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“Sit down?”
    I do as she asks without replying, setting my tray in front of me and cracking open the bottle of water I have, drinking a few swallows to moisten my super dry throat. “H-how are you?” I finally ask.
    Vanessa stares at me for a moment. “Do you even care?” she asks flatly.
    I’m startled. I always felt like they abandoned me but I…have to face the truth. I abandoned them. I was the one who changed, not my friends. Everything she says, how she acts toward me, I asked for all of it.
    “I do,” I say softly, pressing my lips together to prevent from saying anymore. “I’ve…had a hard time lately.”
    “We’ve missed you,” Vanessa says, wincing once she made the admission. “Valerie would kill me if she knew I told you that.”
    Valerie was the toughest of us three and the one who hated showing emotion the most. So I know Vanessa is right. “I’ve missed you too,” I confess. “I’ve been a real jerk lately.”
    Vanessa raises an eyebrow. “You think? Hmm, let’s see. You’ve stopped hanging around us, ignored us when we call your name, act like the slut of the school when that’s the farthest thing from the truth…”
    “It’s probably closer to the truth than you realize,” I mumble, earning both eyebrows raised on Vanessa’s part.
    “I doubt that,” she says, reaching out to touch my arm. I startle at her touch, shocked that she’s being so nice.
    “Why are you acting like this?” I ask.
    “Acting like what?”
    “Like you still care?”
    “Because I do. We’ve been friends for too long for me to let a few months of you acting like a complete idiot to stop me from caring about you, Rev. Give me more credit than that.”
    “Well, maybe you should stop. I might not be worth it anymore,” I say morosely.
    “Oh my God, cut the crap.” I startle at the sharpness in her tone, the way she slaps the edge of the table with her hand. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. This ‘poor pitiful me’ act is getting old. So your parents screwed up, so what? Who cares?”
    “I care.” I jab my thumb at my chest, irritated that she would bring up my parents. “My parents didn’t just screw up, they screwed people over royally, including me and my brother.” I glance around before I lower my voice. “Supposedly they stole from the congregation, from the entire company. Everything we own has been seized, including their bank accounts. We could lose everything.”
    The sympathy on Vanessa’s face is clear. She’s never been one to hide anything. She’s so pretty too, with her strawberry blond hair and freckled cheeks. Pale blue eyes that are staring at me like she wants to both slap and hug me all at once. “You’ll still be okay. You’ll make it.”
    “Maybe I won’t,” I admit, my voice small. “ You don’t know what’s going to happen to me or my family.”
    “I do know one thing.” She leans in close, her gaze direct, her hands clutching the edge of the cafeteria table. “You’re acting like a total baby. Stop with the whining and the acting out. Skipping class and doing like crap at school, acting like a total slut when we both know you’re not. You’ve made out with a few guys but that’s it so don’t tell me it’s something more.”
    “It’s something more,” I whisper, my cheeks heating with embarrassment when Vanessa’s eyes go wide. “I met a guy this summer and…”
    “And what?” she whispers back.
    “I-I’ll tell you later. Just know that it got serious.” I drop my head, feeling ashamed for how I’ve treated my friends, the two girls who’ve stood by me for years. I wasn’t very nice to them. I don’t deserve Vanessa’s kindness. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I hate that I don’t talk to you and Valerie anymore.”
    “We hate it too. We sort of hated you for a while but we’re over it. At least, I’m over it. You might have to work a little harder with Valerie.” I lift my head to find Vanessa smiling at me. “Do