Free Autumn by Maddy Edwards Page B

thought I’d be staying on into the fall. Now I was there indefinitely.
    I tried not to think about it. Holt and I hadn’t had a chance to talk about our future or where we might live once we were officially together; he had been arrested before we ever had a chance.
     
    When my mother arrived, the first thing Carley said was, “Wow, it’s like you have computer software that tells you what you’re going to look like when you’re older. Only it’s not software, it’s your mother!”
    Everyone always said we looked a lot alike, same brown hair and brown eyes, except that she was taller. Luckily, my mom just laughed at Carley and gave me an evil grin before she said, “Isn’t that lovely to hear, Autumn?”
    “Yeah, Mom,” I muttered, “that’s awesome.”
    Mrs. Hightower and my mother chatted for most of the night. There were a couple of times when Nick tried to get Carley alone, but she wasn’t having it. Eventually she said, “Really, Nick, it’s my last night. I can’t be rude and leave Autumn.” Nick lapsed into an angry silence.
    I found the chaos of the night a relief. Nowadays, I looked for anything and everything to distract me from what was happening in the Fairy world. It was difficult, because I was reminded on a daily basis that I was a Fairy and that it was only going to get worse.
    Nick and Carley were destined not to resolve their relationship before she left for the fall. Soon after she told him to leave her alone, he did. He left. He said a polite good-bye to Mrs. Hightower and my mom, but he barely looked at Carley before he disappeared into the autumn night.
    After Nick had left and my mother and Mrs. Hightower had gotten comfortable in the living room, still chatting away, Carley pulled me up to her room.
    It gave me a pang to see it. Although she was leaving a lot of her stuff behind, she had packed up a lot of the pictures that had hung on the walls all summer, and two suitcases stood by the door. At least the pink bedspread wasn’t going anywhere.
    “How could he be so rude?” she demanded, mostly to herself.
    I rolled my eyes.
    “Carley,” I said, “he wants to date and you don’t and he’s not going to let you walk all over him. Get over it.”
    I realized how harsh I was sounding and flinched, but it was too late. Carley rounded on me.
    “Look,” she said. “I know you have been a real crab lately and I do hope you straighten out whatever is going on with gorgeous Holt and gorgeous Samuel, but don’t take it out on me.”
    Knowing that she had a point and being relieved at how forgiving a friend I had, I nodded and apologized.
    “Now,” she said. “What is going on with those two boys?”
    I shook my head. I still couldn’t tell her the truth, so I said, “I want to be with Holt, but it’s...complicated.”
    “Hum,” said Carley. “I don’t know. You always look super happy when you’re with Samuel.”
    I shrugged. I didn’t feel super happy. I just felt tired.
    “You’ll figure it out, and you’d better keep me updated,” said Carley. “I want to know everything.”
    “Of course,” I told her. “I promise to tell you everything.” And even though it was another lie, it felt good to know that Carley would be there for me no matter what.
     
    The Hightowers left early the next day. I got up to say a bleary goodbye, then went back to bed. I started at my new school the next day and I would need all the rest I could get.
    I wasn’t looking forward to meeting Samuel and Susan at UP UP and Away later in the day, mostly because it took an effort to be nice to Samuel now. It took an effort to do absolutely everything. I was sure that as long as Holt was imprisoned, nothing would feel right.
    On top of that, people’s reactions to me were getting weirder. I had to actively avoid people to stop them from coming up to me as if I were a perfectly wrapped Christmas present, and talking to me for hours.
    I should have been happy about giving other people