already. Whoever it is obviously has something to say,” I tell her.
“Oh, I know exactly who it is—two damn drama peas in a pod. Hold please,” she commands, holding up a finger before pulling out her phone and dialing. I don’t even know if it managed a full ring on the other end, it was picked up so quickly. “Payne, stop it. I know your dudebro is upset, but pissing me off is not the way to get Stella to talk to him. He made his bed, don’t you go crawling in it with him. Aren’t you supposed to be in class anyway?” There’s a pause as she listens to his response, and she follows it with a long-suffering sigh. “Go play video games then. Entertain yourselves with some hookers and beer. Whatevs. Nobody here really cares what you guys do. Just stop with the stalker texting.” She hangs up, and her expression reflects the disbelief in her voice. “Apparently, Poe is traumatized and simply had to take the day off school, so Payne had to as well. He’s offering ‘emotional support’, which to me sounds like code for them drowning Poe’s sorrows in alcohol and Call of Duty or whatever the shit they’re playing.”
If only it was that easy to drown mine the same way.
Chapter Seventeen
The doorbell rings shortly after we finish eating. An underling from the Bradleigh family legal team is ushered into the kitchen and presents me with a stack of paperwork to sign to complete my surname change. I have no idea how they managed to pull it together so swiftly, or without a real birth certificate for that matter, but they did.
I guess the kind of money that has lawyers bringing paperwork to you at home also goes a long way toward those people being able to magically pull things out of their ass.
After the papers are signed, I’m politely informed all of my official documents will be available in a week or so. Cecily brings up the driver’s license issue and the lawyer excuses himself to make a couple of short phone calls to God knows who. He comes back into the room and lets us know I can go to the DMV this afternoon and take my written test. As long as I pass, my temporary California license will be issued today, with the permanent one to follow by mail.
The lawyer trundles off back to his office with paperwork in hand, and Cecily, Sunday, and I pile into the Caddy with Spry. On the way to the small historic building that houses most of Folkestone's government services, my mind replays Sunday’s words.
Poe is traumatized.
What does he have to be so damn upset about? I’m the one who was lied to. The one who got lulled into a false sense of security and trust. The one whose mother fucking died and nobody saw fit to tell her.
So screw him and his trauma. He’ll get over it and over his infatuation with me and move on to the next girl in line. I wish her luck.
Shoving my anger and hurt to the side, I march through the front doors of the DMV, determined to focus on myself instead of on punching Poe in the face, for the time being at least. I breeze through the written test and emerge an hour later with my temporary license clutched in my sweaty hand. Folding it into the smallest rectangle possible, I tuck it in my purse and wipe my palms on the front of my jeans. This is exciting and everything, but it’s also nerve-wracking. Things are changing so fast, and I’m still scared somebody’s going to show up and pull out the piece that'll make the wobbly Jenga tower that is my life topple once and for all.
In the parking lot, I can’t help but laugh when I see my aunt and Sunday waiting outside the car for me, a single cupcake with bright pink frosting in my best friend’s hand and a cheerful bunch of flowers in my aunt’s.
“Congratulations!” they yell in unison when I approach them, each holding out their gifts. Burying my nose in the flowers, I breathe in their light, fresh fragrance, and then turn to taste some of the icing from the top of the cupcake.
“What would you two have done if I failed?” I ask, licking the sugary pink from my lips with an affectionate smile.
“Eaten the cupcake ourselves and taken you out for shots?” Sunday suggests, making Cecily snort.
“Why