“Did she tell you why she was upset yesterday?” Bethany asked the next morning.

“Who?”

“Rosie, silly.”

“She wouldn’t say a word,” I said. “I didn’t pry. She seemed to want to keep it between the two of you, so I thought it was okay to leave it at that.”

“Well, don’t tell her I told you, but her parents are forcing her to switch schools and leave St. Mary’s. She’s leaving after the semester ends.”

I almost lost my step as I heard that. I recovered quickly, hopefully, without Bethany noticing.

“Oh? So that’s what it was?” I scoffed. “She got all upset because she’s leaving small townville?”

Bethany shushed me. “She’s not just leaving a small town, Dex. She’s leaving us. Me.”

“The world’s not ending just because she’s leaving Beth,” I told her. “We’ll still be able to see and talk to her between semesters. And it’s not like phones don’t exist.”

“Oh, you don’t understand. Of course she knows it’s not the end of the world. But she’ll be so lonely out there.”

“She’ll manage,” I said confidently, but I didn’t know if I was saying that for Beth’s benefit or my own.