“Oh my goodness, Sawyer! How are you?!” Sarah said while consuming me in a hug that I desperately needed.

A fluttery breath left my chest as I hugged her back. The tears I’d been holding back this last week threatened to break free. Nothin’ quite like a hug from a friend to begin curing a desperate heart.

“I missed you so much,” she said, her height allowing my head to tuck beneath her chin.

I hugged her back tightly. “Me too. And I’ve been okay. How ‘bout you? How was your family?”

We pulled apart, the smile on her face so bright it made me smile too.

“Oh you know them,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Too happy for their own good. Mom and Dad’s business has been doing great, and Marshall has started becoming way too invested in sports even for Mom to keep up with. And you know how much of a sports aficionado she is.  ‘Course she’s also running a business, so you can’t really fault her for not being up to speed on absolutely every sporting competition going on.”

I laughed a bit as we turned to walk into an Ikea display, *ahem*, I mean her and Jordan’s apartment. “Ya know, if Marshall needs a sports guru to talk to, there’s always Jordan.”

“I know! That’s what I told him too, but he’s too shy to even try talking to Jordan.”

“Aww,” I said, “that’s adorable.”

“Isn’t it, though?” agreed Sarah glancing back at me as she led the way in.

“Hey, speaking of Jordan,” I mused aloud, glancing around the meticulous apartment. “Wasn’t she supposed to get here before you?”

“Oh, yeah! She’s already in town but needed to pick up a few things, so she won’t be here for a bit.”

“Oh, okay.” I glanced down at Sarah’s luggage-littered floor surrounding the doorway. “Do you want some help unpacking?”

“Yes!” Sarah said brightly, clapping her hands together. “I’d love that.”

We were still in the midst of putting Sarah’s stuff away, when we heard a wrecking ball bust through the front door. Or it was just Jordan barreling her way into the apartment. One unhurried trip into the living room and kitchen area revealed the truth to us. It was our friend, now in the midst of a brawl with the mountainous heap of groceries. And she was losing.

Sarah went to close the front door with a smirk, while I settled against the wall by the fridge, crossing my arms casually.

“You carry all those in by yourself?” I asked Jordan with a nod to the bags that kept trying to fall off the counter.

“What do you think,” Jordan retorted, unamused, catching a bag, its metallic contents clinking.

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “You always talk up how nice your downstairs neighbor is. Could’ve asked him for help.”

“He’s eighty-four and walks with a cane! I don’t think he’d be of much help.” She straightened, dusting her hands off on her jeans, giving the groceries a nod of accomplishment.

“Just a suggestion,” I drawled, before turning to open the fridge to get a drink.

“Uh, yeah. Endangerment of the elderly. Let’s get that on my legal record.”

“Well, Old Lady Barlie can bench press sixty pounds.” I cracked open a can of sparkling water, and took a sip, glancing over at Sarah, who was feeding their pet lizard near the window.

“And she’s some kind of superhuman, what’s your point?” Jordan countered, stepping over to toss her keys in the bowl by the door.

I didn’t have an answer, so I meandered over to the groceries instead, taking a peek at their contents. “This all for you guys? There’s food for weeks.” I poked one of the bags hanging off the edge.

“Don’t—” Jordan started, before catching the falling bag, “—touch anything. And no. This is all for tonight.”

My face soured. “You’re not having a party are you? You know I don’t like those.”

“Nope,” Sarah chimed in, popping the ‘P’. “This is for us.”

I raised my eyebrows.

Sarah smiled. “We’re celebrating the beginning of our last semester together!”

My face broke into a grin as I shook my head. “So you were in on it.”

She scoffed and tossed her platinum hair. “Of course. You insult me.”

“Tch, yeah.”

She brightened. “So you’ll stay?”

“Well, yeah. I’m not passing up free food and a night of fun with the best friends a gal could have.”

“Yes!”

“Woo!” Jordan cheered.

I smiled. I really had missed this. As much fun as I’d had getting to know Kyle these past weeks, these two would always be some of the most precious people in the world to me. Nothing could ever change that.

Jordan pulled an object out of one of the bags. “Now let’s crack this baby open!”

I looked up. “No! Are you kidding me, Jordan? I’d like to wake up without a headache tomorrow morning, please.” I reached out to try and grab it from her, but she danced away.

“Oh, come on. Don’t be such a party pooper.” She waggled the bottle. “Don’t you want some?”

“No, I’m good really. You two have some, I’m just not feelin’ it. Plus last time I drank too much, I got crazy, blacked out, and drank the fishbowl water.”

They both turned and gave me a curious look.

“What?” I exclaimed, starting to get a little embarrassed. “Wasn’t my fish, and it was an accident, okay. So, I’d like to keep my head in working order tonight. Thank you very much.”

Sarah shook her head in amusement and Jordan cracked the bottle open.

A few questionable decisions later, we were all splayed in a tangle on their futon-thing, mid-movie, feeling mighty bloated and woozy. A lovely combination, I dare say.

“Guys,” I groaned, throat sore from all the laughing, “I gotta go.”

“Bathrooms over there,” Sarah mumbled, eyes fluttering open, before closing once more.

“No.” I shifted. “It’s late. I gotta get home.”

“No, no.” Sarah patted my face sloppily. “You stay here.”

