Kalani’s on her back beside me, limbs spread out, breathing just as hard and fast as I am.
“You jumped in after me,” Kalani asks, though it comes out as a statement.
Without moving, since I’m still breathless, I reply, “Well,duh. You can’t swim.”
Like she needs clarification, she struggles to sit up and gazes down at me. Her makeup is smudged all around her eyes, and her thick, curly hair hangs soaked around her face like a limp curtain. “You jumped off a cliff even though you’re terrified of heights, in the middle of stormy weather, after everything I said? After everything I did?”
I blink up at her. “Just because you haven’t been a true friend to me doesn’t mean I want you to drown.”
She studies me for a moment then lies back on the ground beside me.
“I’m sorry for being a shitty friend,” she says to the dark sky.
“I’m sorry I haven’t been more up-front and honest about my feelings,” I admit, watching the clouds rolling in. “Not just about Emmett, but everything.”
The two of us are quiet, and Ralph and Nico must be giving us our moment because I can hear them rustling around behind us, wringing out their clothes, but neither interrupts us.
“Does this mean you forgive me?” Kalani asks hesitantly, though there’s noticeable resignation in her voice.
“I don’t know,” I confess. “So much has happened, and I haven’t even had a chance to really process it.”
We’re quiet for another moment, finally catching our breath, watching the wind shake the trees and cause a chill to run up my body. I can’t believe I jumped off the cliff. I can’t believe Ivoluntarilylaunched myself sixty feet toward my impending death in merciless stormy water and survived.
“Do you think we’ll ever be friends again?” Kalani asks.
I sit up when there’s a flash of lightning followed by a clap of thunder. The water is dark and scary, and I’m astounded that I was swimming in that just moments before. A lot of things have been said tonight, and it’s made me realize that maybe Kalani and I don’t really know each other as well as I thought.
“I’m not sure,” I answer honestly, even though it’s upsetting.
The sky finally cracks open, and cold rain descends on us, blurring everything and making the ground beneath us soft and muddy.
Beside me, Kalani sits up. “Yeah. Me neither.”
Twenty-Three
Everyone stares at us while we eat lunch in the middle of the cafeteria like there’s a spotlight and a neon arrow sign pointing at me flashing the wordsPukey McBarface is eating here!If they’re hoping for a show, they’re going to be waiting for a very long time because I do not have shrimp for lunch. In fact, Emi and I are splitting a very safe large pizza like we’ve done at least once a week during our four years attending Oakwoods.
It’s only Thursday, and the video just spread last weekend, so I’m not old news yet. But it’s not the worst, mostly because I don’t really care anymore, and also because the timing is perfect. If I had to decide when to be the laughingstock of the entire school, now would be my first choice. I’m the latest hot piece of gossip, yes, but at least people are busy talking about prom, graduation, and exams, so me sticking my entire upper body out of a moving vehicle and puking all over Wyatt’s pretty BMW is one ofmanythings occupying everyone’s minds.
“Do you think Kalani’s going to skip everything until exams?” Emi asks, picking a green pepper off the pizza and stuffing it into her mouth.
I haven’t seen her since we went our separate ways last night after we dove off the cliff. I’m not sure if she and Emmett are just avoiding us or if they aren’t here today at all, but lunch period is almost over and neither has made an appearance.
“She can’t avoid us forever,” I answer Emi, finishing my own pizza slice. We have exams Monday to Thursday next week, prom on Saturday, and graduation on the following Monday. Those are all events where running into Kalani will be inevitable, and I’m still processing everything she said yesterday. Apparently, we had terrible communication and she was happy when I was miserable. It makes me wonder if we were ever real friends at all.
Emi’s laugh is humorless. “Especially since it’s too late to change tables for prom. How awkward do you think it’ll be? Particularly for all our other friends at the table with us. Vic might pass out from the tension alone. Carson might place a bet on who starts a fight first.”
“No one is going to start any fights.”
“But—”
“No one,” I repeat with more authority this time. “There’s no need to make this unpleasant for anyone, including Kalani.”
Emi glowers at me, but the action isn’t half as threatening as it was intended to be when she’s scraping the bottom of the empty cardboard with her nail for the cold melted cheese that’s stuck to it. “After everything she said to you yesterday, she’d deserve it.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But it’s our last week as seniors before we graduate and officially become adults, so let’s make the most of it while we can. Besides, maybe she’ll win prom queen and be too busy running around to even spend time at the table anyway.” I stand from my seat, gathering my garbage. “I have to run to the art room to load some of my projects that were on display into my car. I’ll catch up with you later?”
“Yeah, I’ll stop by the bakery tonight during your shift. Save me a zeppole, those go fast after soccer.”