Page 57 of Small Sacrifices

Reid shakes his head. Technically, he does, but he never posts. And it's not under his legal name, anyway.

"Good, that's good. Here's how it's gonna go: You stay away. You don't go to the town hall. You don't talk to any of the parentsanymore unlesstheycontactyouand are civil about it. You don't talk to any journalists except to direct them towards me. Get it?"

Reid nods. Then he remembers what Everett said earlier. "Will I be allowed to leave my room?"

Mr. Wright snorts. "Yes. You're not a prisoner. Just stay away from Ms. Greene and the town hall. And if someone tries to talk to you...?"

"If someone tries to talk to me, I'll direct them to you."

"Good." Mr. Wright gives a sharp nod, and then he's on his feet, presumably on his way to the governor to figure out how they're going to deal with this next issue. The cynical part of Reid wonders what lie they're going to tell to make this go away.

Back in his room, Reid sees that he's already received a text from Everett.

my father said Mr. Wright talked to u. u ok?

And there's that warm feeling again. Reid has to remind himself to breathe calmly. So what if he likes Everett? That doesn't have to mean anything. They're just friends. Everett said he wasn't flirting.

Surprisingly, yes. I don't think we've ever had an interaction this positive.

He gave me the day off.

He adds the latter because he wants to spend time with Everett today—but he doesn't want to ask him for it. That would be a bridge too far. He's not there yet. Thankfully, Everett doesn't need a reminder.

great! then get ready to get hype for all the amazing things this metropolis has to offer.

What follows is a string of emoticons that may as well be hieroglyphs for all that they tell Reid. Maybe he can ask Everett later, if he finds a moment when it wouldn't be too embarrassing.

I am very hyped.

Even just typing it makes him cringe, because he can hear himself saying the words without even a tinge of inflection. And Everett picks up on that. Because he responds with a laughing emoji.

its HYPE not HYPED u old man. if u wanna keep up with the youth u gotta bastardize the language like the youth.

Didn't we just establish that you're only a year younger than me? I think we're both young.

Also, who says I want to keep up? Maybe I'm just happy to watch from the sidelines.

confidence Reid confidence. well make a trendsetter out of u yet.

Somehow, Reid doubts that. But he still can't stop the smile from spreading on his face. This feels good. It feels real, like Everett genuinely wants to spend time with him.

And it also makes him think… What about all these other interactions that they've had? All those little barbs that Reid thought were attacks. Were they? Or is this just how Everett communicates? In hindsight, maybe he overreacted. He does that. It comes with the territory of being ruthlessly bullied for years.

Everett tells him to be in the lobby at nine, which throws Reid a bit. It's too spontaneous for him. But he wants to do it. So he does some breathing exercises, and then he selects some snacks for his backpack and makes his way down.

"Holland is bringing the car around," Everett says in place of a greeting when Reid walks up to him in the lobby.

"Holland?"

Now that they're standing in front of each other, Reid doesn't really know what to do with himself. Does he wave? That would be horrifically awkward. But just standing there and staring isn't much better. Not that Everett seems to notice.

"Well, we need someone to drive us. Come on!" He makes an aborted gesture like he was going to grab Reid's arm but thought better of it, and then he just beckons him.

A car pulls up, and once again, Everett opens the door and motions for Reid to enter first. Reid can almost hear Briana's amused snicker in his head. He refuses to read anything into it, though. Instead, he buckles in and tries to keep his expression neutral when Everett chooses to sit across from him. There's a perfectly good seat next to Reid, but Everett opts for the backward-facing seat. It doesn't make much sense, but there are more pressing questions.

"Where are we going?"

Everett's smirk makes an icy shiver run down Reid's spine. "Patience. You'll find out soon enough."

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