Revolution (Collide, #4)(84)

“Fine,” she huffed. “The word or words, rather, are ‘Bill Gates.’”



Ari immediately began to laugh as the class exploded into an uproar.



“I still don’t see what the big deal was.” Staci shrugged as they headed towards their lockers.

“You were supposed to use a business term.” Ari chuckled, plucking a spit ball out of Staci’s hair and flicking it to the ground. She grimaced, wiping her hand against her t-shirt.

“Bill Gates is a businessman, hellllooo!”



“Hello to you too,” a warm voice purred, an arm wrapping around Staci. She was pulled back into the solid embrace of her boyfriend A.J. Half Japanese (on her mom’s side) Staci’s slight frame was swallowed up in the stocky shadow of A.J.’s wrestler’s body. Her almond-shaped eyes widened slightly before she relaxed into him, tilting her mouth up to his for a kiss.

Ari sighed and turned away from them, yanking her locker open with more force than she had intended.

“Is someone in a bad mood?” A.J. asked softly, grinning sheepishly at the glare Ari threw him over her shoulder.

Staci shook her head. “Nah, I think she’s just bummed out after the longest class in the history of classes.”



“What’s there to be bummed about?” A new familiar voice entered the fray. Ari craned her neck around her locker to smile at her best friend. Rachel grinned up at her, her blonde hair swinging against her chin as she jerked her gaze back and forth between her friends with the excitement of a puppy. “We’re officially free in a few days and… drum roll please.” She gestured to A.J. who supplied the request with his imaginary drum sticks. “It’s Ari’s 18th birthday slash graduation party!”



As her friends began talking enthusiastically about their plans for the 18th birthday party her dad, Derek, was letting her throw in their house at the end of the week, Ari tried to smile with sufficient animation. It wasn’t that she hated birthdays, or graduation even. It was more the promise of the future. A future she wasn’t so sure about.

“Oh, guys, I have to bring the stethoscope Mom and Dad bought me to the party… it’s awesome,” Rachel chirped happily, her eyes glittering at the prospect of heading off to Dartmouth to do her pre-medical studies. After Dartmouth she was planning on applying to John Hopkins, and Ari had no doubt that whatever Rachel wanted Rachel would eventually get.

“They bought you a stethoscope already?” A.J. snorted. “Dude, you’re not even going to med school for another three years.”



“Seven years of college. You are so insane.” Staci shuddered. “I can’t even imagine.”



A.J. shrugged. “I don’t know. Seven years making movies… sounds kind of fun.”



Staci rolled her eyes at him but smiled indulgently. “Anything sounds like fun to you as long as it gets you off that farm.”



Ari felt like sinking into the floor if only to disappear from this moment. Her friends were so clear about who they were and what they wanted… it terrified her. It made her feel like a freak. She glanced around at them as they started yammering on about college sweatshirts, roommates, the freshman ten, wondering what on earth happened to her that she didn’t know what she wanted out of life like they did. Staci and A.J. were heading off to RISD together to study Film and Animation, something they had talked about doing nearly the whole three years they had been dating. Ari shut her locker, trying not to have a panic attack. Never before in her life had she suffered from anxiety but she’d had three attacks this last month. She closed her eyes, her back to her friends. When her dad suggested she studied Business at college Ari hadn’t argued. What else was she going to do, right? Unlike her friends there wasn’t anything she’d ever felt particularly brilliant at or drawn to. How could they possibly understand that? She needed someone to understand.

She needed Charlie.

“Hey,” Rachel said softly, her hand resting on her shoulder to tug her around gently. Her blue eyes were wide with concern. “You OK? You’ve been so quiet lately.”



“I’m fine.”



“Really?”

How could she not talk to Rachel about this? Rachel was her best friend. But then…Rachel hadn’t always been her best friend.

Growing up Charlie had been Ari’s closest friend. Her family really. He had been there when her dad forgot her ninth birthday, and the time she couldn’t stop crying after the lie she told when she was ten years old caused her dad and his girlfriend to break up. There was also that time she’d gotten her first period and, even though she knew what it was, she had completely freaked out. She’d run off from school during lunch and Charlie had chased her into Vickers' Woods behind the interstate. When she’d bawled out what was happening he had silently taken her hand and walked her all the way to his house and stammered through a blushing explanation to his mom. Mrs. Creagh had hugged her close and called the school and her dad to explain where she’d disappeared to and why. The phone call was followed by a trip to the pharmacy and a lot more hugging.

Anything good, bad, small or huge that had happened to her, Charlie was the one who had been there. And then something huge - too huge - happened to him and suddenly Charlie wasn’t really there to be there.