I don’t tell Steve or my sister about the paper heart when I get back to the car. The only thing I tell them is the new plan: I will not be going to the game after all.
“Just take me to the library,” I continue as we’re driving again. “Once you’re done at the diner, or wherever you’re actually going, come get me.”
Steve smirks at the second part, so I know I must be right.
“But the library closes in like twenty minutes,” Ashley argues. “And you know I can’t go to the diner without you.”
“I won’t tell Mom I’m not going. Only if you take me to the library. Once it closes, I’ll go read at the café next door. They’re open late.”
I feel my phone buzzing and I know it’s my friends again. I’ve already told Pete I was going, and he’ll read my text after the game. But I can’t go—not now.
Could I be crazy? Yes. Even so, I was only going to the diner in the first place for answers….Now I might actually be able to find them. I just have this feeling that the things in my room have to do with this too. I feel the paper heart tucked into my coat pocket.
Your admirer, I think over and over again, like a song on repeat.
I have no idea who it could be, but it seems like it could be whoever gave me the rose and Polaroid photo. Maybe they will reveal themselves in the end.
Or maybe it’s Carmen. She’s always the one trying to push me out of my comfort zone. Maybe she got so tired of me living like a shell of myself that she’s taking matters into her own hands. But that still wouldn’t explain the things in my room.
Whoever my admirer is, this urgent feeling comes back to me like it’s now or never. Ashley must see it in my eyes, because she sighs. “Fine. But you have to text me if you want us to come get you earlier.”
Steve shoots her a look like he hasn’t agreed to that.
“I’ll be fine,” I say.
“I know you’ll be fine,” Ashley says. “But you’re my sister. I have to look out for you.”
“She’s going to the library,” Steve mutters under his breath. He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something else, but he looks over at Ashley, who has her arms crossed. He catches one glimpse of her glaring at him and closes his mouth.
We sit in silence, the tension thick. I try to look at my sister in the rearview mirror. Her mouth is turned upside down. A lot of times when people frown their face looks nothing like a frowning emoji. But not my sister. Her lips form the distinct shape of a rainbow. As we pull into the parking lot, she brushes her eye, and I can’t tell if she just wiped away a tear.
“Thanks for the ride,” I say as Steve comes to a stop in front of the entrance.
“Don’t mention it,” he says. Ashley turns to me and gives me a small smile. There are no tears in her eyes. Maybe I imagined them.
I slide out of the car, ignoring the fact that my phone is still blowing up, and head straight to the library, because nothing else matters right now aside from this paper heart.
Until I see a boy through the window.