Page 88 of The Hallows Queen

“Shut up,” I grumble.

“I called it!” she shouts, laughing. “I knew you had a heart in there!”

I smack her arm, and she laughs harder, bumping her shoulder with mine playfully. “You can’t tell anyone, Lo. I mean it. Not even Carson.”

“I won’t,” she says, humming between her lips. “But I thinkyoushould tell him. Levi too. They’d be happy for you.”

“Not yet.”

She nods, and we fall back into a comfortable silence as we stare out at the ocean. I let my mind get taken away with the water. All the things that were destroying me back at school feel small now, like I just needed to say my secret out loud to someone, like telling Logan finally set something free inside of me.

After another twenty minutes, we climb back into my Maserati to go back to make it in time for lunch. While I drive, Logan digs around in my center console. When she pulls out a little baggie filled with Xanax I had forgotten about, my stomach burns.

“Since you’re going straight edge.” She waves the baggie in between us. “Can I have these?”

I snatch them from her hand, pour three onto my palm, and swallow them down before she can stop me.

“Hayden!” she yells. “What the fuck?”

I cough. “That’s like inviting an alcoholic to a bar, Lo. You can’t show me a bag of Xans and expect me not to take them.”

She snorts. “Miss Leyton is going to spank you with her ruler.”

“I hope so.” I grin, looking at her from the corner of my eye as I peel into the school parking lot.

* * *

I missed Government,so while I’m waiting in the lunch line to get some food, my phone goes off in my pocket.

P:

Did you leave? You weren’t in class.

I type out a response.

Me:

skipped with Lo, I’ll come see you before lunch ends

I order a slice of pizza, pay the lunch lady, and make my way to our table. Carson, Levi, and Logan are all already sitting down, stuffing their faces, and they greet me by moaning around their food.

“Good afternoon, children,” I say, grinning from ear to ear as I drop my plate of pizza down on the table. “How’s it going?”

My head is floating above the clouds; if I turned to look up for it, I’d probably fall over. The thought makes me chuckle out loud, and Logan laughs at me, knowing that I’m high.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Levi says, taking a bite of his cheeseburger. “Que pasa, papi?”

I take a bite of my food and ignore his question because my brain can’t think of a response.

“You guys coming to the game tonight?” Carson asks, changing the subject.

“Yup,” Levi says, and Logan nods.

“Going to New York,” I say, swallowing another big mouthful of my food. I don’t know where the words come from, because up until this moment, I didn’t have any plans to go to New York this weekend, but it sounds like a good idea.

“Since when?” Logan asks, lifting an eyebrow.

I shrug. “I dunno, figured I’d go visit Travis.”

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