“You’re serious?” Jo Hanna asked me. “You’re absolutely one hundred percent seriously serious?”
We were sitting halfway down my driveway at midnight. She’d been my closest friend all through high school, and our Friday night sleepovers were kind of a tradition.
I was telling her, my one and only designated keeper of this secret, the story that had been plaguing me for three days now. “Yes, I’m absolutely one hundred percent seriously serious,” I said. “Look.” I rolled up my jeans and took my cell out of my pocket to shine the light on my injured leg.
Jo Hanna gasped. “Oh, my gosh! That looks bad.”
Somehow, I’d managed to hide it from everyone else so far. “Yeah. That’s where I hit my leg and fell down the hill before Enock stopped me.”
The clear, cloudless night allowed me to see the solemnity on Jo Hanna’s face as she finally began to consider the fact that what I’d been saying might actually be true. “So this is for real? You swear?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die. Why would I lie about this?”
“You have been pretty spaced-out lately, I guess...and you haven’t seen or heard from any of these blue people since Tuesday?”
I shook my head. “I even went back to the crash site and couldn’t find anything.”
“Well, I did see a light shoot across the sky right before I moved out here, all the way from one end to the other. It left a tracer in the sky for like two seconds and then it was gone. I always told myself it was a shooting star, but I never really thought it was. After what you just told me...” She shivered and looked at the sky. “So you’re in love with an alien?” She smiled at me teasingly, even though I was pretty sure she believed me.
“I’m not in love,” I said. “I just wish I could see him again.”
“But you have no idea when that’ll happen?”
“Right.”
“Too bad. There is a bright side, though.”
“What’s that?”
“I hear Phillip’s coming to graduation.”
“Really?” My spirits lifted at hearing that. Phillip is Cassidy’s big brother, and I’d had a crush on him since the day I laid eyes on him five years ago. A junior in high school then, he was always too old and too cool for me. He’d moved to Seattle to go to college a couple of years ago, and I’d only seen him a few times since. But his appeal never diminished. And all three of my best friends knew it. “Are you sure he’s coming, or is it just a maybe?”
“His only sister’s graduating. Of course I’m sure. Cassidy could still set you up with him, you know.”
As always, I was tempted. But since he’d never expressed interest in me before, I knew it would just be uncomfortable. Assuming he would even go out on a date with me, that is. So I shook my head.
Jo Hanna lay back in our dusty gravel driveway to look at the stars. That’s one of the things I love about her, and it’s probably why she’s my number one closest friend. She’s not afraid to get dirty, and she’s so super easy to be around.
I admired her fine strawberry-colored tresses as I lay down next to her. I used to be jealous of her beautiful hair, but I’ve learned to love mine as I’ve gotten better at styling it.
We lay there in comfortable silence for a few minutes, listening to the peaceful chirping of crickets. A coyote howled at the almost-full moon, and Jo Hanna and I howled back. We’d been doing it forever and it always made us laugh.
Jo Hanna rolled over on her side. “You know you’re my best friend in the whole world, right?”
“Duh. You know you’re mine, too, right?”
“So maybe we should take a bus down to South America and backpack around. We could find odd jobs to pay for food and sleep in a waterproof tent and worry about being responsible grown-ups in a year or two.”
“I wish,” I laughed. “That’d be a lot more fun...” I got quiet when I realized she was smiling at me and waiting for a real response. “You’re not serious? Doesn’t that sound a little dangerous to you?”
“No, it sounds like an adventure. We go get the best tan of our lives. Maybe find a little romance. And come back full of stories that’ll make Cassidy and Carlotta green with envy.”
“What about your job? You’d have to quit.”
“I could probably put it on hold.”
Another long silence.
It did sound like fun, kind of like the simple life of that rabbit I’d been so covetous of a few days before, but I’d never left the country. And honestly, although I’d never tell anyone this, I was kind of scared to leave it without my parents. “I’ll think about it,” I said, pretty sure it wasn’t happening.
My phone went off then and we heard the theme song for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was one of my favorite movies of all time. “Who in the world could be calling me this late?” I asked, sitting up and reaching for my phone.
“Maybe it’s your alien boyfriend,” Jo Hanna joked, still lying down.
