Chapter 4

Barney’s expression stiffened.

I did not wait to hear what he had to say. I picked up my tray and walked away.

Back at the dorm, I crawled into bed for a nap.

I had no idea how long I had been asleep when my phone’s constant buzzing woke me up.

The messages were from the family group chat.

Tracey had sent a long apology.

[Helen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken your steak. I didn’t realize it would upset you so much.]

Mom was quick to comfort her.

[Don’t let it get to you, Tracey. Your sister’s always been a little petty.]

Dad tagged me next.

[@Helen it was one steak. She’s your sister. Did you really have to make a scene?]

Barney was more direct.

[Selfish, mean, always keeping score. You’re getting worse by the day.]

Ethan blamed me too.

[Helen, you didn’t use to be so difficult.]

They would have thought twice before saying those harsh things to a stranger. Yet my family and the man I had loved for years had no trouble saying them to me.

A little later, Ethan sent another message.

[Tracey, don’t feel bad. Let’s talk about something fun. You’ve always wanted an island vacation, right? I’ve booked three photo shoots for spring break.]

Mom and Dad offered to pay for the hotel, while Barney booked the flights.

Tracey tagged me, clearly delighted.

[Come with us, Helen! It’ll be a trip for the four of us.]

Dad chimed in.

[Of course she’s coming. We treat you girls equally, so Helen can go with you.]

Then I opened the booking screenshots they had posted.

Each of the three photo shoots was booked for one person.

The first-class tickets had only three names on them. They were Barney, Ethan, and Tracey.

As for the hotel, they had booked a suite with three bedrooms.

They had never made room for me.

I was done pretending otherwise.

[The photo shoots are for one person. There are only three plane tickets and three bedrooms. So where exactly do I fit into this trip?]

No sooner had I sent the message than a voice message from Barney came through.

He sounded furious.

“Helen, will you give it a rest? Tracey was nice enough to invite you. If you don’t want to come, fine, but you don’t have to be so snide about it.”

Ethan sent a message too.

[Tracey had a rough day, so we wanted to make it up to her. Besides, didn’t Mr. and Mrs. Darrow give you money for a spring break trip? Just book your own flight and hotel room.]

I had already explained once. I was not going to do it again, so I sent a simple reply.

[I’m not going.]

That afternoon, Barney and Ethan each messaged me privately.

They said Tracey had felt guilty about what had happened at lunch and would not stop insisting that I come along.

The three of them had pooled their money to book my flight and hotel room, they said.

Barney even sent me a screenshot of the booking, with the important details covered up.

However, he had forgotten one thing.

A ticket booked in my name came with a confirmation text.

The message from the train company showed what they had actually bought me. It was a coach seat for a thirteen-hour train ride. There was no flight.

They had booked me a room, at least.

It was at a $70-a-night motel near the five-star hotel where they were staying.

At that price during spring break, I could imagine what the place would be like.

I did not reply. As usual, they took my silence for a yes.

Over the next two weeks, they kept sending me shopping lists.

[Helen, remember to get two bottles of bug spray.]

[Bring some sunscreen too. The sun’s strong at the beach.]

[Oh, and pick up some beach towels and motion sickness pills.]

Whenever I took a little too long to reply, Barney would complain.

[We paid for your train ticket and hotel room. Is it too much to ask you to pick up a few things?]

Ethan took it as a matter of course too.

[You’ll be using this stuff too.]

I looked at the total in my online cart and did not bother arguing like I used to.

I would be leaving in a few days anyway, so I simply said yes to everything they asked for.

That did not mean I was buying any of it.

On the first day of spring break, the three of them headed to the airport early.

Tracey posted a photo of herself boarding the plane in the family group chat.

[We’re off!]

Barney replied, [We’ll check into the hotel when we land, then have dinner together once Helen gets there by train.]

Ethan replied with a simple, [sounds good.]

None of them asked what time my thirteen-hour train ride was supposed to arrive.

So none of them knew that I was at the airport too. I was wheeling my suitcase through check-in behind the program coordinator and the other exchange students.

Two hours after their plane took off, my flight departed from another runway, carrying me out of the country.