151 Days (62 page)

I took a step closer to him. “And, Mr. Raymond, do not piss them off.”

He looked upset for a moment and then gave me a predatory smile. “Well, you and your friends can laugh all you want, but at the end of the day, they still paid for their tickets,” he said, shaking the box. He froze when there was no sound. He scrambled to open it and saw the huge nothing inside. “Where is the money, Ms. Rogers?”

“Oh, that,” I said, sounding like I just remembered. “Well, like I said, I had people coming to me all week asking for refunds because they weren’t going to make it.”

He looked like he was going to spit. “You can’t give refunds.”

I cocked my head. “Really? You sure of that? Because according to the guidelines, it says the prom committee can refund money for tickets if the circumstances are unique. So I held a meeting and decided to define what ‘unique’ meant.”

“When?” Patty demanded.

I thought about it for a second. “Since last week, right, Josh?” I answered simply, looking over to him. He nodded. “Since last week when I held a meeting and no one showed up.” I pulled out another stack of papers and handed them to Raymond. “There is a list of every penny we got and every cent we gave back. Feel free to ask them if they got refunds or not.”

I grabbed Josh’s arm. “You’ll excuse me. I have a prom to get to.” As we walked out, I waved behind me. “Have fun here, guys.”

“You liked that too much,” Josh whispered to me as we walked out.

“Damn right I did.”

We both laughed as we headed into the night.

I was officially done with Foster drama.

B
RAD

I
KNOW
it’s silly to hear someone who’s eighteen years old say this, but I have to be honest. I had never seen anything like this. Gayle had set up a table of food, and Coach Gunn was helping her pass plates out to people. There were two generators on the back of pickup trucks that were running the lights and music, and there was a tub full of ice and sodas.

I knew they were sodas because Sheriff Rogers was sitting over there talking to Kelly’s mom.

There were people from all grades here, freshman to seniors, all of them having a great time. There were a ton of guys I didn’t recognize and then Shayne came walking up to me with his girlfriend. It was only then that I realized Granada was here as well. He saw the look on my face and laughed. “I told you people were pissed about how prom went down.”

“No hard feelings?” I asked him, hoping there wasn’t going to be bad blood because of taking state from them.

He shook his head. “Hell no. I should have gotten off that mound before the sixth. That was just dumb pride. You took it fair and square.”

He held his fist out, and I bumped it back.

“This is my boyfriend, Kyle,” I said proudly, nudging Kyle forward since he had been half hiding behind me.

“I’ve heard of you,” Shayne said, extending his hand.

Kyle took it. “Anything good?”

“Depends,” Shayne said wryly. “Is it supposed to be a secret you’re a masked vigilante who protects the town from ass hats?”

I saw Kyle’s face redden slightly, and I pulled him close.

“Don’t mind him,” I said, gripping Kyle tight. “He’s not used to being a superhero yet.”

“You should be,” Shayne said seriously. “I mean, take a look around. You did this.”

I saw Kyle look at him for a second, not sure what Shayne was talking about. And then it started to dawn on him. He had changed Foster, just like he had promised. “We all did it,” Kyle said, trying to deflect like he always did.

“Sure,” Shayne agreed quickly. “But it took one person to stand up and say it was fucked-up for anyone to do that.” He pointed a finger at Kyle’s chest. “Trust me, that’s all you.”

Kyle said nothing, still struggling to accept what Shayne was saying.

“Anyways, just wanted to say hey and good game.”

I nodded as he walked off.

“Do you think he’s right?” Kyle asked.

I moved and faced him. “I think this town sucked, and no one had the balls to do anything until you said it needed to stop. Look around you. You didn’t need to fight for this. Everyone did it on their own, not because you’re the most popular or they were trying to score cool points. They did it because it was the right thing to do, and you showed them that.”

“You were the one who told the school board you’d walk off the team unless everyone was protected from bullying.”

