When Tuesday’s study hall period rolls around, I finally have an idea. I spend the entire hour writing down everything I’d put on a bucket list and cross-referencing it with my mom’s list. It feels like a puzzle or a game.
I can barely sit still, and I’m smiling so hard my face hurts. I haven’t been this excited since I found out I was going to be cheer captain this year.
By the time class is over, I’ve come up with seventeen things. Seventeen felt appropriate, since it’s my lucky number. I included my mom’s fourteen list items, even the ones that included dates, although I’m still not excited about them, and three for myself.
I stare down at the list, feeling inspired and just a little closer to my mom already. I want to show Claire so we can talk it out.
High School Bucket List
Make a high school memory box?
Go apple picking
Get a piercing
Watch the sunrise from the fifty-yard line on the football field
Learn the “Thriller” dance!
Go on a double date
Stay up all night
Volunteer
Travel internationally
Kiss someone under the stars
Do something scary
Go to the homecoming dance with a date
Go ice-skating
Have a photo shoot with friends
Go skinny-dipping
Take a road trip with Dad
Leave my mark on Frost Lake High
As soon as the bell rings, I bolt out of my chair. In the hallway, I press my notebook to my chest and hurry toward my locker. Austin, Rowan, and a few other soccer guys are in a huddle blocking my locker.
“Excuse me,” I chirp merrily. They don’t hear me or move, but I manage to squeeze past them to my locker.
As I open it, I hear Rowan’s quiet mutters.
“He’s out for Friday’s game. Maybe longer.”
“If we make it past Brayson without him,” Eddie adds.
Their words jumble in my brain as I try to process who or what they’re talking about, but when they go quiet, it finally hits me. I swivel around in time to see Vaughn approach. The guys open up their circle.
An embarrassed flush tints Vaughn’s cheeks. It’s pretty obvious his teammates were talking about him by the way they all stay quiet and stare at him.
Rowan steps up to him first. “I’m sorry.”
