Chapter 3
I spent two days in the hospital.
On the third morning, I was discharged.
We'd had four days left in the trip.
Ethan said it flat out. "We're skipping the rest. We go home this afternoon. I already changed the tickets. The four of us are still sitting together."
I was packing my clothes. I looked up at him.
"Five of us," I said.
He paused.
Summer stood off to the side, looking awkward about it.
Ethan frowned. "That came out wrong. You're not well, so don't go dragging yourself around alone. I'd rather we all went back together."
"I already bought my ticket," I said.
"When?"
"Last night."
Jason reached over and picked up my ticket from the table.
It was for 1:10 in the afternoon.
There were seven that night.
Jason's expression darkened.
"You're leaving six hours ahead of us and you didn't even tell us?
"Brooke, what is going on with you? Yesterday you wrecked the film. Today you buy your own ticket. Are we really enemies over one sunrise?"
I took the ticket back out of his hand.
"I want to go home early."
"Then we'll all move to one o'clock," Jason said.
"Don't bother."
Ethan suddenly grabbed my suitcase.
"How long are you going to keep this up? We've been talking about this trip since elementary school. We changed the plan a dozen times to make it happen.
"Summer joined at the last minute. She didn't take anything from you, and the three of us didn't throw you out.
"You're acting like every one of us owes you a life. What's the point of it?"
I looked at his hand.
"Let go."
He didn't let go.
Ryan walked over and pulled Ethan's hand away.
"Let her go. She just got out of a hospital bed. Don't start a fight on the road."
Ethan's face went gray.
I pulled my suitcase toward the door.
Just as I was about to walk out, Summer rushed after me.
She slipped a wooden badge into my hand.
It had a snowy mountain etched on it.
"Brooke, I bought this yesterday. I really feel bad you missed the sunrise.
"We'll have plenty of chances in college. Once the term starts we'll all be in Southbridge. Let me buy you dinner to make up for it. Okay?"
I glanced down at the badge.
I said, "Keep it."
"Are you still mad at me?"
"No."
Summer's tears welled up instantly.
Ethan came out behind her, and his face was worse than it had been inside.
"Brooke, how many times has she apologized to you?
"She transferred in six months ago. It was the first graduation trip she'd ever had with friends, and all she wanted was one sunrise.
"If you won't take it, fine. But stop making her feel like she owes you something."
I placed the badge back into Summer's palm, gently closing her fingers around it.
"You don't owe me anything."
Ethan's expression eased up a bit.
I kept going. "And you weren't the one who hung up on me."
Ethan's face froze instantly.
I pulled my suitcase behind me and headed for the elevator, not looking back.
Right before the doors slid shut, I glanced over my shoulder.
The four of them were still standing there in the hallway, not moving.
Jason's eyes were red at the corners, like he was holding back tears.
Ryan was gripping that folded medical report so tightly his knuckles were white.
Ethan stood there, watching me leave.
He didn't come after me.
At 1:10 that afternoon, the train pulled out of the small town at the foot of the mountains.
Jason put a message in our graduation trip group chat.
Jason: [Burgers on me once we're back in Southbridge tonight. Then we drop it.]
I looked at it for a while.
I tapped into the group settings.
I left the group chat.