Page 142 of Let's Pretend I'm Okay

“They’ve been acting weird again,” she says before walking away.

I knock on the door, and the talking immediately stops. “Just a minute,” Laura says. There are hushed words and a rustling of papers before Laura and Rob open the door.

“I didn’t realize you were home already,” Laura says.

I don’t have the energy to wonder what they’re doing. All I want to do is lie down. “We just got here.”

“Okay,” she says, stepping out of the room. “Did you guys have fun?”

“Yeah,” I say.

Rob holds a stack of papers in his hands and stands up from the desk. “Don’t worry. I’ll get out of your way.”

He said it in a lighthearted way, but I’m not in the mood to laugh. They’re eager to get away and avoid any questions about what they’re hiding. Once they leave the room, I lie on my bed and keep my eyes open for as long as possible. I want to avoid the inevitable nightmare.

We walk in the field of wildflowers, and I hold on to her hand, trying to keep her from disappearing. Maybe if I hold on toher tightly enough, the nightmare won’t rip her away from me. But without fail, the sky turns black. I’m forced to stand still and watch her be consumed by a dark poison, almost like ink, and when it dissolves, Margo is gone.

I jerk away, tears streaming down my face, and hug my knees. My heart aches and my hands shake.

It’s too early in the morning to call her, but I need her. I need to hear her voice. I need to see her face.

I stay awake for hours, staring at the walls until my alarm goes off. I jump out of bed, not caring what I look like. My hair is a mess and I don’t bother dressing. I stay in my sweats. I catch the bus and as soon as it stops at the school, I’m running. I sprint inside the building and don’t stop until I see a glimpse of Margo standing in the hall. I pause.

She smiles. She’s wearing a purple pair of overalls and she has cherries hanging from her ears. There she is. My beautiful Margo Blakely. She’s perfect.

My lip quivers and eyes water as I drop my messenger bag and rush into her arms. I hold on to her, the way I wanted to in my dream.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

The pain in my chest releases as I rest my head on her shoulder. “I missed you.”

She rubs my back, squeezing me tight. “I missed you too.”

“Don’t go anywhere,” I mumble.

“I won’t,” she says.

CHAPTER FORTY

MARGO

The day I’ve been waiting months for is here. I’m finally going to the concert with Annie. She drives while I sit in the passenger seat. She wears the top she’s been gushing over with cute wide-legged jeans. She even let me do her hair. I chose to do two dramatic space buns with bangs framing her face.

I’m wearing a glittery pink shirt that’s bright enough to compete with the lights from the stage. My makeup is very bright and sparkly to match.

In the back seat are our giant poster boards that are decked out in big colorful words. Annie spent ages on hers. I didn’t spend quite as long, but I don’t have the same level of obsession that Annie does. Annie’s sign is practically a marriage proposal while mine saysBroken Sageand then I doodled all around the letters to make them pretty.

We have to park ten minutes away from the venue because there are so many people here. We lock our purses in the trunk and only take our phones, some cash, and our posters.

“I’m so excited!” Annie says. She’s giddy, bouncing up and down with every step.

I loop my arm around hers to keep her from running off. “You’re minutes away from seeing Broken Sage.”

She blushes. “I know!”

We practically skip the whole way to the VIP line. We make it through security and follow directions to the area for the VIP meet and greet. The area is packed with thousands of people, and I’m surprised Annie is okay with it. Normally this many people would send her into a panic attack, but she’s smiling widely. This girl loves these boys a little too much if you ask me.

When we get to the backstage entrance where we were told to go, there’s no VIP line. The only person there is a security guard blocking the entrance.

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