I was brushing my wet hair when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," I called out, tensing at the possibility that it was Simon, although I wasn't sure if I was tensing out of anticipation or fear. I didn't know whether I was disappointed or not when Sarah popped in, closing the door behind her.
"We haven't gotten a chance to talk alone," Sarah said, looking serious. "I just want you to know how happy I am that you're back. And I want you to know that I believe you. As crazy as everything sounds, I know you're not crazy. It scares me to death, but we're in this together. Always."
My heart surged, and my eyes welled up with tears. I hugged Sarah fiercely, thanking the heavens for the millionth time in my life for having a friend like Sarah.
"I'm so sorry I worried you," I said when I pulled back, my voice thick. "I thought I was doing the right thing by protecting you. By not telling you what was happening."
"I understand. God knows what I would have done if you had told me. I probably would have run around like a chicken with its head cut off, yelling that the sky was falling."
I smiled grimly. "That's not too far from the truth."
"So, I guess you and Simon are together now." Leave it to Sarah to bring up my relationship status with the end of the world imminent.
"I guess. We haven't really talked about it." I bit my lip. "Although he's told me that he loves me. And...I do too."
"I knew it!" Sarah squealed. "I knew you'd never be able to resist him."
"Uh, it's a little complicated. Remember vardogers overtaking bodies? It's a little hard to overlook the fact that Simon currently has an evil shadow inside him. My first priority is figuring out how to get rid of his vardoger. Yours too. I'll worry about whether he's my boyfriend later."
"If you say so," Sarah said in a singsong voice and I couldn't help but laugh. I stopped when Sarah sobered. "But seriously, as much as I like Simon and want you two to be together, do you think it's safe to be alone with him? I mean...what if his vardoger takes control of his body again?"
I shook my head. I had to believe Simon was strong enough to fight off his vardoger's control. After everything we'd been through, I wasn't going to start being scared of him now. "He can control it. And even if he can't, I'm the only one that can help him. I need to be around if that happens."
Sarah sighed heavily but seemed to accept my answer. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"Grant and I just had a talk. He told me about him and Cara, about what happened between them to make him so wary of starting a new relationship without telling her."
I waited silently for Sarah to continue, hoping that whatever Grant told her hadn't hurt her. Grant's on-again, off-again with his ex-girlfriend Cara had confused Sarah, especially when he had told her he couldn't pursue a relationship with Sarah until he told Cara about it.
"Cara got pregnant their senior year of high school. Grant proposed because it was the right thing to do, even though he had been planning on breaking up with her before he found out."
I gasped at the revelation, but kept quiet as Sarah continued.
"Except she had a miscarriage at six weeks. She was devastated, not only because of the baby, but because she knew she was going to lose Grant. She made him promise to stay with her, and he did because she was so distraught over the loss of the baby. She was so depressed that he was afraid that she would do something to hurt herself."
Despite my instant dislike of Cara at the birthday party for Kendra, Simon's sister, I felt a wave of sympathy wash over me. No one deserved to experience that kind of loss. Maybe that explained her behavior.
"Except Grant realized at a certain point that she was using that loss to manipulate him into staying with her. That's why they had such a rocky relationship. Every time he would break
up with her, she would cry and tell him she wasn't over losing their baby. Until finally he couldn't take it anymore and told her it was over for good. Cara made him promise to tell her if he started seeing someone, and he felt so guilty that he agreed."
"Wow," I finally said, shocked that I had no idea what Grant had been going through. "It just goes to show you that you don't always know the things people have to deal with."
Sarah nodded. "Grant told me he's always had feelings for me, but he was afraid to act on them. Even though he was tired of Cara's games, he was afraid that she would do something drastic if he started dating me. Apparently, she accidentally found out that he cared about me through Marcus. Marcus mentioned it offhandedly the summer after our junior year when he was visiting Grant, and she was livid. He finally decided at Kendra's party that he didn't care whether Cara got upset anymore, but he still wanted to honor the promise to tell her if he started seeing someone. He realized today that he won't let anyone stand in our way. When he thought something had happened to me, he was beside himself."
"So, are you two together now?"
Sarah nodded, happiness shining in her eyes. I hugged her, glad that something good was coming out of all this. And if anyone deserved something good to happen to them, it was Sarah.
"I'm so happy for you, Sarah."
Sarah hugged me back. "It's just like I told you. We're gonna be related!"
I laughed, feeling real joy coursing through me. It was a heady feeling with everything that was happening.
"I have a feeling Grant won't be needing that sleeping bag anymore," I teased.