“Yeah, and what did I tell you that day after I said that? All I was thinking was ‘What would Kyle do?’” He was still resisting it, but the proof all around us was pretty hard to deny. “Face it, Kyle Stilleno—you changed Foster.”

“We changed it,” he amended.

“Hey, you know me, I’ll take any credit I can,” I said, giving him a smile. “Give me a week, and I’ll say I set this whole thing up.”

He laughed and pulled me into a kiss. There was literally nothing in the world that could have stopped me from kissing him back.

“So the music sucks,” someone said from behind us. We turned around and saw Sammy standing there, looking fourteen different kinds of uncomfortable. “Everything else is pretty cool, but that DJ sucks balls because no one here wants to hear “Call Me Maybe” anymore.”

Kyle smiled at her. “You came.”

She shrugged. “I heard this was going down, and I thought….” She sighed and shook her head. “I thought not showing up would just make me a bitch.”

“I’m glad you came,” I tossed out.

But this was really between the two of them.

“I am sorry,” Kyle said, sounding as sincere.

“I know, and so is Jeremy, who says hi, by the way.”

“How is he?” Kyle asked.

“Well, they aren’t going to try him as an adult, so that’s a plus. I hear that was because you argued with Sheriff Rogers about it.”

Kyle nodded. I didn’t even know that.

“He’s not well. That doesn’t deserve jail time.”

She looked around at everyone, and the silence became unbearable for a few seconds. “Anyways, I just wanted to stop by here and say good job on all this.”

Kyle looked confused. “But I didn’t set this up.”

She gave him a smile, a ghost of her normal smile, but a smile nonetheless. “Yeah, you did, Kyle, in every way that counts.” She looked over at me. “Treat him well, or I will hire a hit on you.”

I saluted her, and she laughed.

“You’re not all bad, Greymark.”

It was the nicest thing she had ever said to me.

“You can stay,” Kyle urged her.

She shook her head quickly. “Nah, I never wanted to go to the real prom. I mean, it’s just….” She sighed and then looked away. “Actually, Jeremy and me said we would go, way back when, and just make fun of people. It doesn’t feel right being here and him being locked up.”

“You’re a good friend, Sammy.”

She looked at him and smiled. “Yeah, I really am.”

She walked away and out of the prom without another word.

“I screwed that up,” Kyle said, hugging me.

I had nothing that could make him feel better, so I just hugged him back. “She’ll be okay.”

He seemed so depressed I had to do something to cheer him up, so I leaned in and kissed him softly. He was hesitant at first, and then responded. I think he was realizing no matter what, we still had each other.

“So before you guys start humping each other’s legs, we need to talk to you.”

I opened one eye and saw Tyler and Robbie standing there. I didn’t stop kissing Kyle, just opened one eye to look.

“I will grab a bucket of water,” Robbie warned.

Kyle pulled away and looked at him. “You lie—your kind is petrified of water.”

He gave Kyle a sarcastic grin and nodded. “Keep that sass up. It will really make you popular once you get old.”

“Speaking from experience?” Kyle shot back.

Robbie put a hand over his chest. “You, sir, are a twat.”

“Come on,” Tyler said, gesturing toward some picnic benches, and I saw my parents sitting there with Kyle’s mom.

I looked over to Kyle, who just shrugged. He was as oblivious to what was going on as I was.

We sat down, and my mom reached over and gave me a hug. “You look so handsome,” she said.

“Mom,” I protested, being mom-handled in front of strangers.

“So who’s starting?” my dad asked, obviously wanting to get whatever this was started.

Tyler looked at Robbie, who shrugged and said, “You go ahead.”

My dad nodded. “Okay, so this has been a trying year for everyone, and it hasn’t been easy for the two of you, but you came through it not only stronger but together. So that’s saying something.” I felt Kyle grab my hand under the table. I grabbed his, not sure where this was going. “I’m not going to pretend to understand how everything works when it comes to two guys, but I do know true love when I see it, and when my son was the first person you ran to after being held hostage, it told me everything I needed to know.”

