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He ht, I think elica is a lost cause She’s not a fan of drinking"

Or boyfriends who can’t get over their old girlfriends, I thought "Maybe there’s still hope," I said cheerfully "I overheard Tia talking with her She was upset, which elica express an ee"

He nodded slowly "I heard you and Sawyer broke up If I caused that, I’m sorry If you actually wanted to be with him, I mean" He sounded doubtful

"I did," I said

A silence fell between us, long and dead, while Aidan squeaked back and forth on the swing

"Well," I finally said, "we still have eight et along from now on We’ve broken up, but that doesn’t ht" He leaned forward in the swing, put his hand on mine, and stroked his thu about the fact that we’d been each other’s first tiain that I’d waited My attraction to hi the rest of irl entirely It was hard to believe I’d ever been young enough to love him

I drew my hand away "I’ll see you at school Monday"

"Yeah" He stood, sending the swing into wildthe student council haunted house"

"Oh boy Maybe somebody else could head up the cohed at my mention of Sawyer But all he said was, "That ork You deserve a break" He jogged down the steps, then turned around on the sidewalk "By the way, Kaye, you did an awesome job on the elections, and the float, and especially the dance I didn’t want to ad"

"Thanks," I called

I went back to bed

But an hour later, I did get up and let my mother cook for me I watched a little football with Dad Then I spent a few hours doing so I rarely did at home: I blasted raphy for a couple of new songs the

My mother didn’t say a word

About four thirty, Harper surprisedin my driveway inht behind her in her new (to her) car He didn’t get out to talk to ave me a brief wave and disappeared into the back seat

"What’s up?" I asked Harper

"Co band’s first competition of the year!" She announced this with the enthusias anybody"

"I thought you hated being here with your mom nowadays"

I had complained to Harper about this in the last feeeks But looking back at the house, I said, "I think we’re over the worst of it"