Page 5 of Room to Breathe

“Not true,” Beau said. “We did that trunk-or-treat thing in seventh grade.”

“Oh yeah,” Ava said. “Remember? My mom decorated our trunk like a graveyard.”

“Oh, right,” I said. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“How could you forget aboutthat?” she teased. “It was so memorable.”

Ava pressed the lock button on her key fob and we all headed across the parking lot toward campus.

“Is it a dress-up kind of party?” I asked.

“Yes,” Harper said. “Absolutely. I won’t let you in if you don’t dress up.”

I could respect someone who went all out for their parties.

“We should go as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Caroline said.

“I call Michelangelo,” Ava said.

“I’m Leonardo,” Beau said.

“How about the Golden Girls instead?” I said, throwing Beau a smile.

“I call Blanche!” Ava said.

“Youwouldpick the ho,” I said.

“Do not slut-shame Blanche,” Ava said.

“Um, hello,” Harper said. “You can’t pick a foursome formyHalloween party. We’re either going as a pair”—she pointed at herself and Beau—“or we’re going as a fivesome.” She used her finger to draw a circle in the air around the group of us.

Oh…right…there were five of us.

“Exactly,” Beau said with a smirk. “What is wrong with you all?”

She smacked him playfully on the shoulder. He picked her up and spun her around saying, “Sorry, babe.”

Caroline scrunched her nose at me and quietly said, “There are no good famous fivesomes. We’ll have to encourage athree and twosituation.”

“Agreed,” I said under my breath.

We headed toward the science building and my nerves kicked up again, thinking about the test that awaited us in class. I was getting a 94 percent in biology, but I wanted that to be higher. If being smart was my only thing, making sure my grades proved it was my singular task.

Beau squeezed my arm. I must’ve had my worried face on.

“You’ll do great,” he whispered. “You always do.”

My heart did that stupid flutter again.

A guy on a skateboard brushed by me, nearly knocking me over.

“Watch it!” Beau called after him. The guy just held his middle finger in the air without looking back.

“Feet on the ground!” a teacher called. There was a strictno skating on campuspolicy.

We went to a charter school, so it wasn’t huge, but I didn’t know everyone. Especially if they weren’t juniors, like we were. And I assumed the guy who had just skated by was a freshman or sophomore until Harper said, “I give him two weeks until he’s expelled again.”

“You know him?” I asked.