Page 40 of Heavensent & Hellbent

Specifically Sophie Thompson.

The messages had been sent seconds apart. I immediately FaceTimed her, reasoning that if there was ever a cause to drain my data, stopping my best friend from spiraling was it.

She answered on the second ring. She was in her bedroom, her pink walls familiar. Nic looked pissed off. Unlike me, Nic wasn’t a crier—she had too much pride for that.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She sighed. “I’m just disappointed. But what did I expect? The red flags were red flagging.”

“It doesn’t make it any less shit,” I said. “Honestly, he’s not worth your time. He’s gross. I didn’t want to say it before, but you could do so much better.”

Nic lifted her chin. “I know,” she said, sniffing. “And that’s a lie because youdidsay it before. It’s just a lot, I guess. I keep thinking the boys in Hull are dead—in London, it’ll be so much better. But then I’m worried we won’t both be in London. I’ve been holding on to the thought of us there, and if we aren’t together…I don’t know if I did that well on my exams, especially the English Lit one, and it’s stressing me out.” We would find out if we got into our first choices next week, a date that had slipped my mind.

“I know,” I said. “Even if we aren’t together, though, nothing will change. We’ll still be a train ride away. And there’ll bea new pool of boys wherever we go. Jack will be a very distant memory, thank God.”

She let out a mix between an exhale and a short laugh.

“I wish you were here and we could go to Donatello’s for pizza. That would make me feel better.”

“Go with Olivia?” I suggested. Olivia was our other friend—though I wasn’t as close to her as Nic was. They hung out more frequently.

“It’s not the same, but maybe…” It was like Nic had only just noticed my image on FaceTime. Her eyes narrowed and she leaned into the camera, like that might help her see my surroundings better. “Where are you? Did I hear a whistle blow?”

I flipped my camera around to the game of football that was ending.

“What is that? Rugby?” she said. “Damn, you’ve changed.”

“You do see they are children, right?” I said, laughing. “Ehsan is playing. It’s American flag football.”

“Wait, who ishe?”

I realized that I had angled the camera toward Zain, who happened to be walking toward me.

“Oh God,” I muttered, turning the camera back around.

“He’s hot,” Nic continued, her face bright, momentarily forgetting her heartbreak. “If you’re into blond guys. Areyouinto blond guys?”

“I have to go. Talk soon?”

“Rox!” Nic called, but I hung up because Zain was now directly in front of me.

“Hey,” I said, feeling awkward.

“Practice is over, and I was wondering: Do you want to go somewhere to speak?” he asked.

I got up, brushing off some of the grass that had clung to my dress. Shoving my book into my bag, I said, “I’d like to, but I need to walk Ehsan back. And watch him ’cause my dad’s out of town. I’m like an unpaid nanny.”

“Damn,” he said, biting his bottom lip. Something about it made my heart beat wildly. I felt feral around him. Anything he did, I noticed. His voice lowered and he whispered, “I mean, we need to talk about things. I’ve got some leads. I was going to call you after practice. When are you free?”

I didn’t have a chance to answer because Ehsan was making his way toward us, with Dylan and another kid in tow. The other boy was Arab, with short black hair and a sweet smile. Since all the other boys were white, I figured he must be the kid Zain was watching over.

“You guys did great,” Zain said to them before slapping a hand on Ehsan’s back. “For your first time playing American football, I’m impressed. Dom wouldn’t have been able to score if you didn’t pass him the ball when you did.” He smiled down at my brother.

“Did you see me, Rox?” Ehsan said, grinning. He looked so happy—but no, I hadn’t seen his contribution to the goal. I’d been too busy trying not to look at Zain for the entire practice.

“I did,” I lied. “Well done.” I reached over and scrunched his hair—an act he clearly didn’t like, because he scowled at me. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “Well, shall we get going?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Penny approaching.She was wearing an immaculate Lululemon set and a baseball cap. She handed the boys cold bottles of water, and I felt this strange competitiveness within me. Like I wasn’t being a good guardian to Ehsan, which was ridiculous, because I wasn’t his guardian, and I didn’t think I should be comparing myself to a forty-year-old mom. And yet. She even handed me a bottle, which I took with thanks, because the heat—and, more importantly, Zain—had left me parched.