“Here’s what we’re going to tell everyone,” Elise said to me on the way to school. “We’re going to say that my dad had to move for work but I didn’t want to go and your parents were nice enough to let me stay.”
“Okay?”
“I’m serious, Rem. Now tell me what I just told you.”
I dutifully recited it back to her, and when we split up for class, I texted Jack the story Elise had come up with. We finally met up at lunch, and it was the first time in over a week that I’d seen him.
“Hey,” he said softly when I flew into his embrace. “Missed you.” It felt so good, being in his arms again. But I pulled back quickly, worried Elise might see and get upset. She was the priority right now. Everything else, including our relationship, had to take a back seat to making her happy.
“Missed you too,” I said.
“It’s so weird,” he said when we sat down to wait for the others. “Almost everyone I know is gone.”
“That’s also weird. We’ve never been in any classes together and now we’ve got three. I feel so left behind,” he said. “It’s disorienting.”
“It’ll get better.” I held his hand, intertwining our fingers together loosely.
Soon the others showed up, and I introduced Jack to Jae and Julie.
“Where’s Elise?” I asked, looking around the caf.
“Maybe behind the school?” Jae suggested.
“Behind the school?” Jack asked me.
“Come on.” I led us out to look for her and sure enough, there she was, sitting by herself on the curb, looking a little lost.
“Hey,” she said when she noticed us. “Where’s Madi?”
“She graduated, remember?” Julie said, giving her a weird look.
“Oh. Right. Sorry, I’m just tired.”
We all sat down, catching up on what everyone had been up to in the last couple weeks before school started. Elise was uncharacteristically quiet and closed off, her smiles rare and her expression faraway.
“You okay?” I asked Elise when the bell rang.
“Yeah, of course,” she said with a nearly imperceptible nod. Not here. Then, before everyone left for class, she called us all together. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Uh-oh,” Jae said, “that can be dangerous.”
She smiled. “I think we should quit while we’re ahead.”
“What do you mean?” Evan asked.
“The Deadly Vipers, the pranks. I’m done.” Then she walked away, leaving all of us in shock.