21

Ray

Hospitals were soul-sucking prisons of fluorescent lighting. And yet Ray was glad to be here. Because this was a part of the hospital for people who were going to be okay. At the moment, he’d rather be here than anywhere else.

Harper had two cracked ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Oh, and a “slightly punctured lung,” as one of the nurses had called it.

Not that they hadn’t all seen worse.

But all three of them showed up ready to pamper Harper.

“Check this out,” Liam said to her. “I made a ‘We Heart Harper’ playlist on my phone. Let’s get our dance on up in here.” He hit play and the faint sounds of eighties techno filtered into the hospital room.

“Feel free to ignore that,” said Sasha with a groan. “Here, I made you a card. I had to steal a blank sign-in sheet from the front desk to make it because I didn’t have any paper. Oh—I also stole the pen. I should probably give that back on the way out . . . ”

“And I,” announced Ray, “come bearing seven candy bars. I used up literally all my change at the vending machine downstairs.”

It was the best they could do on short notice. Especially considering that only Liam’s home was safe right now. Sasha’s house still needed the gas issue fixed, and Ray’s apartment building was missing its ground floor. Ray and his parents would be staying at Liam’s place. Harper’s dad, who was currently speaking with a doctor in the hallway, had invited Sasha’s family to crash with him for the night.

Harper didn’t seem to have a problem with their measly offerings. She was laughing and crying and trying unsuccessfully to sit up in the hospital bed.

“You guys, I’m so sorry for the way I acted before. I can’t believe I was so horrible about such a stupid—”

“Harper, it’s okay,” Ray cut in. “Forget it.” Sasha reached out and took Harper’s hand.

Harper swallowed a hiccup. “I should’ve known I could always count on you guys.”

“Yeah, you should’ve,” said Liam. “But we really are sorry about Friday. If we hadn’t left you behind—if we’d helped you look for your keychain—maybe none of this would’ve happened.”

She shook her head. “It was just a keychain. I mean—it wasn’t just a keychain, but a lot of things matter more. I shouldn’t have gone back for it.”

“To be fair, you didn’t know an earthquake was about to hit,” Ray pointed out.

“Yeah, but that building’s been condemned for a long time. I knew it wasn’t safe to go poking around in there. I shouldn’t have done that, on Friday or today.”

“I think each of us did at least one stupid thing today,” said Ray. “So, we’re all in the club.”

“Even Sasha?”

“My mom thinks it was pretty stupid of me to go to the park,” Sasha said. “She wishes I would’ve waited for her to drive me—even though driving was also a bad idea. Basically, there weren’t many smart options open to me.”

“Man, Harper,” added Ray, “I wish you could’ve seen Sasha tearing across the park to get to the hotel. I thought she’d put rocket boosters on Peg.”

Harper smiled. “I saw you all when the rescue workers got me out. I’ll never forget that.”

Liam took one of the candy bars. “Well, to quote our book for English class, all for one and blah-blah-blah, right?”

Sasha laughed. “We’re definitely going to fail that presentation.”

“On the bright side, school’s closed for a while, so we have time to work on it,” Liam said cheerfully around a mouthful of chocolate.

Harper laughed too, though she winced a little when it clearly caused her some pain in the rib area. “I’m sure it’ll work out fine.”

Right then, Ray didn’t think about his damaged apartment building. He didn’t think about how he and his parents would move on and start fresh together. He didn’t think about the days and weeks and months of effort that it would take to rebuild their lives.

He just thought about his friends: Sasha still wearing her mountain bike tires, Liam shamelessly eating a candy bar he hadn’t bought, Harper smiling as she looked at each of the others in turn.

They’d been through worse days. They’d get through this one.