Page 2 of Return Policy

Sage must have returned at some point because her arms are tight around me as tears blur my vision. “They’re going to be fine, Joey,” she whispers.

I struggle to calm my rapid breathing as Jake talks with the doctors. His face is scrunched tight like he’s in pain.

What’s going on?

Two of my favorite people in the world are just behind those doors, and no one will tell me anything. Dad always thinks I’m too young to join the “grown-up conversations,” but I’m almostten. I deserve to know what’s going on with my family.

I’m not as oblivious as everyone thinks I am.

I can handle the truth.

The door Jake just slammed through opens again, and Autumn, Sage’s mom, comes into the waiting room. My mom should be the one coming through those doors, but here I am, in a hospital on the scariest day of my life, with her nowhere to be seen.What could be more important than this?

I roll my eyes, turning my attention to my stuck together fingers, and slowly pull them apart.

Autumn bends down in front of us with open arms. “Hey, girls.” I tilt my head.What in the world is going on?

She pulls us both in for a tight hug, and I glance up to the sight of Jake collapsing against Dad’s chest as his sobs echo off every wall in the room.

His pained cry pierces me like the devil’s claws, digging in, dragging me down to a nightmare I never expected to be mine.

1

SOPHIA

Eighteen Years Old

“You know what you’re missing?” Sage asks, halting in place on the pathway toward the springs. She grabs my shoulder, spinning me around to unzip my backpack, and Charlie shrugs with an amused grin.

Question: how much bullshit are you willing to endure just to make your friends happy?

Answer: the limit does not exist.

Sage rezips my bag and turns me back around, bringing two empty hands over my head.

“What in the ever-loving hell are you doing?” I ask.

“Putting on your party girl hat.” She smiles sweetly. “You’ve clearly forgotten it was in there.”

My shoulders sag as I blow out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry.” To avoid ruining the night for everyone, I play along, bringing my hands above my head and repositioning the invisible hat. “My party girl hat is now properly in place.”So is the burning pit in my stomach.

“That’s our girl,” Sage says, throwing an arm over my shoulder. “I didn’t siphon the good shit from my parents’ liquor cabinet all year, risking eternal grounding, tonotget shit-faced with my girls on the night of our high school graduation.”

“Come on,” Charlie chimes in, adding her arm over Sage’s. My shoulders are heavy, but I savor the familiar weight of my two best friends holding me close. “Only a few more months till we’re at Crystal Bay University, living it up as college freshmen.” She cocks a dark brow. “That’s something to celebrate.”

Change rarely comes easily to me, but moving to CBU is one transition I’m definitely ready for. Maybe I’ll finally find some distraction from the swarming thoughts plaguing me at every turn of these familiar back roads.

We arrive at the crowded springs full of fellow high school graduates. The sun dances behind the trees, and although it’s cooler than the sweltering graduation earlier, it’s a typical late summer afternoon in Florida.

The sunshine state—aka the only place on Earth that’s hotter and wetter than the devil’s asshole.

We find our way to the drinks table, and Sage adds half a bottle of vodka. Charlie brought four wine coolers, and I set my pathetic contribution of orange juice for mixers on the table. Tucked away in my backpack is a flask of top shelf whiskey I “borrowed” from Dad… but I’m saving that for myself.

It doesn’t seem to matter though. There’s enough alcohol here to last a month. I’m not sure how a bunch of minors got full bottles of liquor, butcheers, bitch.

I spot a handle of Jack Daniels on the table and pour myself a whiskey and ginger ale as Sage and Charlie fill their tumblers with vodka and orange juice.

The girls and I amble along the water’s edge, where people are laughing and splashing in the golden sunlight. We set down our things near where the entirety of last year's Longwood High football team is playing beer pong.

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