“Well, you are seventeen now and in some wolf cultures that makes you an adult. Your father and I met when we were fifteen and sixteen.”
Dad joins in. “And we certainly didn’t wait to—” Mom coughs, stopping him before he sayswaytoo much. “What I mean is,” Dad says, course correcting, “you’ve been through a lot and we know we can trust you—”
“So, we would be happy for you and Jasper to go on this trip”—oh my moon gods, what? This is too good, this can’t be happening—“on one condition.”
Oh. My stomach drops. Of course there’s some random condition. We can’t just have a good time.
“You need to check in with us every day,” Mom says, issuing her decree. “Let us know immediately if anything goes wrong. We need to be in the loop. No radio silence like the last time you ran off.”
I rub the back of my neck. So far so good. “Okay, I can do that.”
“And Jasper, you mentioned a couple of security guards,” she continues.
Jasper nods. “Yes, I’ll have my father arrange it.”
“Good,” she says. “But double that number. I think four guards is reasonable after the trouble you two have been in.”
Jasper’s blushing but also smiling. “I’ll need to confirm with the alpha, but I think that can be arranged.”
I look between Jasper and my parents. “So, is that it? Can we go?”
Mom and Dad glance at each other. I can tell they’re unsure, but they know how much this chance means to me and I know they don’t want to deprive me of a second of happiness.
“Yes,” Mom says, and I’m just about to jump for joy when she spits out, “and one more thing!”
“You said one condition,” I say, knowing how whiny I sound.
My parents share another awkward glance. Both of them are hesitant to say whatever they have planned next.
“What is it?”
Dad raises his eyebrows at Mom as if to sayGo on then. She stares at him with a tight mouth for a moment before sighing, rolling her eyes, and huffing.
“Fine.” She pauses, shakes her head as if she can’t quite believe what she’s about to say, which does not bode well. “Your father will take you shopping for”—she clears her throat—“supplies.”
I squish up my face. “What sort of supplies?”
“The kind that you might need…in…order…to…have…safe—”
“Condoms!” Dad says, announcing it to the entire park.
Katie and Aisha can’t help giggling. Todd and Simon pretend to stare at the ground. Troy hides his embarrassed grimace behind a hand. Even in the dark I can tell Jasper has turned raspberry red. My face is devoid of blood, my hands cold and clammy, my mouth hangs open in stunned silence.
Dad coughs and adjusts his posture, realizing just how loud he shoutedcondomsin front of a bunch of teenagers and the stragglers making their way out of the park.
“That is, we want you to take—”
“Don’t say it again!” I shout, holding out a hand in a stop sign. “Fine, you can buy us those, just please, don’t say it again.”
For a moment it seems no one out of the nine of us lingering in the dark knows what to say next, until eventually Katie clears her throat.
“Anyone up for karaoke?”
An hour later Katie and I are belting out the lyrics to “Cruel Summer,”pretending we’re center stage on our very ownErastour. The karaoke room we booked is in the basement of a building in Greenwich. Down here it’s just us. Blue lights cast everyone in an otherworldly glow.
In a way we have moved into a new era.We’re still besties but now we both have relationships, our friendship group has expanded from just the two of us, into a mixed and fun group. I know Katie was worried we were growing apart—and we are, sort of—but as I take her hand for the final chorus I know there’s no one In the world who gets me quite like she does.
After their embarrassing attempt at sexual education my parents headed home, telling us to be safe and to have fun. So far we’ve covered everything from Olivia Rodrigo toWickedthe musical. Troy performed an Usher song with surprising vocal dexterity. The bro-twins gave a stunning duet performance of “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