I could not believe my dad was saying this stuff out loud.

“You’re going to California, and I can’t imagine a scenario in which Brad doesn’t go with you. So in that case, I wanted to give this to Brad before graduation so you guys can make plans now.”

He handed me a graduation card. It had a cap and gown on the cover and something corny written inside, but that wasn’t what I was looking at. Inside was the pink slip for my car. It was made out in my name.

“You’re going to need something to drive once you’re out there, and now you have something.”

I handed the card to Kyle and threw myself into my father’s arms.

“I love you,” I said, meaning it like I had never meant it before.

He hugged me back and whispered, “You grew up better than I could have ever asked, son. I love you too.”

I didn’t want to let go of him for a very long time.

Sitting back down, I could not believe I owned my car. It was just too much for words.

“So let me ask you something,” Tyler asked once I had settled down. “What do you want to do after graduation?”

My mouth got dry as I realized I didn’t know how to answer that question.

“I mean, what are your plans? Long-term ideas? I mean, anything?”

I just shook my head, feeling like I hadn’t studied for this test at all.

Robbie rolled his eyes and asked me, “Let me put it this way. If you could have just one wish, one thing to come true after graduation, no matter how silly it may sound, what would it be?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, I said, “Be with Kyle.”

Which sounded really lame as a long-term goal but was true.

“There are a lot of things that can mess up a relationship out of high school. You guys are going to be growing up and becoming new people. You’re going to have a lot to get through. The very least of all is how to afford to eat.”

I looked at Kyle and felt really dumb because I hadn’t thought of any of that. I just wanted to be with Kyle.

“So that’s why you two are the first and only recipients of the Riley Mathison Scholarship for True Love.” He handed Kyle a brown leather checkbook. Kyle took it, and Robbie motioned for him to open it up.

Kyle gasped at whatever he read.

“What?” I asked, looking over at what was inside. It was a joint account in Kyle’s and my names. It said there was over a hundred thousand dollars in it. I felt myself go pale at the thought that this might be real.

“I can’t take this,” Kyle said, putting the book down and sliding it back to Robbie. “He left that to you.”

Robbie reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope. “No he didn’t, and here is my proof.”

He handed it to Kyle, who pulled the letter out and began to read it.

I read along over his shoulder.

Robbie.

If you’re reading this, then something terrible has happened.

My lawyer has instructions to give this to you only if I pass away unexpectedly, which is never a good thing. There are a ton of things I want to say to you, but I hope by this time we have said it to each other a million times over, but in case I am an idiot, let me say it again.

My life didn’t start until I met you.

Sure, I may have grown up and went to school and all that crap, but the only thing that counted was the day you said yes. Everything else was prelude. You may find that silly, but this letter and this check is my proof I am not. It was our third date, and you asked me if I liked kids and I said I loved them and you seemed to think it was just a line I was saying to get you to like me. The first thing I did when you said you’d marry me was set this account up, just in case something we couldn’t plan for happened.

Because by the time you open this, I expect us to have at least two kids, if not more.

Take this money and use it for them to be happy. I know it is just money, and I wish I could be there instead, but take this money and remind our kids how much I loved you and them and that even though at the moment of me writing this they don’t exist, they are the most important people in my life.

Next to their father.

Or we may find this letter after they are all grown and moved out, in which case….

Smile, baby, we’re going to Disney World.

Always Yours,

Riley

Kyle looked up at Robbie, who was openly sobbing. “If we had kids, I would hope they would have been as brave as you two have been. So you see, he didn’t leave it for me.” He slid the checkbook back toward Kyle. “He left it for you two.”

Kyle broke down, and I was pretty sure we were all crying by then.

Don’t really wanna make it tough

I just wanna tell you that I had enough.

It might sound crazy, but it ain’t no lie.

—*NSYNC

11 days left

K
YLE