Page 326 of As the Rain Falls
One person already knows everything about me.
One person should be enough.
“It’s like, if I start with that, I’m going to have to talk about everything else. I’m not like you and Kayla, okay?”
“You think Kayla and I are stronger?” Angelina presses, her eyes sharp. “Is that why you’re pushing her away?”
“No.”
“Because on our end, it looks like you’re pulling away a little unless we’re all together. And Kayla keeps trying to reach you.”
“Olivia told me I couldn’t be her friend, and I know it’s stupid, but it kind of stuck with me,” I clear my throat, trying to recall exactly which words she used that day. “Whatever bullshit you’re going through, don’t ever bring us into this again.”
Angelina’s gaze widens. “She said that?”
I nod.
“That’s way too rough.”
“She’s not wrong.” Heat rises to my face. “I ditched them. On Kayla’s birthday. To go to some guy’s house instead. It was a shitty thing to do, but I just wanted to…” I glance at her, expecting judgment, only to find understanding. “I wanted to do something stupid, so I did.”
The bell rings.
Time to go.
I know Beckett is outside, waiting to pick me up and drive me home. Our afternoons together are my favorite time of the day.
“Angelina?” I say as we start walking.
“Yeah?”
I hesitate at first, too ashamed to speak. Then, I blurt out.
“Do you think I’m a bad person?”
“If you’re a bad person, Cassandra,” her voice is quiet, so unlike her. “Then what does that make me?”
SMALL STEPS TOWARDS SOMETHING GOOD
Beckett
FEBRUARY, 2017
I swallow down halfof my drink and pick up the pool cue stuck at the edge of the table. Silvio’s is packed as always, and we’re struggling to find a table to eat.
Angelina wraps herself around me like a koala.
“Beckett, will you teach me how to surf?”
“You can barely walk in a straight line as it is, Angie. Let it go.” I shake her off my shoulders, but she hangs on tighter, grinning because she knows that I’m only joking.
She whines, “Everybody else gets to try it, but I never do.”
“Your talents lie elsewhere.”
I shift to the right, making space for the waitress. She hands me our order, and I start passing plates around, keeping the crowded restaurant from swallowing her whole.
“Did anyone order a plate ofantojitos?”
