Page 151 of More For Me

“You holding up there okay, buddy?”

I wipe at my admittedly wet eyes. “She’s unbelievable.”

He chuckles. “She’s barely gotten started.”

I don’t have to wait long to know what he’s talking about. A few minutes later he’s pulling up to the curb of some Los Angeles street. I have no clue where we are, since I spent the last hour so immersed in the video, and I think Will did a fair amount of circling around. The sun set while we drove, and I squint out the window, eyes scanning the dark for Everly. She has to be here, right?

“Come on,” Will says, putting the Jeep into park.

Almost as soon as my feet touch the pavement I know where we are.

“Echo Park?”

He doesn’t answer, just nudges my shoulder to make me walk. We head up the street until we reach an entrance to the park—and I step dead in my tracks.

“What…how…” I shake my head, trying to break out of the shock. “How did she do this in one afternoon?”

Will shrugs. “She had a lot of help.”

From the crowd in front of us, River makes a scoffing noise. “Helpis a fun way of saying she threatened to pour ice water over us in our beds if we didn’t do everything she said.”

I just stare at him, at all of them, completely overwhelmed by the sight before me.

It looks like most of Everly’s family is here. I scan the crowd, registering various people—some of her cousins. Aunts and Uncles. They’re lit up by tiki torches and lanterns strung in the trees—definitely not part of the usual park set-up.

“We have this area reserved for the evening,” Will explains.

I just laugh, because what else can I do? I didn’t even realize you could reserve city parks on a few hours’ notice—must be a rock star perk. There’s music playing, all of these familiar faces smiling back at me, but I don’t see Everly anywhere.

I do see another familiar face. “Ammi?” I gasp out.

My mother holds out her arms, looking happily confused. “I have no idea what’s happening,” she laughs. “But Everly called me and said I should be here, so I’m here.”

“Okay, where is she?” I ask Will. “What is all of this? I can’t…” I throw up my hands, laughing. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Team Bodhi, man,” Fox says, like that should be completely obvious.

“Team Bodhi 3.0,” River corrects.

“There was a 2.0?” someone else asks.

“It was short-lived,” River explains. “That was when she shot him down.”

“I thoughtthatwas 3.0,” Fox argues. “Wasn’t 2.0 after we kicked him out of the group thread?”

“Where’s Everly?” I yell over their arguing. I have no idea what this is, besides for a gathering of most of my favorite people. I can’t seem to stop laughing. I’m breathless and my heart is pounding out of my chest and I just want to get my hands on her.

Will sighs dramatically behind me. “There’s like, a whole thing you have to do first,” he says.

“Ooh, it’s my turn!” Alex shouts, pushing away from Wyatt. She beams as she takes my hand. “You ready?”

“Sure?” I laugh some more, because why not.

She leads me around the group of people. I pick out more faces in the crowd, but it’s not until we get past a clump of trees that I see Everly’s sisters, the three of them standing together away from the others. There must be speakers spread out all over because the music seems to follow us. Presley gives me a little roll of her eyes, but Vega and Santana look like they’ve never had more fun in their lives.

“Start the song,” Vega hisses, and the music shifts to…a Christmas carol?

Then Santana holds up a white poster board.“I hate this scene,”it says in black marker. She drops the poster so I can see the one behind it.“But I know it’s one of your favorites.”