The Lovely Reckless by Kami Garcia

Author:Kami Garcia
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250079220
Publisher: Imprint

CHAPTER 23

UNSOLVABLE EQUATIONS

The ride back from V Street consisted of lots of apologies from me and icy stares from Lex. I avoided the subject of my risky, ledge-walking behavior, and she didn’t bring it up, either. Instead, Lex tortured me with the street-racing statistics she looked up online while I was racing—fun stuff like the number of annual deaths and arrests.

Lex is still angry with me the next day, and she barely talks to me on the way to school in the morning. We’re halfway to the rec center in the afternoon when I try to break the ice.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the race.”

“Why would you?” She shrugs. “You don’t tell me anything.”

“That’s not true.”

She looks over at me. “Are you serious right now? Before you started at Monroe, we hardly talked at all. When Noah died, you shut me out. I called and texted you all summer, and you almost never responded. And if I tried to make plans or come over, you gave me a bullshit excuse. I thought things would change when you transferred to Monroe, but now instead of ignoring everyone, you only ignore me. If you didn’t need me to drive you to school and the rec center, I’d probably never hear from you.”

She’s right, and it kills me.

“I’m sorry.”

Lex pulls into the parking lot and cuts the engine. “Don’t be. You have new friends, and if you don’t want to hang out anymore, just say so. Because I’m tired of being the only person in this friendship.”

The thought of not talking to Lex at all makes me realize how important she is to me. “I screwed up, Lex. It’s just…”

I’m the shittiest best friend in the history of shitty best friends.

“What?”

“It was you and me and Abel and Noah for such a long time. And it’s hard to think about him.”

Her expression softens. “That’s what this is about? I thought you were trying to replace me.”

“I just wanted to forget.”

Lex throws her arms around me. “As long as you don’t forget about me, too.”

I hug her back, and my eyes flicker to the front of the building.

The three shirtless basketball players are watching us. Two of them flick their tongues at us, and the third guy has added a new crude gesture to his repertoire.

“Look.”

Lex glances at them. “They really are assholes.”

“Agreed.”

She gestures at the door. “Now get out of here before you end up with more community service. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

I watch her drive away as I walk up the hill.

Dirt clings to my sneakers, and I realize it’s everywhere. I never paid much attention before, but there’s almost no grass around the rec center—not even under the abandoned playground structures behind the building.

Dad said there is no grass on the playgrounds in 1-D. At least the ground here isn’t littered with dirty needles and burnt aluminum foil. In a strange way the rec center feels like an island all its own—a place safe from the world around it.

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