Chapter 15

Keegan left for school and Jagger went back home to her mom’s place in Texas. I was eager to start my senior year and get back on track with my life. I had wished Keegan had said goodbye, but he didn’t. He didn’t even call me. He just left.

Baylen was excited to head off to Arizona. I was so proud of him. What a superstar he was. But that meant I was left at home with my mom. She was always with Ms. Kyren, so I planned to spend a lot of time with Casey.

Heading back to school without a boyfriend was weird. I had spent every free period with Keegan during my junior year, so the hallways seemed so bleak without him. I walked quickly to classes now and didn’t linger in the halls. I walked past his old locker and sighed deeply. This is where we used to kiss before going in our separate directions. He would hold me as we almost completely fell inside of his locker, to hide from the teachers. As I reminisced, I was interrupted by someone shouting my name.

“Brees Ham! What is up beautiful?” I heard the voice say.

I snapped out of my day dream and saw Cyman walking towards me with Harper and Jeff.

“Oh hey Cy,” I said, mustering up a smile.

“I wanted to invite you to my party this Friday,” Cyman said.

“I’m not so sure about that,” I said, pulling my backpack onto one shoulder.

I started to walk away but the trio followed.

“Oh come on. Casey can come too. And that little sweet number you picked up this summer,” he said, with a grin.

“Jagger? What do you even know about her?” I asked, defensively.

“Whoa, whoa! I just heard you left Keegan for a hot blonde chick and I was just being nice. Anyways I will text you the details later today. Just think about it!” he said walking off, pulling Harper behind him.

Jeff stayed back. I didn’t really feel like talking to him either.

“Sorry about Cyman, Brees. I’m also so sorry to hear about you and Keegan. I know I fucked up our relationship. Whatever happened, I know his heart is breaking,” Jeff said.

“Thanks Jeff, but I am not so sure about that,” I doubtfully said.

“Brees, I know what it’s like to lose you. Trust me, he is not okay,” he said, shyly lowering his head with those words.

I guess I hadn’t paid much attention to him after our break up and I didn’t realize he was heart broken. I had moved on with Keegan and not even gave Jeff a second thought.

“I’m really sorry Jeff,” I said, slowing my pace.

“No. No. It’s I who is sorry. I did not respect you and thought my reputation was more important than yours and for that I am so incredibly apologetic,” he said. “I do hope you come to Cyman’s party. It will be a lot of fun to maybe hang out again.”

He walked off in the opposite direction as Casey was coming down the hall.

“Oh the fuck he didn’t,” she said, following his path with squinted eyes.

“It’s fine Case. Cyman actually invited us to his house for a party Friday,” I said, linking arms with her.

“Oh that sounds fun. Like literally anything else besides my grandparents trying to make sure my Japanese is up to par. They are driving me nuts with the lessons. Like I know enough to get me around when we visit them,” she said, dramatically rolling her eyes.

Her grandparents were visiting for three months from Japan and she was not loving it. She missed them but also really wanted them to leave.

We both planned to go to this big party Friday since everyone has been posting about it and talking about it all week. College kids were even coming. I was game. I found my ripped shorts, a white tank top and my cowboy boots. I was going to look super hot.

Friday after school, Casey rode home with me. Our moms said we could have a sleepover, so she had already thrown her backpack in the back of my jeep before school. When we got to my house, it was completely empty. Mom has been practically living at Ms. Kyren’s house. She makes me dinner and then she leaves pretty much every night. I do understand that her kids are little, so it made more sense for my mom to go there.

Casey threw her bag onto my bed and started to undress. She plopped on my bed in her black laced underwear and matching bra. She took out her makeup bag and went to work on her already perfect face. I followed suit and started my makeup as well.

When we finished, we got dressed. Casey had on a cute, form fitting t-shirt dress. She pulled on her white and blue Jordan’s and cleaned up her mess she made on my bed.

We headed to the party. When we arrived there were already about 20 vehicles lined up on his property, in the grass. I could hear music coming from the house as we entered the breezeway. There was a sign on the front door that pointed us to the back of the house for entry, so we followed the directions around to where the pool was. People were actually swimming. I could see Hale jumping into the pool with a dolphin float. Harper was sitting between Cyman’s legs on the side of the pool.

He waved us over when he saw us.