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I shake my head in amusement. “You guys will be in the cafeteria?”

“Yes.”

It’s happening.

I’ll be sitting with actual people in the cafeteria for the first time.

I won’t be in the library reading my book.

“Are you sure it’d be okay—”

“One thousand percent,” she says quickly, diminishing all my self-doubts.

“Okay then. I’ll see you at lunch.”

Marie giggles. “I’m seeing you in the third period, Hope.”

With that, she disappears into the crowd of students.

8

Heath

MARIE STANDS IN FRONT OF ME WITH A SHARP LOOK ON HER FACE. She’s a couple of inches shorter than me, but it never matters to her.

“Don’t skip lunch. Hope is sitting with us, and I want us all to be friends with her,” she tells me in a stern tone. She’s taking this friendship to heart. I remember she used to cry because no one wanted to be friends with her, and she just wanted a friend. Something so simple but seemed impossible. All because of a mean trio who bullied her, spread rumors about her and made sure no one befriended her. Thank fuck they got expelled.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “You can’t just bring someone into the group, Blondie.”

Putting her hands on her hips, she glares at me. “I canandI will.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“A little.” I arch an eyebrow. “Fine, a little too much.”

“Indeed.”

Marie picks up her white bag with sunflowers on it that Sebastian painted. It took him a whole weekend, but he was dedicated because he wanted to make her happy. She changes stuff frequently, but the bag is the one thing she uses every day.

“I’m going to find a table. You guys get food.” She runs into the building leaving me with Sebastian.

Sebastian chuckles. “Damn. She’s so excited that she forgot to kiss me.”

“She’ll dump your ass soon.”

He looks unshaken. “She won’t. She doesn’t give up on people. And she loves me.”

That she does with her entire sunshine being.

I start walking toward my car. “Didn’t hear the last bit.”

He laughs as he follows me.

I drive to the diner we usually eat at. Sebastian rattles off the order and then pays for it. Two minutes later we sit in the parking lot in wait.

“So…”

I turn on the AC. “So what?”

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