One Way or Another by Kara McDowell

Author:Kara McDowell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

I’m not proud of the fact that my mind takes Clover from engaged to homeless in approximately 2.2 seconds, but my brain is an expert at worst-case scenarios. My tongue sticks in my throat. What can I say? How do you tell your best friend that she’s about to make the biggest mistake of her life?

“Paige? You there?”

“Yeah.” I try to force my voice to sound happy, but it comes out strangled and forced. “Tell me everything.”

Clover seems blissfully oblivious to my hesitation and launches into the story. “Well, it started with him surprising me with tickets to ride the Polar Express train with his family. On the way up there, we got a flat tire and didn’t have a spare so we called Fitz and he came to help us—”

“You saw Fitz?” I blurt without thinking. Harrison’s fingers stop waltzing and he sits back. I cringe, hating myself for being so desperate to know about Fitz, for almost kissing Harrison when I’m in love with someone else, and for getting distracted when this moment is about Clover. “Never mind. Keep going.”

She describes the train ride in perfect detail, down to the hot chocolate and the cookies and the twinkle lights at the depot. Because my mind is a dirty traitor and my heart is hopelessly predictable, my mind wanders while Clover talks, placing Fitz in the scene she describes. It’s too easy to imagine him amid the white lights, his hands clasped around a warm drink. The picture tilts my entire world on its axis, making this moment with Harrison feel cheesy and wrong. I force myself to focus on Clover’s story, because I can tell by her voice that she’s getting to the important part.

“—Jay drove me home and dropped me off at my house. We sat in my car and talked for a long time, and he told me he couldn’t wait another second to give me my present. Then he showed me the ring and told me how much he loves me and that he cannot wait to spend the rest of his life with me, and asked me to marry him! Isn’t that the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard?”

“Uh—” My heart hammers in my chest. I wipe my sweaty palms on my pajama pants, suddenly sweltering.

“Paige?” Clover’s voice falters. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“That you’re happy for me,” she says flatly.

“I—I’m …” I clear my throat. Harrison cocks his head to the side questioningly. “Is this because you want to have sex?” I blurt. Harrison shakes with silent laughter. I angle my body away from him.

“No!”

I don’t believe her. She and Jay are both intent on waiting until marriage. “What other reason is there to get married now?”

“What reason is there to wait?”

“The obvious one.”

“Age is just—”

“—a number? Maybe. But in this case, it’s a really important one.”

“Jay’s the one. I know it more than I know anything else in this world. If the only reason to wait is to make other people more comfortable, then that’s stupid.

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