all of us to stop laughing. Once we do
,
Courtney and Roger tell us goodbye and head for the packed lot.
"
Where
'
s Pris?
"
I ask.
"
Are we supposed to meet her at the party or something?
"
Her parents are throwing her a huge party for her graduation. They actually offered to send her and Aspen somewhere
,
but Pris didn
'
t want to go.
Aspen
'
s eyes dart to Sebastian
,
who answers
,
"
Nah
,
we
'
re not going. I guess they wanted some family thing or whatever. We
'
ll meet up with her later.
"
The ground suddenly becomes really interesting to them both. I
'
m about to ask what
'
s up when it hits me.
"
They didn
'
t want me there.
"
It
'
s not even a question because I know. I
'
m sure it would be pretty embarrassing for the DA to have the kid who was just at the police station all busted up
,
in his house and hanging out with his daughter.
As I walk away, I toss over my shoulder,
"
You guys go. I
'
ll be cool.
"
It
'
s not like Pris
'
s parents were ever really like Bastian
'
s or Aspen
'
s
,
but I
'
m pretty sure they never would have told Pris they didn
'
t want me in their house before
"
the incident.
"
"
Jay
,
wait up. They
'
re assholes. They
'
ve always been too good for us.
"
Sebastian comes after me.
"
No.
"
I turn to face him.
"
Not for us.
For
me
.
You guys are free to go
,
remember? I
'
m the only one they don
'
t want around Pris.
"
Which I
'
m pretty sure isn
'
t
anything
new. I mean
,
yeah
,
they
'
ve always been
civil
to me
,
but I
'
m sure if Pris and I
had
gotten together
,
they would have blown their lids.
What is wrong with me? Why the hell does everyone have something against me?
"
So go
,
have fun. We
'
ll hang after or whatever.
"
When I start to walk away again
,
Sebastian grabs my arm.
"
Jay
...
Stop.
"
I don
'
t know what it is about the way he says it
,
but I listen. I let out a deep breath.
"
We
'
re not going anywhere without you. You
'
re my BFF.
"
He cracks a smile and I can
'
t help but do the same. Last summer I teased him about Aspen being his BFF and now he uses the saying all the time.
Even though I don
'
t feel it
,
I try
to
return his lightness.
"
Whatever. Just don
'
t expect me to paint your nails.
"
"
You guys are so weird
,"
Aspen pipes in
,
but then she leans her head on my shoulder.
"
We love you.
"
This is definitely becoming too much for me.
"
Shh
,
Bastian
'
s not supposed to know about us
,
remember?
"
But all I can think about is they
are
going somewhere without me
,
they just don
'
t know it yet.
***
When we pull up at Sebastian
'
s house
,
Pris is sitting in her car. She definitely shouldn
'
t be here right now. She
'
s climbing out of her car
,
when I jump out of the Explorer.
"
What are you doing here?
"
I have a feeling
,
I know.
Pris shrugs.
"
The party
wasn't
really my thing. I made an appearance and left.
"
I groan. It sucks when my best friends feel like they have to babysit me.
"
Pris—
"
She holds up her hand.
"
I didn
'
t want to be there
,
okay? End of story. I don
'
t want to fight with you about it
,
Jaden.
"
"
Whatever.
"
We head into the house. Courtney and Roger are out so we pop some pizzas in the oven. Once they
'
re done we head upstairs to Sebastian
'
s room. It
goes
without saying none of us are in the mood to go out tonight—graduation or not.
The whole time we eat
,
my freaking gut is aching because I feel for the first time like I need to say something.
Like I owe it to them.
All this stuff seemed to pile on me at once and now I
'
m about
to make an announcement
. Like
,
relationship-altering stuff that I don
'
t want to say
,
but now more than ever
,
know I have to.
"
Dude
,
I seriously can
'
t wait until we leave next week. I
'
m so ready to be out of this town. This road trip is going to be epic
,"
Sebastian takes a bite of his pizza.
"
What is with you and the word epic? Last summer was supposed to be epic
,
too.
"
Aspen pushes him
,
but he grabs her and pulls her to his lap.
"
Last summer
was
epic. You fell in love with me.
"
I try not to gag. On reflex
,
I
look at
Pris. Quickly
,
she turns away. The ache in my stomach multiplies. Why does everything always have to be so hard?
"
Speaking of New York
,
I need to talk to you guys about that.
"
Three sets of eyes land on me and I wish I could take the words back. I bite my lip
,
pulling slightly on the ring there.
"
Don
'
t tell me you
'
re going to say what I think you
'
re going to say.
"
Sebastian sits up straighter and Aspen moves off his lap.
I should have known he
'
d know. They probably all do.
"
I don
'
t have all my shit figured out like you guys do. I
'
m not enrolled in school. I don
'
t know what I want to do. It
'
s not like I can
tag along
and mooch off you guys.
"
"
Well
,
no shit. You
'
d get a job
,
just like the rest of us.
"
Sebastian
'
s voice is tight.
"
Yeah
...
Y
ou
'
re not the type to lie around. We all know that
,
Jay. You
'
d never try
to
mooch off anyone. Plus
,
you like electronics. You
'
re always messing around with stuff...
"
Aspen tosses her opinion in.
Funny how it
'
s the opposite of how I feel
...
of what Dad—I mean
,
Mike
—
thinks.
Pris doesn
'
t say a word
,
and honestly
,
might make me a douche
,
but I don
'
t have the balls to look at her.
"
I just
...
"
Don
'
t know who I am
...
Where
I belong
...
"
It
'
s not right
,
ya know? Everything is all screwed up right now—
"
"
More reason for you to get out of here!
"
Sebastian
'
s eyes are wide
,
jaw clenched.
"
I
'
m not staying here. I
'
m going to Texas. My mom
'
s brother lives there. He
'
s always been cool to me.
"
Pris pushes to her feet and runs out the door
,
leaving the
rest
of us sitting there with wide eyes. I immediately feel like shit. Without a thought
,
I
'
m going after her. She runs down the stairs
,
probably faster than I
'
ve ever seen her move.
After she rips it open
,
the door slams against the wall.
"
Pris!
"
She ignores me and keeps going. I don
'
t catch up to her until she
'
s trying to open the door to her car. Not knowing what else to do
,
I box her in
,
one arm on each side of her
,
my hands flat against car.
"
I
'
m sorry.
"
I have no idea what I
'
m apologizing for
,
but I need to say it. Actually
,
I do
know
. I
'
m sorry about it all: last summer
,
every month since then
,
and
that I
'
m not who she deserves.