I wanted to argue—I could see that it was my sister, Julianna, anyway—but it did kind of feel like he was my boyfriend. We shared a sort of bond I’d never shared with anyone else before, and the insane amount of love and attraction I’d felt for him was so real. It left me thinking about him constantly.
“Hey, Julianna,” I said into the phone. “What are you doing up so late?” She’s the New York City fashion-girl sister I mentioned before, so it was three-something in the morning where she was.
“I just finished a fantastic night out on the town with the girls, and I thought I’d give you a call. I didn’t wake you up, did I?” I could just see her with her shiny, bleached-white smile in a black party dress that matched her long, curly black hair.
“No.”
“I figured you’d be awake, since it’s Friday night. You’re probably at some big high school party right now.”
“No,” I laughed. “Actually, I’m sitting out front with Jo Hanna.” I’m all for having fun with my friends, but out-of-control parties, speakers blaring, and date-rape-spiked punch just weren’t my thing. I’d rather be chilling out in our driveway with Jo Hanna anytime with the cool breeze rustling the few fallen leaves around us.
“So what’s up?” I asked, knowing there must be a good reason for her to be calling me so late.
“I just thought I’d call and see how you’re doing, what’s been going on, what your plans are.”
She meant she wanted to know what I was doing after graduation. “Mom called you.” I didn’t bother to hide the irritation in my voice.
“Well, she’s worried about you.”
“So she called you in the middle of the night to complain about me?” I could’ve sworn she was asleep hours ago.
“No, she called me Monday and left a five-minute-long message. Anyway, I have an idea, and I thought I’d run it by you.”
“Okay,” I sighed, sure it was actually my mother’s idea I was about to hear.
“We’ll need an intern this summer if you want to come immerse yourself in the world of fashion. I could get you the job. The pay’s not the greatest, but you could stay with me and Mindy. We have plenty of space and it might help you figure things out.”
That actually sounded like a really good idea. Julianna was probably my favorite of all my sisters. She was usually the nicest to me growing up, the least judgmental of my less-than-perfect self. And going to New York to work for a fashion company sounded like a blast. “I would love that!” I said. “Did Mom say it was okay?”
“Not yet. I wanted to talk to my boss before I said anything. But I’m sure Mom won’t mind, since she called me about this.”
“You mean your boss said it was okay already?”
“Yep. So if you want it, the job’s yours. It’s temporary, but like I said, it might help you know what you want to do with your life.”
“It sounds like fun. I’ll talk to Mom and Dad about it in the morning.”
“All right, just thought I’d throw the idea out there.”
“I’m glad you did. Thanks, Julianna.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll call back Sunday sometime and see how things are going.”
“Okay. Bye.”
“Bye.”
“What was that all about?” Jo Hanna asked when I hung up.
“Julianna wants me to spend the summer with her in New York.”
“No.”
“She said I could be an intern at the company she works for.”
“No, no, no, no. You can’t leave me here all alone after graduation.”
“I’m not. Carlotta and Cassidy will still be here. And I don’t even know if I wanna go yet.” Not totally, anyway.
“Yes, you do. You just said you’re going to talk to your parents about it.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going.”
Jo Hanna let out a long, ridiculously dramatic sigh. “Of course you’re going.”
The gravel scratched my back through my T-shirt as I scooted closer to her. “It’s just one summer.”
“Yeah, we’ll see. If I went to New York City, I would never come back.”
“I know.”
Jo Hanna had wanted to visit New York forever, but her mom always said it was too far away. And I would come back.
As crazy and scary as the whole Enock thing had been, I ached to relive it. Just thinking about him felt good. And he said he would find me again. I almost didn’t want to go to New York—even though it sounded perfect—just in case he came for me and I wasn’t here. But I knew I couldn’t put my life on hold for a...whatever Enock was.
I knew I should at least consider my sister’s offer. So I planned to talk to my parents about it first thing in the morning. They would be paying for airfare and whatever else I needed, so they would have to be part of the decision. And with graduation only weeks away, I knew there really wasn’t much time to decide.
* * * *
“Congratulations, Class of—”
The enormous crowd erupted before the announcer was able to finish.
I couldn’t believe it. I’d waited for this day my whole life—no more school! And now it just felt weird. And exciting. No more school lunches or Barbie doll cheerleaders. No more pop quizzes or popularity contests.
