“The big news—” I started to say.
“Oh my God, you’re pregnant!” she said.
“You’re pregnant?” Drew said in the loudest whisper possible. “Is it Oliver’s?”
“What?” I cried. “No, I’m not pregnant! What the hell, Caro? Do you really think I’d be announcing that in the hallway at school?”
Caro shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ve never told me you’re pregnant before. I don’t know what the rules are.”
“I’m not pregnant!” I said again. “This is how terrible rumors get started! Talking to you two is like playing a sick game of telephone!”
“If you are, though,” Drew said, “then you should be on 16 and Pregnant because then Caro and I will get airtime as your supportive best friends and then you’ll probably end up on Teen Mom and make some really good money.” He nodded sagely, the oddest and youngest financial planner ever.
I just stared at both of them. “You two are the worst best friends in the history of existence.”
Caro just grinned and hoisted her backpack up farther onto her shoulders. “Well, whatever you’re going to tell me is going to be really disappointing now.”
“Thanks,” I said, then took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the actual news. I got into UCSD.”
“Oh my God!” Drew said, then reached forward and grabbed me up in a hug. “Congratulations! Wait. Did I even know you applied?”
“No,” Caro said, but her voice was oddly flat. “I didn’t know you applied, either, Emmy.”
I hugged Drew back, then pulled away to see Caro’s stony face regarding me with . . . well, I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t exactly pride or happiness. “I didn’t tell anyone,” I said. “I just did it to see if I could get in. And I did!”
“And you did,” Caro repeated. “When were you planning on telling me, though?”
I glanced at Drew, who gave me the “you’re on your own with this one” look. “Um, right now?” I said. “I couldn’t obviously tell you that I got in until I knew whether or not I had, Caro.”
“Because it’s not like we had plans to go to community college together for the next two years or anything?” she replied.
“Plans?” I asked. “I don’t remember having plans. We talked about it, yeah, but we didn’t—”
“Did you tell Oliver?” Caro continued like I wasn’t even speaking.
“He knows that I got in.” Why was I starting to feel so defensive about this? Wasn’t Caro supposed to be happy for me? That was Rule Number One in the Best Friend Handbook, right?
“No, I mean, did you tell him you applied?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes. But Caro—”
“Fucking forget it,” she said, then started to walk away.
“Caro!” I yelled after her, but she waved her hand at me and kept walking.
I looked at Drew. He looked at me. “I’m out,” he said, holding up his hands. “This is between you two, not me.”
“Great, thanks,” I said, still watching Caro as she slipped around the corner. “I guess I have to go after her now.”
“Probably a good idea,” Drew agreed. “You shouldn’t let Caro stew for too long or she gets . . .”
“Yeah,” I sighed. I knew what he meant. Caro was an excellent stewer. She could turn a splinter into a redwood if she thought about it long enough. “Talk to you later?”
“Go, before her head explodes,” Drew replied, and I hurried off after Caro. “Hey, Emmy, wait!”
“Yeah?”
Drew smiled at me. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks, Drew.” I smiled back at him. And then it hit me. In six months, we wouldn’t see each other every day, that we’d be in separate schools—separate parts of the state—for the first time in our lives.
“Now go get Caro,” Drew said, gesturing off into the distance. “Before she turns into a fire starter or something.”
When she’s mad, Caro becomes an expert speed walker and I eventually had to jog to catch up to her. “Caro!” I screamed. “Would you just stop? Please?”
She stopped so fast that I almost ran into her. “What?” she asked, and the venom in her voice made me take a step backward. “Is there more exciting news? Let me guess, you—”
“Oh, knock it off, Caro!” I yelled. “I got into college and you’re mad at me? That makes zero sense! You’re supposed to be happy for me! That’s what friends do!”
“You know what else friends do?” she said. “They tell each other things! Important things, like the fact that they’re, oh, I don’t know, applying to colleges, maybe?”
“I applied to one!”
“You should have told me!” Caro yelled. “I thought we would get an apartment together, take the same classes!”
“Get an apartment?” I repeated. “Caro, do you really think my mom would let me do that? There’s no way! We talked about it, yeah, but there’s no—”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t know you were planning this whole new life!” Caro said. “Everyone seems to be doing that, though, making all these new plans without me. Drew’s got his scholarship and a cute barista and you’ve got San Diego and Oliver.”