“I didn’t know that about Frankie.” My brain flips through the math, and I sit up in my sleeping bag. In the dimly lit tent, I can see Elijah’s face is a mask of worry, and I hear his breath start to quicken.

“What if it was my father that started that fight? What if it was his fault that Crenshaw had to forfeit? No wonder he wasn’t in the football team picture his senior year. He probably got kicked off the team. It’s no wonder the whole town hates his guts. It’s no wonder they hate mine just for being a Vance.” All of a sudden, he’s unzipping his sleeping bag and pulling his legs out of it, crawling to the door.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I say, trying to pull him back. “Calm down! Figg said the whole team was involved in that fight. Even if it was your mom that was pregnant—”

“It was, I know it was,” Elijah says.

“Okay. Even if it was, the whole Crenshaw team was sticking up for your mom and dad. They were all angry that Taylor was being so awful. It wasn’t your father’s fault that Crenshaw had to forfeit that year,” I tell him. I can hear his breathing slow in the dark. “Or at least it wasn’t only his fault.”

Elijah lies back down on top of his sleeping bag this time, and I lower my head onto my pillow, too. I’m curled on my side, watching the fuzzy outline of his profile in the dark tent.

“Hey, Julian?” Elijah says into the dark. “I gotta tell you something else.”

“Okay.”

“And I’m going to need you to just… listen without judgment, okay?” he says, his voice unsteady.

I frown, but I try not to let it show in my voice. “Yeah, of course.”

“Part of the reason we left Meridien three years ago was because of Frankie,” he says, suddenly quiet again.

I sit up. “What happened? Was she sick or something? Did she have to go to a different school?”

“She had a baby.” The words rush out of him like he can’t contain them any longer. “I have a niece, okay? Her name is Coley and she’s almost two and a half, and she’s the most important thing in my world right now, and I just… I don’t care if that makes you think Frankie is irresponsible and she’s ruined her life.” His voice picks up strength. “She’s not! She’s not any of those stereotypical things people think about teen moms! She’s this amazing mother. And I couldn’t even imagine what my life would be like right now without Coley in it.”

“Wow,” I say, letting his words settle around me. “Frankie’s a mom.”

He finally breathes, but it comes out all shaky like he’s about to break into a million tiny pieces.