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when he continues. “Look I was up on the bleachers, I don’t know exactly what happened, or if it was about me or whatever…”
    I laugh aloud. “Oh please Austin, don’t flatter yourself. It wasn’t about you.”
    “Oh, so what are you saying--that I’m not worth getting into a fight for?”
    he snaps.
    I’m not about to get into a stupid fight over how big his ego is, so I ask the question I’ve wanted to know the answer to all day. “Why have you been ignoring me since we got home? And why did you look away from me this morning?
    Why?”
    “Ashley, I’m sorry, okay?” His face softens when his eyes meet mine “It’s complicated.”
    “No, its not, Austin. It’s not complicated at all. I thought we were friends.”
    “We are,” he tells me. “We are friends, Ash.”
    “No,” I say. “No we aren’t, because friends don’t ignore one another for weeks or look the other way when they see each other in the hallway. No friends of mine act like that, Austin.”
    He takes a step closer to me. “Can you calm down? You’re like shaking.
    You need to relax.”
    I steady myself and try to get my emotions under control. “What happened?” I ask him. He looks away from me again and I say his name. “Austin, what happened? Tell me.”
    He looks at me then and sighs. “I guess I just got freaked out once I got back. I mean, the whole thing was just a little intense. I’d never told anyone the stuff I told you in Florida. No one, especially not a girl. And then…” he trails off.
    “And then what?” I press him to continue.
    “Nothing, its stupid.”
    “And then what Austin?”
    He pauses, and for a second I think he might not answer, but he does.
    “Mike Foley had this party a few days after I got home, and everyone was there, and they were all asking about my vacation, you know. So I started to talk about some of the stuff we did…and your name came up. Only Melissa and her friends started making this big deal, saying all this stuff about how weird you were and about how you probably planned to run into me down there and…I just…I don’t know.” He’s looking down at the ground now and I can tell he’s ashamed of everything he just admitted to me.
    “And you believed them? Because whatever Melissa and all her friends think must be true, right?”
    “No,” he says forcefully. “Not right, but at the time, I don’t know. I don’t know what I was thinking and I guess I started to treat you differently after that.”
    I shake my head and hold back the tears that are beginning to form behind my eyes. “We spent everyday together over the summer. You should have known me better than that.”
    “I know,” he says, and he’s so close to me now that I can feel his breath on my face. “And I’m really, really sorry.”
    For a minute I almost believe him, I almost believe that he really is sorry, that he still cares and wants to make this right. But somewhere deep down inside of me is the truth. And the truth is that I’m way too hurt to forgive him.
    I take a step away, muster up my strength, and look at him. “It’s too late for that. You’re a coward, and that’s not the type of friend I want to have.”
    Then I turn around on my heel and leave him standing there alone in the middle of the hall.

Chapter 6
    This is the worst first day of school I’ve ever had. I swear it’s like set in the stars or something that my first day of school will always suck. I might as well just start staying home. It’s not like I miss out on any learning on the first day, since nothing worth remembering is taught on the first day of school anyway.
    I’m in the second floor bathroom now pacing back and forth like a crazy person. As soon as I left Austin standing in the middle of the hallway, I took out my phone and texted Alexa 911 telling her to meet me here, but so far no Alexa.
    I’m so mad and upset about everything that’s happened today that there’s no way I can face going to class right