“Manipulative...”
He kisses my forehead. “What do you say?” he asks. “We crushing that vision board today or what?”
I take a deep breath, filling my lungs to the brim and holding it there. Five goals for a perfect freshman year, right?
What’s the worst that can happen?
I exhale all of it. “All right!” I say, pumping myself up. “Let’s do it.”
Immediately, Jenna swoops in and grabs my arm. “Okay, so...” She tugs me back to the wall. “I’m thinking the butterfly.”
I follow her pointer finger to the cute monarch above our heads. “That’s nice,” I say, letting my adrenaline guide me.
“It’s better than nice,” she says. “It’s a metaphor. You and me, emerging from our small town cocoons, and taking on the big, wide world together and looking absolutely fabulous while we do it.”
“Wow.” I nod. “That’s not bad, actually.”
“I know, right?” She smirks. “You get the left wing, I’ll get the right?”
Another deep breath. Another wave of adrenaline. I look at my best friend and smile, reacting to her contagious grin.
“Sounds perfect,” I say.
CHAPTER 32
HEIDI
“Ow,” I say, wincing. “Ow, ow, ow...”
Drew chuckles behind me on the bed. “You’re the one who wanted me to do this slowly...”
“And I instantly regret it. Ouch!”
He yanks the rest of the bandage off the back of my left shoulder. “There,” he says. “It’s off.”
I crane my neck to try to see it. “What does it look like?” I ask.
“It looks really cool.”
“It does?”
“Yeah, here.”
He takes a quick picture with his phone and hands it to me. I stare at the shiny, new tattoo on my back. It’s just two inches large and only half a whole butterfly, but it somehow makes me feel like an entirely new person. I instantly smile when I think of the other half permanently etched into Jenna’s right shoulder. Drew was right. We made a memory, and a damn good one at that.
Get a tattoo. Check!
“Damn,” I say, admiring the orange butterfly wing. “It does look cool.”
Drew opens the bottle of ointment. “Hold still,” he says as he squirts a little onto his hand.
I face forward and he slathers it on the tattoo. It’s cold and sends a chill down my spine. Then again, that’s just how my body has always reacted to Drew’s touch.
“You okay?” he asks.
I nod. “Uh-huh.”
“Doesn’t burn?”
