Alder rolled her eyes. She walked away, but stopped and came back. “You watch yourself, Easter. When I get back, I’m going to make it my mission to make you so miserable you’ll have to finish high school at home. You think I’ve been mean to you? You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“That sounds like a threat.” Frankie narrowed her eyes at Alder.

Alder smiled, but she looked more frightening that I’ve ever seen her. “I don’t make threats. I’m just giving her an idea of what the next six weeks of her life are going to be like.”

“Same thing,” Frankie said.

“I’m going to go enjoy my Spring Break. You should really try to enjoy yours.”

“I will,” I said, lifting my chin.

She shot me a look that made my blood run cold and returned to her Honda.

“Whew! You lit a fire under her ass!” Frankie said, nearly euphoric from the confrontation.

I leaned my butt against the counter. “She’s serious. When she gets back, it’s going to be hell.”

“Who cares?” Frankie said with a wink. “You’ve got Weston.”

“I don’t have him.”

“He’s framing your drawing.” She sighed. “He’s got it bad.”

“This is all really weird. Everything has been the same every day since first grade. Things have steadily gotten worse, and now they’re . . . I don’t know.”

“Amazing?”

“Different.”

Frankie nodded. An SUV pulled into the parking lot, and four kids hopped out, followed by their toddler-toting mother. Frankie and I got back to work.

I was feeling even more excited for Spring Break. If I was going to be punished for it, I was going to make sure every second was worth it.

Chapter Eight

Weston’s truck was parked directly behind the Dairy Queen. As if he already didn’t look happy enough, I brought him an extra tall Cherry Dip Cone. His grin spread from ear to ear.

“Do I have time to go home and change?” I asked.

“Nope. I’m too excited to show you something.”

We drove to his house. The windows were dark, and when he pressed the garage door button, his parents’ vehicle wasn’t in its spot. Even though it was a weekend, the entire town seemed to be closed down. With all the upperclassman traffic gone during Spring Break and so many families away for vacation, Blackwell would be on a week-long sleep; it was that way every year.

“Your parents already left?” I asked.

He nodded. “This morning.”

“What did they say about you staying home?”

He held open the door for me, and I walked through to the hallway. “It was a little weird. They were confused, and Mom’s freaking out about Alder, but they also seemed relieved. I think they were letting me go because I’m eighteen, but they were going to be worried about me the whole time.”

“Makes sense.”

“They asked me if I wanted to go skiing, but it’s their first adults-only vacation since they had me, so they were kind of glad I said no.”