Free Seasons in the Sun by Kristen Strassel

getting home to enjoy anything. I had no idea what time it was, besides late. And I had no idea how late the ferry ran, but I knew it didn’t go all night.
    We had a hard time finding the car, not that it mattered. Cars jammed every driveway, not moving. Tristan immediately headed for the trunk.
    “Oh no, not now, Tristan.”
    “What? Jesus, Callie, I’m grabbing a soda.”
    He handed me one as well. I climbed in the passenger’s seat and hoped that he’d follow my lead to get in the car and stay away from trouble. Thankfully, he did. He reclined his seat and leaned back with his eyes closed. His phone vibrated several times but he didn’t reach for it. If I had any idea where it was, I would have checked the messages. Not that I knew how, since I didn’t have a cell phone.
    Traffic finally broke. “Tristan. Tristan! It’s time to go. The cars are moving.” The clock blazed 10:45 like a terrible omen.
    Stretching and adjusting, Tristan put the car in drive and pulled out on to the main drive.
    “Did you have fun today?”
    Was it too dark for him to see the disbelief on my face? I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to see it or not. Had he forgotten the drinking, the girl, the almost fight, stranding me at the bathroom? “It was interesting.”
    “So you didn’t have fun.”
    “Tristan, I’m just tired. Let’s not argue, all right?”
    He sighed heavily but didn’t say any more. He pulled in to the Steamship Authority parking lot. It was dark and lifeless. Closed.
    “Oh my God.” I couldn’t hide my panic.
    “This isn’t right,” Tristan seemed truly puzzled. “It’s not that late. What the hell kind of operation are they running?”
    “One that closes before 11:30. Oh my God, I’m dead.” I thought I was going to puke. There was no air in the car. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how much trouble I was in.
    “Callie, calm down, we’ll just--”
    “I can’t calm down! Don’t you understand? I wasn’t even supposed to go to this with you. And now I can’t get home. My mother is going kill me. And you. We’re both dead, Tristan. Dead! I am not kidding.”
    “Let me think,” Tristan still thought there was some sort of resolution to this situation that didn’t end with both of us in pine boxes. “We’ll just call home, as soon as find my cell phone, and explain we missed the ferry.” He felt around the driver’s seat looking for his phone.
    “It’s somewhere under your seat,” I said flatly, my hand over my eyes. “It was buzzing the whole time you were sleeping.”
    “Probably with people looking for us.” He actually had the nerve to smile at me. I glared at him. He recovered the phone. “Yikes. Thirty new messages.”
    My stomach sickened. “Great.”

Chapter Thirteen
    The panic in my dad’s voice was clear as he answered the phone. It broke my heart.
    “Callie, sweetheart, where are you? We’re worried sick.”
    “Woods Hole. We missed the ferry. I’m so sorry, Daddy.” Tears rolled down my face.
    There was no covering up the disgust in his sigh. “What were you thinking? You can’t do things like this.”
    “I know. I’m sorry.”
    “Here’s your mother.”
    I braced myself for the inevitable tongue lashing that was about to begin. Although, I wished she had just answered the phone. I knew I had it coming from her. Having to explain myself to my dad was far worse punishment. I was truly sorry I hurt him.
    “Well, I guess I can call the police back and say you’re not missing, just stupid, right, Calliope?”
    “Sure.” I was at a loss. There was no arguing with her right now. I was too exhausted to do anything but accept my sentence.
    “I stopped short of reporting you kidnapped out of respect to Caroline.”
    “I’m sorry, Mom.”
    “No, you’re not. Just because Tristan is allowed to run around wild and do whatever he wants doesn’t mean you’ll follow suit. You should both be glad there’s a body of water separating us right now, Calliope.”
    “I