“I’ve been a little on edge this week. Nothing I can pinpoint, just a bit jumpy and this aching in my head.”
“Have you talked to your parents? Nate? Bryce? Sheila and Dave?”
“Yes, everyone is fine.”
“I don’t like it when your head hurts. It’s like an omen. Didn’t you have a bad headache before our graduation?”
“I can’t believe you remember that.”
“The night before you went out with Kevin and supposedly had sex?”
“What? Do you keep a calendar of these things?”
“No, but headaches are like your weirdness.” She waves her finger in a circle then points at me. “Did it hurt the night of the game in Nashville?”
“A little, but that’s because we’d been cheering in the twenty degree weather for hours. Everything either hurt or was frozen that night.”
“Come on. Let’s get you some knock out medicine and watch a movie. We’ll stay in my room tonight.”
I roll my eyes but go to change then trudge to her bedroom and crawl into her bed. She hands me an Excedrin PM and starts a chick flick she’s been wanting to see. My eyes close before the intro credits are over.
I don’t know how long I sleep, but when the cold cloth presses against my head, I am in a daze. My head swims with grogginess, and I reach up to wipe my face.
“Wake up, Devon. You need to wake up!” Quinn’s voice breaks through my haze enough for me to crack my eyes. The bright light in the room blinds me, so I try to roll over and cover my head.
“Devon, this is important. Please, please, wake up.” Her voice now pleads with me, and I turn into her.
“What?” I croak.
“You have to sit up and look at me.”
When my eyes finally open fully and focus on her face, I jump and scramble back, banging her headboard. The look on her face is absolute terror.
“What’s wrong?”
She reaches for me, and her intensity causes my heart to race.
“Your mom called. There’s been an accident.”
I try to clear my mind and focus on her words. “An accident? Is she okay?”
“Devon, she’s fine. The accident was on the ship.”
“The ship?”
She nods slowly. “Dev, it’s Nate. He’s been hurt.”
“Hurt!” I scream. “Is he okay?”
Her eyes fill with tears, and dread slams into my chest. “Karen said they don’t know much. There was an explosion on the ship, and Nate was on shift. It’s touch and go, critical.”
“Oh my God!”
“Come on. We need to get packed, and I’m driving us to Norfolk. No matter what, we’ll be there.”
I nod in silence, scared to speak. Her words replay in my head—Nate’s hurt.
She runs around her room in a flash, packing a bag and giving me a minute to absorb the news. I can tell she’s scared, too, but is trying to hold it together for me.