CHAPTER 17: The Truth About Chase
Chase returned three weeks later.
He appeared outside the youth center in sunglasses and a designer hoodie, leaning against his car as if he had wandered into Ava’s punishment by accident. Ava saw him through the glass doors while carrying a box of donated books.
Her first instinct was embarrassment. Her second was anger. Her third, surprisingly, was calm.
She walked outside.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Chase smiled. “Checking on you. You disappeared.”
“I’m working.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” He glanced at the box. “Very inspirational.”
A month ago, she might have laughed. Now the tone made her skin crawl.
“What do you want?”
He lowered his voice. “People are still talking. My dad says your dad’s making us look bad. I need you to tell everyone it wasn’t my idea.”
Ava stared at him. “But it was your idea.”
“You pushed him.”
“And you encouraged it.”
Chase’s smile hardened. “Careful, Ava. You already look crazy online.”
The old Ava would have panicked. The new Ava thought of Maria’s porch, Eli’s juice box, her father’s injured shoulder, and her mother’s letter.
“No,” she said. “I look guilty because I was guilty. You’re scared because you were too.”
Chase stepped closer. “You think folding donated shoes makes you better than me now?”
Ava held his gaze. “No. I think telling the truth is a start.”
Behind her, Denise opened the youth center door. “Everything all right?”
Ava did not look away from Chase. “Yes.”
Chase gave a short laugh, but there was no power in it. “Whatever. Enjoy your community service.”
“It’s not community service,” Ava said. “It’s work I should have cared about before.”
For the first time, Chase looked uncertain.
Ava turned and walked back inside.
Her hands were shaking when she returned to the storage room, but she did not cry. Denise watched her set the box down.
“That looked hard,” Denise said.
“It was.”
“You did it anyway.”
May you like
Ava nodded.
That night, she deleted Chase’s number. Not dramatically. Not with a speech. She simply removed him from her life the way someone removes poison from a shelf once they finally read the label.
