I look at her and Wes. “I’m so sorry I was late yesterday. You’ve been so perfect this week and I screwed up the one thing that mattered to you.”
Sophie hugs me tight. “Oh my God, I hope you don’t think we’re mad at you.”
“God, oh no, we’re all good!” Wes says.
“What else is going on?” Charlie asks. “You’re not this upset over that.”
And I spill it. All of it. I start with talking to Leo the first day when he walked me home from Nonna’s house. I don’t skip anything…not how I feel about him and not how I screwed things up for him. And for myself by getting banished from the course.
It takes forever for me to tell the whole story. It feels like weeks. It feels like years.
They are quiet when I finish. And still. No one moves and no one speaks.
For a long time.
Finally Sophie asks, “So you don’t know if Leo was disqualified or not?”
I shake my head. I’m not sure I have any words left in me.
“Well, hell,” Charlie says. He pulls out his phone and makes a call, putting it on speaker.
A girl answers. “Hey! What’s up?”
I recognize Lily’s voice.
“Hey, are you at that golf tournament?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Can you tell us if Leo Perez is still in it?”
When he saysus, Lily knows that’s me.
“Yes. They let him stay.”
Tears race down both cheeks, I’m so relieved. I look at Sophie and she’s crying, too.
“Okay, thanks. Uh, how’s he doing today?”
There’s a muffled groan. “He’s had a rough morning. There were a lot of parents who challenged the ruling. But the officials weren’t having it. I think it messed with his game.”
I pull Charlie’s phone out of his hand. “Can he make it up? He just needs to finish in the top three.”
“Maybe. He’d have to play this afternoon like he played yesterday.”
I’m about to hand Charlie his phone back, but I ask one last question. “Does he know it was me?”
“Yes, the officials told him about your visit this morning.”
I drop the phone in Charlie’s lap and burrow back down in my bed. Sophie scoots even closer to me.
Charlie thanks Lily and ends the call. We’re all quiet once again.
“So, what does this mean for graduation?” Wes asks.
I shrug, but I’m so buried in these covers they probably don’t see it. “Coach was so pissed at me about the pool party yesterday. Said that was my last warning. The tournament officials said they were going to tell him what happened and why I was asked not to be there for the last day of the tournament.”
Charlie asks, “Have you checked your phone? Maybe he called you. Or texted.”
