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girls.”
    “ Maybe he’s a prostitute,” she offered.
    “ Maybe he’s a Russian spy,” I said, my eyes growing wide with wonder.
    “ Maybe he’s a neo-Nazi,” she replied with a grin.
    “ Oh! Maybe he’s the Zodiac killer,” I said, thinking I’d most likely nailed it.
    She laughed and tipped back a sip of her hot chocolate. “I thought they caught that guy in like the 80’s.”
    “ No. The person they suspected it to be passed away and then the strange calls and killings stopped happening, so they just figured it was him.”
    “ I doubt Hot Guy is a crazy person. You should have faith in people.”
    I rolled my eyes and shot her a you-know-better-than-that stare. “You sound like him.”
    “ Huh,” she smirked. “I like him already.”
    “ I’m thinking about letting him come on the road trip with me…” I all but whispered, scared of what her reaction would be. Ninety-nine percent of me assumed she would throw the rest of her donut at my head as an attempt to knock some sense into me.
    “ You should. If I weren’t about to freaking DIE, I would go on a road trip with a random hot guy. What do you possibly have to lose?”
    I flashed her a pointed stare. “Uh, my life...my virginity…my freedom…my parent’s trust.”
    “ So nothing of importance?” she laughed, smoothing her hair back into a ponytail. Her arms were so small, skin and bone, if that.
    I smiled at her and shook my head.
    “ It doesn’t matter. I’m not sure I should go at all anymore,” I muttered.
    “ Why!?”
    I didn’t answer because the reason was staring me in the face and she wouldn’t take too kindly to my response.
    “ It better not be because of me!” she bellowed with a hard stare.
    I blanched. “I can go on a road trip anytime. You’re really sick, Caroline.”
    I thought I could see black plumes of smoke shooting out of her ears in that moment. “Abby. If you do not go on that road trip in a few days, I’ll forbid the hospital from letting you in. I’ll tell them that you mentioned bringing a bomb in and I’ll make them put you on their watch list.”
    “ Wow,” I mouthed, trying to hold back my laughter. Caroline was so ridiculous, but I half believed her.
    “ Yeah, I’m that serious.”
    “ Okay, psychopath. Jeez, I can’t imagine what you would be like if you weren’t strapped down by ten machines right now.”
    “ A real force of nature,” she replied proudly.
    “ Exactly.”
    “ So you’ll go?” she asked, hope dancing in her hollowed eyes.
    “ Yes,” I answered, even though the guilt was hard to push through.
    “ With him?”
    “ We’ll see…”
     

CHAPTER FIVE
    On Thursday morning I headed to the drug store to fill my prescriptions and pick up a few travel-sized essentials. My original plan was to leave for the road trip the next day, but I hadn’t talked to Beck since earlier in the week. Was twenty-four hours enough notice? Was I really going to be insane enough to bring him along with me? I knew that any normal person wouldn’t even consider it, but I just need you to be on my side. When that career counselor asked me to tell her about myself, I drew a giant BLANK. There was nothing— I had no reckless nights of sneaking out or drinking, going to parties, or any other normal teenage mischief. I needed something, at least one or two shenanigans, to cling onto when I was ninety. I could look back and shake my head at how careless I had been.
    Just. This. Once.
    So I did it. I was in that drug store, deciding between getting one or two mini-toothpastes, when I called Beck.
    He picked up on the third ring. “Abby Mae.”
    I don’t know if he was surprised to hear from me or if he always greeted people with a hint of cheerfulness.
    “ Good morning, Beck. It has come to my attention that I have an additional seat available for my road trip, which leaves tomorrow at eleven am sharp.” I cut right to the chase.
    “ Which one?”
    “ Which one, what?” I asked, picking