I pull up to Ari’s house to drive her on the first day of school.

“Hey, babe,” I say and lean over to kiss her.

She pulls her face away. “Not now.”

“First day of school.”

“Yup.”

“So, your outfit is cute. Is this the one you were telling me about last night? From what was it? Something outfitters?” I try to start a conversation.

“Urban Outfitters. Yeah, this is the one.”

“Hey, you ok?”

“You’re so nosey! Shut the hell up!” Arianna explodes. I screech to a stop at a stop sign.

“Babe, are you ok?” Arianna shook her head, looking at the ground with an empty expression. “What happened? Is it me?”

Then she burst out laughing. “You should’ve seen your face!” She gasped. “It’s a joke! Oh my god! That was hilarious!”

“Yeah. Very funny.” I climb out of the car and help carry Arianna’s backpack. “Wow. I can’t even believe it. We’re seniors, babe.”

“I know.” And she slips her hand into mine. “Kings of the school.”

I laugh as we walk through the gates of senior year.

I don’t know what I was expecting of being a senior but nothing felt different. Random people slap me on the back. Girls giggle as I pass and say ‘Shhhhh. Oh my God, stop it.’ Teachers stop and look at me with a smile. Then there’s 

Mr. Harris, the principal.

“Mr. Reynolds, could I borrow you for a moment?”

“Yes, sir. No problem.” I slip Arianna’s bag off my shoulder and hand it to her. “See you at lunch.”

“Yeah, bye.” Ari looks from me to Mr. Harris and back to me.

Mr. Harris leads me to his office. I should be straight with you, I have been here more than I would like to admit. I guess I could say that sometimes I’ve been in the wrong place at the wrong time quite often, but that would be a lie. I just do things that end up here. I’m not a bully, I just like playing jokes on people that not everyone gets. And I never do a rude thing more than once to random people. It’s mostly to people I used to be friends with or my ex-girlfriends. Mr. Harris is pretty cool, though, once you get to know him. I mean, I have never been suspended. Though, I guess that’s more of a reflection on Dad’s characteristics.

“So I just want to give some ground rules. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I am going to be very specific with you .”

“Makes sense.” I nod.

“Ok. Let’s start with freshman year. No provoking someone to tell their teacher they are secretly soulmates. No flipping locks on lockers. No stealing gym clothes from people who told on you for flipping their lock. Now sophomore year.” I take a deep breath because that was my stupidest decision. I was drunk but I will not blame it on that. It was my fault. Mr. Harris looks me right in the eye. “No hiding cherry bombs in the auditorium during the biggest school-wide assembly.”

“I know and I truly regret that. In complete honesty, I am so sorry.”

“Thank you but please continue to say that to the students and faculty who were the most affected.” I nod because I’ve been trying to do that since the incident. The final thing for sophomore year, can you remember?”

I try my very best to hold in my laugh. “Don’t steal all of the tampons and pads after you’ve stolen Fallon and Emily’s period stuff while they are on their period.”

Mr. Harris pinches the top of his nose. “Zach. Oh lord, pray for us. Final year, junior year. No climbing on the roof at midnight and skateboarding.”

“Umm, sorry. But that wasn’t me.”

He looks at his paper. “It wasn’t? Then how come it was you who got punished?”

“Shoot. Right, that was me.” I say, trying to backtrack. Those were Posie’s friends and she was there but she didn’t want any of them to get in trouble so my friends agreed to say it was us. It was the first and last time I tried to make amends with her. Let’s just say it did not work. “Yup. That was us.”

Mr. Harris looks at me with a confused expression. “Who did it?”

“What?”

“Who are you trying to cover up?”

“No one, sir. I told you, it was us. Jeremy, Evan, Duke, Keagan, Rose, Arianna, Lindsay, Krystal, Vanessa, and me.”

“Ok.” I can tell he still doesn’t believe me but I keep quiet. “Now basic school rules that you already know and follow but might as well share. No skipping classes, no going to different classes instead of your regular schedule, no vandalizing, drug or alcohol consumption at school. Are we all clear?”

“Yes, sir.” I stand up and grab my backpack.

“We aren’t finished. Sit back down.” Mr. Harris picks up the phone. “Bring her in now.” I look towards the door to see Posie walking through and sitting down next to me.