Shut Out

Cash helped me write the e-mail. He’d actually come up with the idea to meet between the fields. Sort of a safe ground for everyone.

Around five thirty Sunday evening, I headed downstairs to wait for my ride. The living room was full of boxes that Logan had filled with his belongings. I kept pushing them off to the side, worried they’d get in Dad’s way when he tried to navigate his chair through the living room. My brother—sometimes he just didn’t think about these things.

“Hey, sis, wa

“Why isn’t your girlfriend here to help you move?” I asked, hurrying over to open the door for him.

“She’s working her last shift at the library,” Logan said, carrying the box out to his truck. “She’ll be over in the morning so we can take this first load up to the new apartment.”

Cash and I had worked our final shift under Je

“You know,” she’d said to me as she shut down the computer at the front desk, “you’re going to have to take on more shifts now that I’m leaving.”

“Why?” I’d asked.

“Because you’re the only other person who loves this place enough,” she’d said, smiling at me. It was the first time Je

“I do love it,” I told her.

“Good.” She’d stepped away from the computer, hands moving to her hips, returning to normal Je

“I’ll think about it,” I said, stu

Because as much as Je

And now that she was leaving, she trusted me.

I still wasn’t her biggest fan by any means. I wasn’t happy that she was taking my brother away from me, that Logan was jumping into this relationship so soon. But she really did make him happy, so I’d decided to keep my mouth shut and accept it. Just the same way he and Dad would have to accept Cash, in spite of the rivalry between his soccer team and the football team they loved so much.

Though I hoped that rivalry was about to come to an official end. In about half an hour, actually.

“Are you and Dad going out tonight?” I asked Logan as he shoved the box of trophies into the back of his truck.

“I think so,” he said. “He wants to go to a sports bar in Oak Hill. Watch a game together and have some fun before I leave. Why?”

“Just wondering,” I said. “But… Okay, he doesn’t have to have a salad. He can eat fried food if he wants. But tell him just one beer. I mean it.”

“Yes, Mom.”

We looked at each other for a second, and then we both cracked up. I did sound just like her. My mother had been just as bossy as I was, just as protective. I told myself that she’d be proud of Logan, though. That she’d want him to go. And even though it was scary, letting him get so far away from me, where I couldn’t always know he was safe, I knew I had to do it.

Just then, Chloe’s convertible pulled into my driveway. “Lissa!” she called. It was a little chilly, but she still had the top down. I could see Kelsey and Ellen sitting in the backseat, bundled in sweatshirts. “Come on. Let’s do this.”

“Have fun,” Logan said, reaching over and ruffling my hair. He had no idea where I was going, that I was about to put an end to a rivalry he’d seen the begi

“Be careful tonight,” I said, exercising my last few hours of control over him. “Don’t get too drunk. You don’t want to have a hangover when you’re moving in tomorrow. Call me if you need anything, and take care of Dad.”

“Relax,” Logan told me. “We’re big boys. We’ll be fine. Now go hang out with your friends.” He shoved my shoulder. “Don’t keep them waiting.”

I nodded and waved to him before hurrying to Chloe’s convertible, hopping over the edge and into the front passenger’s seat.

“Ready to go?” Chloe asked, adjusting her sunglasses. We’d be driving right into the setting sun on our way to the high school.

“Yep.”

“Cool.”

“I’m freezing back here,” Kelsey whined.

“You’ll live.”

“Why in God’s name is your top still down?”

“Hey, you’re the one who decided to carpool,” Chloe said, glancing over her shoulder as she backed out of my driveway. “No complaining, or you can walk.”

Kelsey stuck out her tongue.

Chloe laughed and faced forward again, lighting a cigarette with one hand as she drove.

It was almost like they were becoming friends or something. While totally creepy, it was also pretty cute.

“Are you excited for all this to be over?” Ellen asked, leaning forward so that her head was between my and Chloe’s seats. “Are you proud of yourself?”

I smiled. “A little.”

“You should be,” she said, leaning back again. “And you should also be excited about your date with Cash tonight. Where are you two going?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “When he called me, he said he wanted it to be a surprise.”

Cash and I hadn’t seen each other much over fall break. We’d called and texted almost every day, and of course there was work, but I wanted to hold off our real reunion until after tonight. After the rivalry was really and truly over and we could start fresh. That way I could relax and not worry so much about the rest of the world—the oath, the battle we’d had going on. Nothing. It would just be Cash and me.

Just thinking about it made me smile. I couldn’t wait to see him, to kiss him with no guilt or worry. I’d been daydreaming about it like crazy.

Chloe parked her car on the side of one of the gravel roads behind the school and the four of us walked up to the fields. A group was already waiting there, a mix of boys and girls, standing around talking until they saw us coming.

“Hi, Lissa!” Mary called, waving excitedly. She was standing by Fi

Though I could never get the image of Fi

“Hi,” I said, waving back.

The crowd began growing then, as more and more people started walking up the hill toward us. I couldn’t help gri

Behind them, off in the distance, I also spotted Randy. It still hurt to see him, to remember the way he’d broken my trust, but not as much as it had a couple weeks ago. And that hurt wasn’t nearly enough to dim my excitement and pride tonight.

I turned to face Chloe. “Do you think we’re about ready?” I asked.

“I hope so,” Chloe said. “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get out of here and have my wicked way with Shane.” She glanced over my shoulder and winked at him.