Chapter 5

I stood in the middle of the terminal while people rolled their suitcases around me. My legs didn't want to hold me up.

I didn't want to go to San Diego anymore.

That school. That ocean. The future Mason had promised me. Bella was in all of it now.

I turned around and walked out of the airport.

That night, Mason FaceTimed me.

"Where are you? Why aren't you here yet?"

"I didn't feel good, so I didn't go."

His eyebrows pulled together. "Is this because I didn't wait for you? Are you seriously sulking right now? Bella almost fainted, Claire. What was I supposed to do, leave her alone at the airport?"

Before I could answer, Bella leaned into the frame. She was wearing his jacket.

"Claire, it sucks that you didn't come! Mason already showed me around campus. And then he took me to the beach." She smiled so wide her eyes crinkled. "San Diego is so pretty. I don't even want to go home."

It was the vintage leather bomber I'd bought him for his eighteenth birthday. I'd saved three months of tutoring money for it. He never let anyone touch it. If one of his friends so much as tried it on, he'd chase them across the parking lot.

Now it was hanging off Bella's shoulders like it was hers.

She tugged on his sleeve. "Mason, the hotel bed's so hard. I can't sleep."

He gave her a look. "You need me for that too?"

"But my back hurts." She hugged his arm and swung it back and forth.

Mason glanced back at the screen. "Get some sleep, okay? I'm gonna go check on her."

The call ended.

I sat on my bed with the phone in my hand until the screen dimmed and went dark on its own.

For years I'd been so lonely in this house, so scared of being by myself, that I'd poured everything I had into one person. Mason was supposed to be the one who got me out.

And he'd left me standing alone in an airport.

Fine. Then I could let go of all of it.

I texted Dr. Sutton.

Is there any way I could leave early?

He wrote back fast.

A group of scholars flies out Friday for the summer bridge session. That's three days from now. Are you sure? Most students want to squeeze every last day out of summer.

I'm just really eager to learn.

Ha. All right. I'll put you on the list.

Three days later, I dragged my suitcases out to the curb by myself.

Mom and Dad were in the garage, packing Bella's dorm stuff into plastic bins. They watched me roll two giant suitcases down the driveway. Neither of them asked where I was going.

They probably thought I was finally flying out to join Bella and Mason.

The Uber dropped me at departures. I checked my bags, got through security and found my gate for the first leg, to Newark.

When they started boarding, I got in line and reached for the power button on my phone.

Right as I held out my boarding pass, it buzzed.

Mason.

Why does your location say you're at the airport?