Chapter 4

At the end of May, Mom and Dad threw us a joint graduation party in the backyard.

Joint, technically.

The sheet cake said Congrats Bella! in big pink frosting. My name was squeezed into the bottom corner in blue, like the bakery had remembered me at the last second. Or like Mom had.

Bella sat in the middle of everything in her white graduation dress, hugging her college welcome folder like a trophy. Mom took pictures of her with every aunt, every uncle and every cousin. Forty-something pictures, easy.

She took one of me. My eyes were half closed.

Dad brought out the bottle of bourbon he'd been saving since before I was born and passed it around to my uncles, bragging about Bella's grades. I was the valedictorian. Nobody brought that up.

Once everyone was a few drinks in, Mom suddenly turned to me.

"Wait, did your orientation stuff ever come? Bella's is July twelfth."

I kept my eyes on my water. "Probably later."

"Want me to check your portal?" Mason already had his phone out. "I still have your password from when we did applications."

I put my hand over his screen. "It's fine. I'll check tonight."

He shrugged and put it away.

Bella slid in next to him and looped her arm through his, beaming at me. "Claire's such a nerd, she'll be fine. And in San Diego, Mason gets to take care of both of us."

Mason pulled his arm back. "Talk normal."

She stuck out her tongue. "Ugh, fine. You're always bossing me around. So annoying."

Mom laughed. "You've been glued to Mason since you were little. You'd think he was your big brother."

Bella giggled. "Ew, no. Who'd want him as a brother?"

She was looking at Mason when she said it.

He must have caught the look on my face, because under the table, he found my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles.

"Let's fly out to San Diego in a couple weeks and see the apartment," he said quietly. "You can have the master bedroom. You always said you wanted a big room of your own, right?"

I used to daydream about it all the time. Me and Mason in a tiny apartment by the ocean, a whole life that belonged to just us.

Bella was never in those daydreams.

My stomach turned over. I made myself smile. "We'll see."

He started to say something else, but Bella was already pulling on his sleeve.

"Come help me get the cake. Right now. Or I'm not talking to you."

He laughed and let go of my hand without even looking at me.

"Okay, okay, princess."

I closed my eyes. I'd already made up my mind to leave. Whatever they did now had nothing to do with me.

I said yes to the San Diego trip anyway.

That school was the place I'd worked toward my whole time in high school. I wanted to see it with my own eyes before I let it go.

The morning we were supposed to fly out, I got to the airport, and Mason and Bella weren't there.

I checked my phone. The first message was from Mason, sent at 5:40 that morning.

Bella's super dizzy, she keeps saying she feels sick. Taking her on the early flight. Booked you on the next one. I'll pick you up when you land.

Right under it was one from Bella.

Sorry Claire!! I was SO dizzy and I couldn't sit around the airport for hours. You're not mad, right?

The last one was from Mason, a few minutes ago.

We just landed. You on the plane yet?

The terminal tilted around me. I called him.

He picked up on the second ring. "Hey. Shouldn't you be boarding?"

"You're already there?"

"Yeah. Bella looked really pale. I was scared she was gonna pass out."

"I booked you a new ticket, didn't I? You're a grown-up. You can handle one flight by yourself."

Bella's voice drifted in on his end, soft and whiny. "Mason, I'm cold."

"Coming," he told her. Then, fast, to me: "Gotta go, she's not feeling good again. Call me when you land."

The line went dead.