Eric was the first one to run up to me. “Nicholas, you are the greatest; that was incredible. You make me want to date you myself. I love you, man.” He gave me a big kiss on the cheek. He grabbed my hand and held it up in the air. He yelled to the crowd, "He did this for you, even with a bad vertebra. He could’ve died.” Everyone cheered, loving it.
I was mobbed by the football team. Chad came up to me. “Nicholas, I don’t know why, but somehow I think I owe you a big thanks.”
Amber grabbed him and pulled him away from the crowd. Elle was nowhere to be found. Livi came up to Eric and me.
“Bryce is taking Elle and me home. When you boys grow up, you know where to find us.” Then Livi disappeared into the crowd.
I rushed to the truck after escaping everyone, so I could go to Elle’s immediately to apologize. As I got closer, I didn’t see Genevieve waiting for me. I scanned the lot frantically looking for her. What if Xavier got her? To my relief, she was sitting on the back bumper.
I got into the truck slowly, still aching from the rough landing. Genevieve hopped in.
“You sure know how to make a distraction,” she said, in her normal sarcastic tone.
“You should talk. The way you dress is a distraction.” I started the truck and pulled out.
“Does it distract you?”
I was a little taken aback by the question, but not surprised. “What I am distracted by is that Elle isn’t with me now.”
“Nicholas, you had to do something. It’s not your fault she’s acting like a typical high schooler.”
“No, she should be mad. I was doing the very thing I refused to take part in last year because of the danger, and now I go and do something even more dangerous. She cares for me and doesn’t want me to get hurt. She could’ve died during one of these damn rite-of-passage stunts. And what gives you the right to bring up Oliver to her? You had to have known it would make her upset. You can’t always do what you want.” I was seething with anger.
“Are you done lecturing me?” Genevieve asked. “Because actually, I do have the right. I was testing her to see if she had characteristics of the 4th Thusian.”
“What, by torturing her?”
“No, by testing her mental and emotional states. The 4th would be upset, but also would be able to put that behind them. So far, I’m not convinced she could be the one. She looked pretty shaken when I talked about Oliver.”
I gripped the steering wheel tightly.
“Nicholas, I think you were amazing tonight. You saved all of those people from dying, and from what I could see, you saved Chad at least twice from getting hurt. You sacrificed your body to do so, and I bet you have the scrapes and bruises to prove it. That makes you a hero.”
The word hero sent white hot anger pulsing through my body. “I’m no hero. Don’t call me that ever again, do you understand?” I yelled.
The rest of the way home I pretended she wasn’t in the truck with me. It was the only way I wouldn’t kick her out and have her walk home. When I got Genevieve back to her house, she jumped out of the truck and went inside without another word.
Cora was already home when I pulled into the driveway. I told her what happened in as much detail as I could. She listened closely, making sure not to miss anything I said.
“Have you told Riley? He needs to know all of this, because we didn’t see anything on the outside of the party.”
“Genevieve can tell him.”
“No, that’s not good enough, Nicholas. You should really go over there and talk with him.”
“The only thing I’m going to do is go over to Elle’s.”
Cora started to question me again so I just walked out the front door, slamming it behind me. Why was Cora all of a sudden so interested in talking to Riley about things? It didn’t matter now. My main concern was Elle. How could I have done this to her? I had to try to make her understand why I did the rite of passage. I really had no idea how I was going to do that because I had thought it was a dumb idea the first time I heard about it.
I was happy to see her bedroom window was open. It gave me hope. I slid down through it, but her room was completely dark. I could see her silhouette standing in front of me. I started to talk but she grabbed my hand and led me to her door. She opened it slowly and I saw both of her parents on the couch watching TV. She whispered, “You need to go. This isn’t the best time, Nicholas.”
I couldn’t tell if she was upset or not from her whisper.
“No, I have to explain,” I pleaded quietly.
“I don’t want to hear it right now.”
“I don’t care if your parents catch me. I have to tell you why I did what I did,” I said, hoping she would give me a chance.
