Page 99 of Searching for Nova

“I didn’t think you’d approve of her.”

“And why is that?” my dad asks.

“She’s not rich. And she goes to a public school.”

“We wouldn’t judge her for that,” my mom says. “Why would you even think that?”

“You’re always telling me to choose my friends wisely, but what you mean is to choose people who are rich or come from rich families.”

My mom sighs. “Easton, we have never said that.”

“Name one friend of yours that doesn’t have money.”

Neither one of them answers.

My dad glances at my mom, then back at me. “Easton, go to your room. We’ll talk about this later.”

“We don’t need to. There’s nothing else to say.”

“If you feel the need to hide this girl from us,” my mom says, “then there’s clearly more going on here than you’ve shared. I don’t think you should see her anymore.”

“Are you serious?” I laugh a little. “We’re friends. I’ll see her if I want.”

“We’ll discuss this later,” my dad says. “We don’t need to be making any decisions right now.”

“Decisions about what?” I look back and forth between my mom and dad. “I’m not going to stop seeing her. I don’t care what you guys say.”

“Easton, that’s enough,” my dad says, raising his voice. “Your mother and I will talk to you after we’ve discussed this. Now go to your room.”

I storm out of there and up to my room. I almost told them I was with Nova last night, but I’m glad I didn’t. They know nothing about the girl I was with and they’ve already decided I can’t see her. If they knew it was Nova, they’d try to keep me away from her. I know they would. She’s poor, and a connection to my past, which is reason enough for my parents to forbid me from seeing her.

I love my parents and I’m grateful for what they’ve done for me, but the older I get, the more I realize the decisions they’ve made for me are more for their benefit than mine. They could’ve let me go see Nova after they adopted me, or at least let me call her, but instead, they cut her out of my life, telling me I’d feel better if I left that life behind.

I wasn’t better. I was devastated. And having to go by a new name made me feel lost and confused. It’s like they were trying to erase the old me and make me more like them. I’ve gone along with it over the years. I’ve played the role of the popular prep school kid who gets good grades, excels at sports, and makes his parents proud. But what about me? What about what I wanted? They never asked me, and when I tried to tell them, they’d tell me they know better than me.

When I went to private school in first grade, I hated it. I didn’t like any of the kids. I thought they were snobby, even back then. There was no one there like Nova. I begged my parents to let me go to public school, but they wouldn’t allow it. And it’s been like that ever since. They tell me what to do, and force me to go along with it.

“What happened?” Jenna asks, sticking her head out of her door as I’m going down the hall.

“I got in trouble for smoking pot,” I tell her.

“That’s it?” she says, sounding disappointed. “I thought it was something good.” She shuts her door.

I go in my room and call up Jace.

He answers, sounding hungover. “What the hell, man? What time is it?”

“What the fuck happened last night?”

“Do you have to talk so fucking loud? My head’s killing me.”

“I ask you to do one simple thing and you fuck it up.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Last night. My dad said he went to the party when the cops broke it up. He said he gave you a ride home.”

“He did? I don’t remember that, or maybe I do. Was he yelling at me to get in the car? Or did I dream that? Fuck, I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. All I know is I woke up here this morning.”

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