“Okay.”

“It’s going to be loud,” Elise whispered. “But don’t get scared. They’re asleep. And they’re going to be confused and they’re going to want to climb down from their bunk beds and come outside to see what’s going on. We’ll be long gone before they even think about calling the police.” I nodded and we split up. I tied the firecrackers to one of the security bars and stood under them almost in a daze. I remember my racing heart, the matches slipping from my hands.

The firecrackers were supposed to go first, waking everyone before the show, but when I looked up, Elise was already heading toward me, which meant the fireworks were lit. I heard the first one shoot up into the sky, staring as it exploded, mesmerized at the pop, pop, pop.

It was loud enough to wake the entire building and all the buildings within five blocks.

“What are you doing?” Elise gripped my arm. She pulled out her lighter, struggled to get a flame, shook it. I’d never done anything like this before—getting payback. This was the kind of thing Cameron couldn’t imagine I’d be capable of doing.

Never think I could do.

The third rocket whistled its ascent before bursting in the sky. “Wait,” I said, taking the lighter from her and flipping it shut. Windows of the dorms closest to us shot the trees with slants of light, but Cameron’s room was still dark.

“What are you doing?” Elise asked again. “We have to go.” I knelt to the ground, fingers running across a single match. It was all I needed. I struck a weak flame and touched it to the fuse long enough for it to catch, burning my fingertips.

“Okay, let’s go.” We ran into the trees for cover but I stopped, turning back to see Cameron’s window light up, to see the shock on his face as the firecrackers burst with the sound of gunfire.

• • •

That was the first prank. The beginning.

We laughed and whooped on the drive back and I felt alive in a way I hadn’t in a long time, maybe ever. Looking over at Elise, her long hair whipping around in the wind, I remember thinking that this was the start of an adventure, the beginning of the rest of my life.

We were a forest fire, wild and full of rage. We were a galaxy unto ourselves, a million stars blazing bright.

Everything was possible then.

MONDAY // AUGUST 28 // DAY 353

8.

Sitting in the car outside the police station, Vera and I rehearse what I’m going to say one last time. It’s morning and I haven’t gotten any sleep. After Vera drove me back to the house, I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and alternated between sobbing until I couldn’t breathe and feeling completely numb, my mind wiped blank.

As Vera speaks, I stare out of the window, not really listening. I catch my face in the side mirror and I look awful, my eyes swollen and bloodshot, my skin splotchy and raw, my hair rough like straw from repeated washings. It’s definitely been at least forty-eight hours since I last slept. My heart spasms wildly in my chest, pumping desperately, and I feel like I might faint.