I knew I wanted to go to New York. I just wished I wasn’t still worrying about Enock all the time. My parents weren’t so sure, though. Ever since I asked her about it, my mom had been whining about all her kids moving far, far away the minute they graduated. But I think she was finally coming around. And my dad was pretty neutral. So I planned to bring it up again later that night. For now, I had a big celebration lunch to go to.
“We’re finally free!” Carlotta jumped up and down as she hugged me.
“No more high school.” Jo Hanna came over and started jumping with her. She pulled up her graduation gown and took a blow horn out of her jeans pocket, holding it up in the air before she honked it loud enough that everyone in every corner of the auditorium heard it. It was sooo embarrassing—until a dozen other horns started blaring, too.
“Let’s hit the buffet,” I said, starving because I’d been too nervous about being on stage to eat anything that morning.
“We’ve gotta find Cassidy,” Carlotta said as we began pushing our way through the crowd, like half the people on the stage were doing.
“She’s already down there.” Jo Hanna pointed to the third row, where Cassidy was talking to her parents and brother. I felt an adrenaline rush when my eyes met Phillip’s and he winked.
We were close to the edge of the stage, so Jo Hanna jumped right off of it, even though we’d been explicitly told not to for the last four years.
“What are you doing?!” Carlotta asked her.
“We’re graduates now,” Jo Hanna said. “What are they gonna do, put us in detention?”
“Good point.” Carlotta grabbed my hand and nearly made me break my neck, jumping off the edge and pulling me with her.
“You’re nuts,” I said as we headed toward Cassidy.
Phillip was coming our way, I realized, which made my stomach do a little somersault. “Hey, girls,” he said when he reached us. “I was hoping I could steal Sara for a minute.”
“Steal her for as long as you want,” Jo Hanna said, grinning at me. “We don’t mind.”
As they left us behind, she and Carlotta leaned close enough to each other to whisper a thousand miles a minute.
“So,” Phillip began, “I hear you’ve got a crush on me.”
My eyes got wide and I swear my heart stopped beating. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I was sure I was going to faint. How could Cassidy do this to me?!
His dark eyes squinted beautifully as he laughed. “You were always too young for me to notice how cute you were until now.”
I got my bearings enough to grin, but didn’t trust myself to speak just yet. Every time I’d ever tried to talk to him, I’d magically developed a terrible case of the stutters and humiliated myself completely.
“So, you wanna eat with me and maybe talk about seeing a movie or something later?”
The voices bouncing off the auditorium walls were getting way too loud, and the other graduates coming off the stage and standing around with family members began to press in on us.
I cleared my throat, hoping that feeling my voice hum a bit would help give me some control over it. “Sure,” I managed.
“I haven’t seen you in almost a year,” Phillip said as he turned so we could head to the outside area where the food was being served. “What have you been up to?”
“Just school.” Yeah—aside from Enock, my life was pretty boring. “What have you been up to?”
“Selling cars nonstop. Lots of time in the gym...” He went on to tell me about his super fancy Porsche and expensive apartment. And where he got his shoes. And his favorite places to shop. And how much cooler his job was than college, which is why he’d dropped out after only one semester.
My parents met me in the lobby and went through the buffet line with us. Then we all sat at a big table with Cassidy and her parents.
Of course, Phillip kept talking about himself, not that I gave him anything else to talk about. He was a lot more self-absorbed and boring than I remembered him being. By the time we all finished eating, and Carlotta, Cassidy, and Jo Hanna were standing by our table planning a fun weekend at the lake for the four us, I felt kind of like I’d wasted my after-graduation feast.
But there was still a graduation weekend to look forward to. And from what I could hear Jo Hanna saying—s’mores, hotdogs, ghost stories—it sounded like it would be awesome.
When my parents asked if I was ready to go and Phillip asked if he could pick me up for a movie later, I had to think about it. The last hour of listening to him talk endlessly about himself hadn’t put him on the top of my “favorite people” list. But I had been fantasizing about going on a date with him and having him kiss me for years, so I said yes, and kind of floated all the way to my mom’s car after he kissed me on the cheek.
I felt incredible—just graduated high school, just been sort of kissed by my major crush!
And I’ll admit I couldn’t help but feel a little schoolgirl excitement. I couldn’t wait to go out with him, whether or not his personality continued to be so bad. It was like going out with a movie star or a gorgeous supermodel or something.
Of course, that would all change when I got home.