Friday morning, I have to force myself to get out of bed. My limbs feel like I have the body of an eighty-year-old woman. I wash my face to wake myself up, throw my hair into a bun, shrug on a black long sleeve and a flannel, and reach for my short boots. Seeing my appearance in the mirror, I think about swiping on some mascara and lip gloss to make me look less like the walking dead, but I decide against it. I don't care if everyone sees my zombie-like state. I feel like a cold is coming on and wearing makeup while I'm sick is never a good thing. When I walk out of my room, my aunt is in her pajamas on the couch with a mug full of coffee. Her classes finished their finals yesterday, so she's in vacation mode. "Good morning," she says like the morning person she is. "Morning," I yawn as I say it. "Can I just stay home with you?" "You're almost done," she laugh. "Get through these last few days. You'll miss them once you're my age." My aunt doesn't have the body of an eighty-year-old woman either, but she can have the attitude of one. "I'm not counting on my high school years to the best years of my life. I think I'll be fine." The doorbell rings and my heart rate shoots up. The first face that pops into mind is Xavier's. Before my aunt can stand up, I beat her to the door. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if it is him. I've stayed away from Dylan, so he can't use that over me. As far as I know Casey hasn't talked to him, so it could be because of that. I open the door and expect the worst. Instead I'm met with Casey and Anthony, which is almost just as bad. "What are you guys doing here?" I ask them. It's unusual to see them together. "Came to see you obviously," Anthony hugs himself. They're freezing, so I open the door wider for them and let them inside. After shutting the door behind them, my aunt gives me a quizzical look. "Hi, Jade," Casey says to her. "Sorry to come unannounced. We thought we'd take Lacey to school today." At that point Anthony holds out his hand to my aunt. "I'm Anthony." She shakes it and pulls her robe closer together. "Nice to meet you. I'm sorry I still have my bed-head on." "Why don't we get going then?" I suggest. I'll have to skip breakfast, but I don't want everyone overstaying their welcome. "Actually," Casey starts. "We also came to talk to you," she says to my aunt. She looks between Casey and Anthony then at me. "Okay." "Our friend Reece's birthday is on Monday, but his family is having a party for him this weekend at their cabin," Anthony says to her. "We want Lacey to go." Is Casey going to the cabin? Is Anthony the one who told her about it? Because I haven't mentioned it. I was hoping everyone would forget to include me. "Reece's parents are going to be there, so we won't be unsupervised," Casey explains. "You're going?" I ask her and she nods. "Well, they said I could go only if you're going..." she trails off, glancing at my aunt and giving her best puppy-eyes. My aunt has an unreadable expression on her face. "How many of you are going?" Anthony holds up his fingers. "Reece, his brother Jared, their parents, my cousins Derrick and Dylan, Dylan's girlfriend, me, and Casey." "Dylan?" my aunt gives me a look. "Dylan has a girlfriend?" I know she's sensed something going on between us, but she's also sensed that something happened. There isn't enough time to explain everything, and I can't exactly tell her everything. "We can talk about this after school when we have more time," I tell her. "I think we should head to school now." My aunt gets the picture and nods. "Have fun at school." Once I have my jacket on, the three of us are out the door and I say, "I can't believe you guys came here and told my aunt about this weekend." "I knew you weren't going to ask," Anthony says. "I went to Casey, who is a very good planner." We approach Anthony's car and I get in the back while Casey sits in the front seat. I feel like a child being scolded by her parents. "It'll be fun, Lace," Casey says as we pull out of the apartment complex. I watch the city go by in a blur outside the window. It might be fun if Dylan and Kay weren't going, but it could also be the opposite without Dylan there. "Reece's parents are super chill. The whole weekend should be fun," Anthony says. They don't get it. "I'm sorry I don't want to see Dylan and Kay all over each other the whole weekend," I cross my arms as I say it. "I'll buy Reece a present for Monday and that's that." They're quiet and I desperately wish I can read minds. "And what is Kay going to think when she sees me? She's going to make it so much worse," I tell them. "Kay will have to deal with the fact that while you're not talking to Dylan, you're still friends with the rest of us," Anthony says. "If she gives you a hard time, then I'll kick her ass myself and drop her off on Xavier's porch. End of story," Casey snaps. "I'm sick of you being afraid of them. I grew up around them. I know what they are and aren't capable of." While true, I also don't want Dylan to get hurt in the process. We get to school and Anthony parks in his usual spot, which unfortunately is next to Dylan. Through the window, I can see Dylan talking on the phone in his car. His head is on the headrest and his fingers are on the bridge of his nose. The phone call looks stressful. I feel self-conscious getting out of Anthony's car. I can feel Dylan's eyes on me and I mentally hit myself for not putting on makeup. Casey walks ahead of me and Anthony and I take the opportunity to talk to him alone. "What if Xavier hears about our trip?" I ask him. "Everything is going to be fine. Everyone is going to be fine," he says as he stops walking and looks at me. "What happened to you, Lacey? You used to be this cool, confident girl that me and the guys liked to hang out with." Confident? "I haven't felt confident in a long time," I shake my head. Of course, I tried to come off as a confident person, but I didn't think it ever worked. "Well, you seemed like you were," he says. "I know you and Dylan are in a weird place right now, or whatever, but we didn't like you because you were with him. We like you because you're fun." It's really sweet of him to say so. "No one is going to get hurt. Not your aunt, Casey, or Dylan, and I'm going to make sure of that," he concludes. I don't know what to say, so I hug him instead. It's important to me that he's ready to fight back against Xavier instead of backing off. It makes me feel ready too. Dylan is making his way over to Anthony so I let him go. "Thank you," I say. Dylan stands silently next to Anthony and I duck down. "I should go." I pull my jacket closer to my body and catch up with Casey.