My eyebrows lifted, and a surprised, appreciative smile swept across my face. “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

“It shouldn’t be. You’re so good, Erin. You’re just . . . good. You don’t deserve the way they treat you, and I don’t even know why they do it.”

“I don’t know, either. One day, they just stopped talking to me, and then the silence turned into anger.”

“That’s so weird. I don’t get it.”

The Chevy pulled into my gravel drive, and Weston put the gear into park.

I leaned back and stretched. “Just one more day before Spring Break. After that we have five weeks before graduation. None of this will matter after that.”

“Are you . . . are you going to prom?” he asked.

I laughed once. It was shrill, and it even surprised me. “No,” I said, amused.

“Would you want to go with me?”

“You’re going with Alder.”

“I haven’t asked her, yet. Everyone just assumes we’re going together. Even her.”

“I . . .” I shook my head, feeling overwhelmed. “I don’t have a dress. I wouldn’t even know where to look. And I don’t have the money, anyway.”

“Okay. Don’t freak out. Just think about it. If you want to go, we’ll figure something out.”

I swallowed, hard. “You’re freaking me out. I’m not sure how to feel about all of this.”

Weston lifted my hand and touched his lips to my fingers. “We’re just winging it, remember?”

I pulled the door handle and jumped down to the grass below, then pulled his jacket from my shoulders.

“Hang on to it for me.”

I tossed it into his truck. “I have a jacket. Thank you.”

He smirked. “Not one that smells like me.”

“Are you afraid I’m going to forget about you overnight?” I teased, trying to hide my embarrassment that he’d spoken my private thought.

He pointed to his chest. “This? No way!”

Weston waved to me as he pulled away, and I walked into my house, still giggling. It was dark and quiet. I crept into my room and let my backpack fall to the carpet, and crawled straight into bed. I was too tired to take a shower or even brush my teeth. I just wanted to lie between the sheets and replay what Weston said about how I made him feel over and over again in my head. It was like a dream, one that I would inevitably wake up from soon. Something was going to come along and take it all away, because things like this didn’t happen to me.

I reached over and set my alarm for half an hour earlier than usual, and then relaxed against my pillow. Tomorrow was Friday, the last day before Spring Break, and the beginning of a week-long vacation from the Erins, and nine whole days and evenings with Weston, doing whatever we wanted. He was becoming my best friend, and not just because he was my only friend at school. We actually had a lot in common, from music to art to a mutual love for the first three episodes of Star Wars.