Ashes to Ashes

I’M HUSTLING OVER TO THE CAFETERIA WHEN I run right into Alex. He looks like he wants to murder somebody. Uh-oh. “Hey, Alex—” I say.

“I can’t talk right now, Kat,” he says, and steamrolls past me.

So much for no regrets.

In the cafeteria Reeve and Lillia are sitting at their table alone. She’s got one long-stemmed red rose on the table in front of her. I know Alex is gone, but where are the rest of their friends? There’s, like, three trays of uneaten food left behind. I plop down in the seat across from Lil, where there’s a chicken sandwich and fries.

I help myself to a fry and glance over at Reeve. I don’t particularly want to dish about Alex’s feelings in front of him. “Hey, Reeve, can you get me a drink?”

He makes a disgusted face as I eat another fry. “There are five open sodas in front of you. Why don’t you mooch off one of them?”

Ugh. I turn my chair away from him and lower my voice. “Did shit just go down?” Pointing to the single rose, I say, “Is that from Al?” I was expecting something bigger. Though maybe he did a rose and, like, sang one of his songs for her or something.

Lillia shakes her head and hands me the card that came with the rose.

“Oh.” I say. “Wait. I thought you and Reeve were keeping things on the down low?”

Reeve looks from me to Lillia. “Wait a minute—DeBrassio knows about us?” I give him a Cheshire cat smile. “I thought we were keeping this a secret from everyone!”

Defensively Lillia says, “First off, I only told Kat, and I swore her to secrecy. And what right do you have to be mad at that? I’m not the one who sent you a valentine in front of everyone!”

I dip a fry into some ketchup and nod my head in agreement. “She’s got a point.”

Reeve lets out a frustrated sigh. “I thought I could send you a rose and it would get lost in all the other ones you get in homeroom and you’d be the only one who knew. I definitely didn’t expect it to be delivered in the middle of lunch with everyone around.”

“No. I mean . . .” Lillia picks up the rose and puts it to her nose. “I know it was an accident. I just wish you hadn’t been such a jerk to Derek.”

“What else could I do? I’m not going to sit here and not say anything while Ash is a bitch to you.” Reeve glances at me before he says, “It’s none of their business anyway.”

“Ash was a bitch? What did that bobblehead say?”

Lillia’s chin trembles. “Ash said that Rennie’s body isn’t even cold. And then everyone just—they just got up and left.”

I lean forward and drag a fry through Lil’s ketchup. When our eyes meet, I can see how truly upset she is. Poor kid. I do feel bad for her, but, well . . . she had to have known that being with Reeve, in secret or not, came with a whole lotta baggage. I give her arm a squeeze. “They’ll come around,” I say, but I don’t know if that’s true. I just want to make her feel better.

“Kat’s right. They will. They’re just shocked,” Reeve says, and pushes some of Lillia’s hair behind her ear. “And now everyone knows. We don’t have to sneak around anymore. It’s honestly a relief.”

Lillia and I share a look. Almost everyone knows. And that is a relief. Thank God Mary isn’t here to see this.

Reeve pulls Lil’s chair close to him and kisses the top of her head. It makes me feel better that she’s smiling, even for a second. I know it makes Reeve feel better too. You can see it all over his face.