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“It doesn’t do any good to hide out in life, Mia That’s how you used to handle things You’re stronger now ”

She sighed heavily “I know Lexi says I shouldn’t care what anyone thinks ”

“She’s right ”

“Yeah,” Mia said, but she sounded unconvinced

Jude held her daughter, re the whole of their lives in the blink of an eye “I love you, Poppet ”

“Love you, too, Madre Can we go get Lexi now? I need her tonight ”

“Of course That’s what best friends are for ”

In less than ten days, they would be graduating froh school

Lexi stood in a crowd of seniors, staring out at the sea of folding chairs that had been set up in the gymnasium

Principal Yates stood beneath the basketball hoop, his aro, but only a handful of kids were paying attention The rest of the one another

“You’ll file alphabetically out of the gy the bleachers and onto the football field—if it’s sunny If not, we’ll be in here,” the principal was saying “Now, let’s try a walk-through, okay? Jason Adnar, you start us off…”

Lexi followed along as she was supposed to, finding her seat on the floor The rehearsal took all of sixth period, and when it was over, they were released froy summer break

She and Zach found each other without really trying; it was like echolocation Each just knehere the other was, and they couldn’t stand to be apart Everything felt so big these days, so e Sometimes all Lexi could really hold onto was now, her love for Zach and her friendship with Mia Everything else was changing

Zach took her by the hand, and they walked across ca door for her

“Where’s Mia?” Lexi asked