Page 105 of I Wish You All the Best

“What’s up?” Hannah asks.

“Just nerves,” I say, knowing that it isn’t just that.

I already know my answer to Mom and Dad’s question. There’s no way I can go back to that house, not after everything they did. I want to believe they’ve changed, but I truly don’t think they have. I think this sort of change is beyond them. They aren’t mature enough to have grown on their own.

Then there’s the idea that I’ve kept this all from Hannah. I don’t think I could ever tell her about meeting with them. It seems like a total betrayal on my part, and I don’t ever want to see her face if she finds out.

I tried to talk to Mariam about all this, but it still feels like this oddly private thing; I can’t really explain it. Besides, I can’t always shove all my problems on them and expect them to solve it. That’s not fair.

“Hey, nerves can be a good thing,” Hannah says.

“How so?”

“Well …” She opens her mouth. “Damn, I don’t have any advice.”

“See?”

Hannah pats my knee. “Just pretend that tonight’s gonna be the best night of your life.”

“Really setting the bar low, aren’t we?”

“The best night of your life, so far?” she corrects.

“Better,” I say, rocking back and forth a little. “I can do this.” I breathe in and out slowly. “I got this.” For just the briefest of seconds I think about telling her. About the message and the meeting. But that won’t help anyone.

I already have my answer, my home.

“You got this,” she says.

I hear Thomas coming down the hallway, still rolling up the sleeves of his shirt. “Everyone ready to go?”

Hannah glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “Well?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

North Wake at night is sort of odd. All the lights are off except the ones in the main building where the show is. And the parking lot is packed with cars, so I guess any chance of this being a small show just flew out the window.

“Are your friends going to make it tonight?” Hannah locks the car behind us.

“I think so.” I check my phone, but there are no new texts. We talked about it at lunch today though, and everyone seemed excited.

“Ben!” someone yells from across the lot, and suddenly two people are running toward me. Well, Meleika is running, Sophie’s stumbling. She can’t do much in her heels.

“You guys made it.” I let Meleika wrap me in a hug.

“Why wouldn’t we?” Meleika asks.

“You weren’t answering your texts.” I don’t mean for it to sound like some kind of accusation.

“Oh, I was driving,” she says.

“And I have absolutely no service.” Sophie taps on her phone angrily.

“It’s okay,” I say. “Do you know where Nathan is?”

“I think he was going to try and get here early,” Sophie says.

Meleika’s phone gives a little ding. “Yeah, he’s inside already.”