In my mind there was still no good reason for me to have done what I did. I led her to her large round chair and sat her down. My eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness. Elle looked upset. Maybe the light being off was a way to keep me from seeing how truly upset and angry she was. I sat her down and knelt in front of her.
“Did Genevieve make you do this?” she asked bitterly. Elle didn’t call her Mrs. Moore as usual. Right then, I realized that Genevieve was part of the reason she was mad.
“No, I didn’t do it because of Mrs. Moore.” I decided not to call her Genevieve. Hopefully that would help ease her mind. “When I was in the coach’s office before the game, Coach Miller was talking to Riley about his first quarry party as captain of the football team. Coach Miller told him that his rite of passage challenge was to bring up an old car tire from the bottom of a quarry lake that was about five feet deep and to see who could get it to the shore first. He talked about how cold and dark the lake was and how he beat Red Nelson easily. And he did this when he was only a sophomore.
“But after he finished, he concluded with, ‘It’s a shame that some traditions have to die.’ I felt like I was responsible for ending the rite of passage—me, not Oliver. As stupid as it sounds, I didn’t want to disappoint Coach Miller. He was a sophomore, too, just like I was last year. I didn’t plan to do it, but when Riley’s wife asked about our traditions, it reminded me that I was partially to blame for ending this one. So that’s the reason why I did it. I’m so sorry, Elle. I would never intentionally try to hurt you.”
I couldn’t look at her. I felt disgusted with how easily the lies came out of my mouth. Elle didn’t say anything at first, which was good. I didn’t think I could look into her eyes yet for fear she would discover the truth. She took a deep breath and sighed. I braced for the worst.
“I don’t like you being alone with Genevieve.” What? Elle was more upset about her than the actual rite of passage.
“She is like an aunt to me, or a much older sister; plus, she’s married to Riley. Elle, I love you, no one else.” I reached out and grabbed her hand.
Elle smiled. She liked that answer.
“Does that mean you forgive me for acting like an idiot?”
“Yes, of course.”
She gave me a big hug. Her hands made their way up my back to my head. Even though her hands brushed over my scrapes and bruises, the movement sent chills through my body.
“Elle, I hope I don’t have any reason to be upset with Bryce, do I?” I said, realizing that I was jealous, too. This type of jealousy was something that I had never really felt before. I used to be jealous of other people living normal lives while I was forced to hide. I was even jealous of Oliver last year, because he was expected to stand out and I was told to blend in. I didn’t like how this new jealousy made me feel.
“No, actually, you have him to thank. He defended you the whole ride home. He wouldn’t let Livi or I say anything bad about you. He said you are a good person and there had to be a good reason for what you had done. And as it turns out, he was right. Livi wasn’t comforted at all. She knew he was right about you, but Eric, well, Eric is Eric. There’s not much he could say to defend him after his over-the-top behavior.”
She was right about Eric, but that’s what makes him so g
reat. If I didn’t have him as a friend, we might not have been able to get the crowd away from the stage. He was one of the main reasons why we succeeded in saving all of those people, and no one will ever know.
I heard the TV in the family room turn off. I stole a kiss and was up and out of the window right when the door opened. Walking back to the truck, I still felt the lingering effects of jealousy.
Riley was sitting alone in our family room when I came in. He stood quickly like he had been waiting for me to get home.
“Riley, is everything okay?”
“Yes, everything is fine. Well, kind of. You have to take what I am about to say as someone who cares about you and your well-being, and realize that I’m not trying to be overbearing. But you have to make sure that you talk with all three of us after things like the attack tonight. We needed time to think of what our next step should be, if any. Someone could have followed you to Elle’s house, expecting you to do that, and we wouldn’t have been able to protect you. We have to work as a team now for everyone’s safety. The way you and Genevieve worked together tonight was a perfect example of how it’s done.”
He was right. “I understand, Riley.”
He nodded and walked by me out the door.