“But—”

“Shhhhh.” She pressed a finger groggily to my cheek. “Sleepytime.”

“Okay,” I mumbled softly, and away we all drifted to sleep.

.                                                     .

I had two problems upon waking the next morning. I had an urgent deposit for the porcelain savings account, and I was now a full-fledged member of our human knot. I thought about going back to sleep, even closed my eyes and everything, but I just couldn’t do it. I. Needed. To. Pee.

I slowing began pulling my limbs free. Sarah mumbled a few times and shifted a bit, but I successfully completed my mission.

I rubbed the crusty drool off my face as I tip-toed to the bathroom and closed the door.

After I was done and washing my hands, I took a look at myself in the mirror. A quick glance was all I could stand. I’ve never liked looking at myself much on a normal basis, but there’s always those occasional moments that I can’t stand my own face.

Then on the opposite end of that teeter-totter, I’m like, oh yeah, look at that hot stuff. Muscle flexes. Spotlights. Hair flips. Boom. Cancer has been cured. World peace has finally been established.

But really. I lifted my shirt to see the Red Pathway’s symbol, a mere four-inches across, clearly scarred over and visible on the left side of my abdomen. Lingering bruises mottled the surrounding skin. Even when I thought I was alone, the Red Pathways were still there. At least it was winter, so I had excuses to wear long-sleeved sweatshirts and flannels all the time. The bruises would disappear soon, but until then, as Takahashi had said weeks ago, discretion was my greatest weapon. I was hoping, come the start of spring semester, the beatings would lessen, because you wouldn’t be catching me wearing a long sleeve on the indoor track. I’d be a puddle in under a minute.

Sighing, I dropped my shirt and dragged a hand down my face. Just another day in the neighborhood.

I ended up spending most of the day with Sarah and Jordan. We went out to this nice coffee shop that Sarah was thinking of getting a part time job at, wanting to get a head start on her student loans. She’s always planning ahead and doing cool, responsible stuff like that.

I stirred the marshmallows around in my hot cocoa, watching as they slowly melted into sugary white lumps. I scooped one onto my spoon and raised it above my head, dropping it into my mouth with a warm smile. Score.

“Do you always play with your food before you eat it?” Jordan butted into my reverie.

I shrugged. “Eh, depends.”

“On what?” Sarah sipped her espresso thing.

I stopped stirring and looked up at the fancy minimalistic light fixture hanging above us. “Hmmm. What I’m thinking about I guess?” I shrugged again.

“Huh,” Sarah said thoughtfully.

“What?” I asked.

“Mmm. Nothing. It’s just interesting, that’s all.”

“Okay,” I said suspiciously, going back to my marshmallow mounds.

“So, what do your schedules look like for this semester?” Jordan said, changing the subject on us.

I opened my mouth.

Jordan kept going, “Other than busy,” she said, looking at me pointedly. I closed my mouth. She continued, “I’m taking all sports and fitness classes this semester, but what about you guys?”

Sarah blurted out, “Ooo! I was able to get into a couple of those creative writing courses that I’ve been wanting to take for years. I’m so excited! And I had an extra time slot open so I signed up for this history of shipbuilding class that sounded kind of interesting.”

I perked up. “Hey, I signed up for that class too.”

“Really?! Oh, that’s so fun! We didn’t get to have classes together last semester. This is great!” She’d completely forgotten about her drink by now. “I could pick you up in the mornings, and we could go to class together.”

That sounded amazing, but my heart dropped when I remembered. “Oh, but I’ve got morning practice on Mondays and Wednesdays.”

She didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, that’s right. I forgot. Well, let me know on the days that you don’t have morning practice, and I’ll totally pick you up.”

“Thanks Sarah. That’d be great. So what about your senior project? Are you going to be using that one story idea you’d talked about before break? The one about the two musicians who are lovers and go to the same university, but are actually both shapeshifters and end up entering into this underground shapeshifter fight club, and all of it is happening in Victorian England?”

She brightened even more. Pretty sure if she got any more excited, the sun was going to combust from jealousy. “Yes! I emailed my professor over break a few times, and she gave me some great feedback, so I was able to get a bit of a start on it too.”

“Oh cool!” I exclaimed. “That’s awesome!”

She nodded enthusiastically. “How are you coming on your history thesis?”

“Oh.” I looked away and started playing with my drink again. “I’m not as far as I should be, especially since I started preliminary research last semester already. My main problem is narrowing down the topic to a specific aspect of the subject, so then I can get a solid thesis statement and a direct path forward.”

Sarah reached a hand out to cover mine. I looked up to her soft expression. “It’s okay, Sawyer. You’re super smart. You’ll figure it out soon, I just know it. And with the way you care so much about history, I know it’ll all work out.”

I smiled back at her. Despite her kind words, I could feel anxiety squirming and sputtering in my stomach. I’d planned on preparing for my thesis over break. More like Sundberg, the professor in charge of our thesis class, was expecting it, but I wasn’t able to get as much done as I’d hoped. I wasn’t looking forward to looking him in the eye this next week for our first class. But I’d been a bit preoccupied trying to not completely fail college. All this talk of graduation was bringing some too real worries to the surface, and I didn’t feel like thinking about the future anymore.

So instead, I grabbed my mug and chugged every last drop of sugary happiness and said, “Let’s get going.”