“To convince yourself it was worth it?”

Greta paused. “I guess?”

Ramona rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what everyone’s big thing about failing is. Failing rules. Failing is proof to yourself that you tried something. That you did something instead of just sitting on your ass letting life pass you by. How’s that a bad thing?”

Greta hadn’t thought of it like that.

“Plus who gets to decide what failure looks like for you? Oh, wait, lemme guess. Your family?”

Ramona didn’t give her time to confirm that.

“Well, honestly, dude, fuuuuuck them. They wanna stay on Owl Island? Great! You’re not trying to control their lives. You’re just saying you wanna leave. You know, Greta is just great in a different order. You can’t fail!” Ramona crowed.

A group of people walking past cheered at that, raising go cups high.

“See?” Ramona said. “The whole city agrees!”

A warm, sparkly feeling lit Greta up.

“Yeah!” she said. “Yeah, I can do whatever I want. Failure’s, like, part of life. And I decide what it is.”

“Exactly, dude! You just call your family and you say, Hey, everyone, I’m outta here. Love ya, bye!”

“Yes! I do love them, and I do wanna be out of there.”

“There you go,” Ramona said.

They clinked Jell-O shots, then downed them.

“I’m gonna call ’em right now!” Greta said.

“Yes!”

Greta fumbled out her phone and called her mom. It went to voicemail.

“Hey, Mom. I’m outta here. Love ya, bye!” Then she added, “This is Greta. Your daughter. And by here, I mean Owl Island. Love you, byyyee.” She hung up the phone and turned to Ramona.

“I can’t believe you did it,” Ramona said, eyes wide.

“I did it!” Greta said.

They high-fived, and Greta’s phone rang.

“Don’t answer that,” Ramona said.

“I’m not! Not answering, Mom!” she called.

Another group of passersby cheered.

“The whole city does agree,” Greta said.

The door opened, and Carys came outside. She was the most beautiful person Greta had ever seen.

“The whole city agrees with me, baby,” Greta told her, opening her arms.

Carys smiled and moved into them.

“Is that right?” she drawled. “About what?”

“That I decide what failure means and that I don’t have to answer my mom.”

Carys grinned. “Well, the whole city sounds right to me.”

“Me too.” Greta’s voice was slightly slurred. She felt euphoric.

“I like you,” Ramona said to Carys.

Carys replied, “I like you too.”

“Sweet.”

“Aww, you like each other. Yay,” Greta said.

“If y’all wanna come back inside, we’re gonna unwrap presents,” Carys said.

“Oh, yes,” Ramona said, jumping to her feet. “I brought the best thing. Can’t wait to see it unwrapped.”