I try not to roll my eyes at Kennedy’s description of what was probably a field party in the middle of nowhere, with a bonfire in the middle and lots and lots of alcohol. Don’t get me wrong. That’s a good time, and I’m all about the good times, but it would have been shit without Camden there too. “Eh, I had a pretty good time. Scream was on television last night, and Camden’s mom got the extra butter popcorn. So, it was pretty damn epic too.”

“You think Camden will go to college?” I sit up straight at my girlfriend’s question, which came out of nowhere. I stare daggers at her. Why the hell would she ask that?

“Why would he?”

She sits up on her bed, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “Why wouldn’t he? He’s way too smart not to. He’s probably going to change the whole damn world, Kingston.”

I’m glaring at her, suddenly regretting coming over to her house after I left Cam’s this evening. But he had to go to work, and his mom was awake and could watch Lucy. She sleeps in after working the night shift, and I wasn’t kidding about enjoying hanging out with the kid. I should have just gone home, but I didn’t feel like it yet. Now it’s pushing midnight, and I’m pretty irritated with my girlfriend. “He’s not leaving Kensley. He loves it here.”

She narrows her eyes at me—eyes I usually think are pretty but are annoying me at the moment. “If you say so.” She moves toward me, prowling like a cat in heat, her hand dragging over the front of my shirt. “I don’t really want to talk about Camden, anyway.” She bites on her bottom lip. “You know my mom is going to get home soon and kick you out, so we should probably find something to do until then. Something fun.”

We spent most of tonight hanging out with her little brothers. Kennedy’s life is really similar to Camden’s. Her mom is a single mom who works at the local distribution plant. She has two little brothers, but they mostly just bug her.

She resents the hell out of her mom and maybe her younger brothers too, which is the total opposite of Camden. I smile to myself, thinking about my best friend, who takes everything in stride. He didn’t ask his mom to get knocked up, but he just rolls with it. He loves Lucy like crazy, and he watches her without complaint.

All Kennedy ever does is complain.

Maybe that’s not fair. I don’t have any younger siblings, and my parents are still married—happily in love after nineteen years of marriage. They tell me this all the time. It’s kind of gross but also kind of awesome.