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He’s silent

"I’ll come to the next one, I proirlfriend coaao to our school!"

"There have only been four gaone to two!" Now I’m annoyed I know lacrosse is important to him, but it’s no less important than my commitments at Belleview "And you knohat? I know you didn’t write that poear Allan Poe!"

"I never said I wrote it," he hedges

"Yes you did You acted like you wrote it"

"I wasn’t going to, but then you were so happy about it! Sorry for trying toto bake you leame day, and now I don’t know"

"Fine, then I don’t know if I’ht be too tired froasp "You’d better be there!" This party is small as it is, and Chris isn’t the most reliable person It can’t just be me and Trevor and John Three people does not a party make

Peter makes a harrumph sound "Well, then I’d better see soa his lemon cookies and wear his jersey nurabsItit sooner, because it took so very little on my part to s, the s And I kno too that in some small measure I have the power to hurt him and also the power to , queer sort of feeling in my chest for reasons I can’t explain

35

I’D WORRIED IT WOULD BE too cold for us to stay in the tree house for long, but it’s unseasonably warm, so much so that Daddy starts on one of his rants about clie, to the point where Kitty and I have to tune hie and set about digging under the tree The ground is hard, and it takes , but I finally hit metal a couple of feet in The time capsule’s the size of a small cooler; it looks like a futuristic coffee thermos The metal has eroded from the rain and snow and dirt, but not asit’s been nearly four years I take it back to the house and wash it in the sink so it glea with ice cream sandwiches, Hawaiian Punch, and Cheez Doodles and take it all out to the tree house I’le the bag and the portable speakers andin front of the tree house, staring up at it with his arms crossed I’d know the back of his blond head anywhere

I freeze, suddenly nervous and unsure I’d thought Peter or Chris would be here with me when he arrived, and that would smooth out any aardness But no such luck

I put down all my stuff and move forward to tap him on the shoulder, but he turns around before I can I take a step back "Hi! Hey!" I say

"Hey!" He takes a long look at me "Is it really you?"

"It’s me"

"My pen pal the elusive Lara Jean Covey who shows up at Model UN and runs off without so much as a hello?"

I bite the inside of ly he says, "No, I’ht: I didn’t I was too flustered Kind of like right now Itso therown-up, but still not all the way grown-up, and there are all these years and letters in between you, and you don’t kno to act