I make my way over to the drinks counter, dodging squealing hugs, back slaps and high fives. The cafeteria is always loudest and most crowded on the first day back from a break, and that’s definitely true today. But it’s more than that. With only ten weeks to go until graduation, the seniors are especially sentimental. Never have there been so many breakups, make-ups, temporary hookups, declarations of devotion and general shenanigans. The hallways are a minefield of nostalgia bombs and regret grenades. Most conversations begin with eitherDo you remember the time?orI wish I had.Lots of group selfies are being taken. Kids are laughing louder and longer, as if whatever was just said is the funniest thing they’ve ever heard. Groups of friends who haven’t hung out since freshman year are suddenly sitting together again. It’s like everyone has realized that high school is ending, and they’re trying to make every memory count.
I grab the last chocolate milk and head back to our table. When I get there, Sophie and Cassidy are gone.
“Where’d they go?” I ask Martin.
He shrugs. “No idea. Sophie had something to do and Cassidy went with her.”
He waits for me to settle back into my seat before he starts his interrogation. “So I’m guessing you didn’t have a vision after you kissed?”
I bounce a little in my seat. “Nope, not even a blip.”
“Huh,” he says. “I wonder why.”
“I’m trying not to wonder why,” I tell him.
“I’m happy for you, Eves. You guys are good together.” He smiles, but I can feel that something’s on his mind.
“What’s up withyou?” I ask.
“I think Danica really likes her new guy,” he says. “She posts about him a lot. What if I missed my chance?”
I don’t know what to say. I’m torn between wanting to make him feel better and not wanting to encourage him about something that’s never going to happen.
“I don’t think you missed your chance,” I say.
The four-minute-warning bell rings, and we gather our things and leave. Our next class is on the third floor. Martin pushes the stairwell door open but then stops walking so suddenly that I almost run into him. “Oh my god,” he says.
At first I think Danica must be here somewhere, because she always stops Martin in his tracks. But then I follow his gaze. It’s not Danica.
It’s Sophie and Cassidy standing right there in the middle of the staircase.
They’re kissing.
And I see.
CHAPTER 26
Sophie and Cassidy
SOPHIE AND CASSIDYoutside Cassidy’s enormous house. It’s late at night. Cassidy is struggling to fit her key into the front door.
“Let me help you,” Sophie says. She tries to take the key away from Cassidy, but Cassidy doesn’t let go. Instead, she tries to pull Sophie in closer.
Sophie resists.
Cassidy says: “You’re so pretty. How come it took me so long to notice how pretty you are?”
Sophie’s dark eyes are hopeful and careful. “How drunk are you?” she asks, kind of teasing, kind of not.
Cassidy shakes her head. “You’re pretty when I’m sober too,” she says.
This time when Cassidy pulls her in, Sophie doesn’t resist.
—
Cassidy leading Sophie through the doors of the planetarium at Griffith Observatory. Except for a guard and a tour guide, no one else is there.
“How did you do this?” Sophie asks, excited and awed.
