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When 17-year-old Arbor Hayes' best friend turns up alive after a mysterious six-month disappearance, she must piece together the fragments of her story to make sense of what happened. But as clues e...
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One Year Later
"And he came back for Homecoming, just like he promised. Isn't he the sweetest?" Mey's smile takes up half the screen on my cell, and has been cemented in place from the moment I answered the video call. "I'm so happy his coach let him work it around football."
"You should have seen them together. They were the only couple who spent the entire dance sucking face in the back corner of the gym. Mr. Zhang had to pry them apart. Talk about nauseating!" Jordan pretends to stick her finger down her throat, and an exaggerated retch erupts from the opposite end of the phone.
Mey's shoulder lodges into Jordan's, and she almost falls off of Mey's bed, but the two are laughing so hard I know they're only playing.
"I'm sorry I missed it." I reposition my phone on my desk and smile back, but a crippling sense of homesickness pings through me all the same. "At least I got to see your Snaps. You guys looked amazing—even Kobe," I tease.
"Amazing? My boyfriend is more gorgeous now than ever, thank you very much."
When their giggles die down, a thoughtful expression takes over Jordan's face. "How are things going for you?"
I shrug. "Busy. Organic Chemistry is a giant pain, but nothing beats playing soccer at Dorrance Field. I thought I knew the game inside and out, but I've learned so much this season. Not only from the coaches, but the players too. And you'll never believe this," I say, pausing for dramatic effect, "but Mia Hamm was at our game last weekend."
Jordan's eyes nearly pop out of her head. "Mia Hamm watched you play soccer?"
I nod enthusiastically and lean forward in my seat. "Apparently she stops by when she's in town. If you come to Chapel Hill next year, maybe you'll even get to meet her."
"Wait a minute." Mey gives her a sideways frown. "I thought you were applying to Penn State with me?"
"I'm applying everywhere," Jordan says, combing a hand through her auburn waves. They're longer now than they were before, and the style compliments her full cheeks. "My grades aren't as good as yours, especially after I missed so much school last year. I'll be lucky if any college accepts me."
"Are you serious? You're going to get tons of offers. And if you don't, I will personally visit every dean that denies you and kick their scholarly ass." Mey hooks her arm around Jordan's shoulders and brings her in for a supportive squeeze.
Nostalgia swells in my chest as I observe my friends through the small screen. Last year at this time, they barely knew the other existed. Now, all that's changed. As different as they are, I never would have guessed they'd grow this close.
But the universe is funny that way. How it can take a tragedy and rip people apart, yet manage to bring others together. It doesn't seem fair to say it can be both a curse and a blessing.
