The Way Back to You by Michelle Andreani Page A

meet the guys at the bowling alley last night. I wasn’t up for it, so Matty busted into my room, yelling about how I’m always freaking him out andletting him down. And now today, Jacob’s talking about me not leaving my cave. Gee, I wonder where he heard that from.”
    “I think Matty told him the truth. You decided to stay home. And Jacob came up with the rest on his own. Because Matty wouldn’t have complained about you or tried to make you sound—”
    “Depressed?” The seminar link he texted pops into my head. “Miserable? Pathetic? I think he might.”
    She lets out a loud breath. “Kyle, no. He just . . . he worries about you.”
    I side-eye her. She’s biting her bottom lip and staring at her lap.
    That’s when it hits me: she knows. Cloudy knows exactly what Matty said about me because she heard it. From Matty. And suddenly her out-of-the-blue invitation to California isn’t so out of the blue.
    Anger pulses through me. “This trip today. It was his idea, wasn’t it? He filled you in about our argument last night. He asked you to get me out of the house and cheer me up or whatever.”
    “This has nothing to do with him,” she says, shaking her head. “Unless you told him, he doesn’t know anything about it.”
    “Look. I’m not stupid. Before yesterday, you hadn’t really talked to me since, when? A few days after WinterFest? That’s, like, fifty-one weeks. Why do you suddenly want to hang out with me now?”
    “Like I told you”—her voice gets sharper with every word—“my car wouldn’t make it. And you said at Target you wanted to get away, so I figured it was win-win.”
    I don’t respond. I can’t. I’d let myself believe she asked me to do this because she actually wanted to. What an idiot .
    After several seconds of silence, Cloudy says, “Fine. Believe whatever you want, but I’m not lying.”
    “Right. Because you never lie.”
    She turns, glaring at me. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
    “Come on. The whole thing at last year’s WinterFest. You lied to Matty. You lied to Ashlyn.”
    “So did you.”
    “You’re right. And what did I get out of it? You stayed friends with both of them, and treated me like what happened was my fault.” Words are bursting out of me now. Words I never thought I’d be saying to her. “But the fact is, you kissed me and—”
    “I would have kissed anyone that night!”
    “I know!” My heart is hammering now. “It was a complete accident. It had nothing to do with me. You’ve said it all before. And I get it. So why—”
    “Kyle, stop. Please. I don’t want to talk about this.”
    “Haven’t we not talked about it for long enough? We kept it a secret because it meant nothing, right? And it wouldn’t have done Ashlyn and Matty any good to know. But then you stopped speaking to me. Why? And what’s changed all of a sudden? If you needed a ride to California, why not ask one of your actual friends? Like, you know, Matty .”
    Instead of answering my question, she reaches over, cranks up the music, crosses her arms over her chest, and turns to face the window.
    Clamping my mouth shut, I stay focused straight ahead as we pass a sign for La Pine.
    I could turn the car around. I should turn around. But Dad wants me out of the house, I’m definitely not ready to deal with Matty, and I need to experience some warm California weather now more than ever. So I keep driving south even as these four words repeat in my brain:
    This
    Is
    A
    Mistake.

Dear Paige,
    My name is Ethan. I am ten years old. My mom said I can write to you and she will write to you.
    I was sick so I got a new liver. I am getting better. It was part of Ashlyns liver that I got. She sounds nice and I like animals to. I like dogs and I like wolfs the best. I also like drawing and comics.
    I want to say thank you to you and your family for my new liver and I hope you will not be sad.
    From Ethan

Cloudy
    W e’d wanted to get drunk, and WinterFest was as good a