The Sword and the Scythe

Chapter 20: Lost Boy

Four Years Ago

Holly and Tameka hurried out the front door to the car on the last day of school, running late as usual—one last time for old time's sake. The school was hosting graduation the next day. While Holly was happy that high school would be coming to an end at last, not much was changing for her. Her plans hadn't changed—she was still going to live at home with Mr. and Mrs. Lewis until she felt ready to move back into her dad's house. The only real difference was that she would be commuting to Richmond for school.

A bunch of other kids from Freighton would be going there too, including Peter. She wasn't looking forward to avoiding him for four more years. The months since their fight had been bad enough. Somehow everyone at school had found out, and they just felt bad for him. "What'd he expect?" she'd hear people whisper behind her back, "She doesn't have any taste—she won't even go out with Sebastian Sinclair." It was bad enough that she was stuck in Freighton another four years without the added stress of all her peers hating her.

The only person who didn't outright ignore her was Tameka. And she was leaving for NYU early for her athletic training for track, one of the conditions for her scholarship. Holly was happy for her. Tameka worked harder than anyone she knew and deserved for that hard work to pay off. But that wouldn't keep Holly from missing her.

They got to school and parked, hurrying down the hall to their respective classes at the last minute. She could hear the raucous cheering of the seniors in her English class before she even opened the door. As soon as she walked inside, they fell silent and just stared at her. Holly sighed and took her seat, sliding as far down as she could and pulled out the compilation of eyewitness accounts of the Titanic that she'd been reading. They'd taken their finals the day before and were just signing yearbooks and having class parties all day. If she didn't need to pick up her cap and gown at the end of the day, she would have skipped school all together.

She sighed and wished she didn't have to go to grad night in the school gym the next evening. It was bad enough that she had to go to graduation and sit there with the classmates who were convinced she believed herself too good for the small town that raised her. Spending all night sitting on cold gym bleachers drinking punch while being excluded by everyone all night wasn't her idea of fun.

There had to be a way to skip out and go camping by herself down by the creek instead. Alone time with the gurgling of the river and the beauty of her favorite clearing filled with fireflies seemed like a much better deal. A reminder of what she did like about the town was exactly what she needed. As soon as she'd resolved to skip grad night, she decided to go home and sneak out a duffel bag for the following night with some clothes and the one-person tent. Her mood improved rapidly.

***

Tameka's parents and Gramps cheered for Holly just as loud as they did for their own family. When the ceremony was over, Holly stood near Peter and posed for tons of awkward pictures. That was the downside of rejecting your foster sister's cousin—family functions got really awkward. They took some of all three graduates, some individual pictures, some of just the cousins, and some of just Tameka and Holly. She clutched her best friend a little too tight and she thought Mr. Lewis might have caught some unflattering pictures of the two of them messing up their makeup from crying.

The seven of them went out to dinner, Holly sitting between Gramps and Tameka at the edge of the booth—anything to avoid sitting near Peter or his mom. "Can't tell you how proud I am that you're going to NYU," Gramps said to a beaming Tameka. He leaned toward Holly conspiratorially, his good-natured blue eyes wide, "NYU was my alma mater."

"We're proud of all the graduates, Dad," Mrs. Lewis said, tucking a piece of her short blonde bob behind her ear as she smiled over at Peter and Holly.