"Oh, my God," Reagan groaned. "Spare me the drama."

Cath looked down at her clothing options, spread out on her bed. Jeans, Carry On shirt, and a thick, olive-green sweater that Wren had gotten her as a random gift. I GO TO WATTFORD was printed across the front in bold, black text.

"What?" Cath crossed her arms defensively over her chest and looked over at Reagan, who was dressed in a fitted black top and dark jeans, shaking her hair out in front of the mirror. "Is something wrong?"

"You're going to wear THAT on your first day of your second year of college? Isn't the new year a time to start over? You know, fresh?"

Cath rolled her eyes at Reagan's back. "Not everyone looks like a French film star."

"Dang right, they don't." Reagan uncapped her slender tube of lipstick and touched up the corners of her lips.

Cath snorted. Ever since September, Reagan's mom had forced her to stop cursing. At all. Which made Reagan sound like a person living in the deep South.

Reagan rolled her eyes back at Cath and tossed her hair over her shoulders, grabbing for her purse. "Well, I'm out. Don't come complaining to me if someone abuses you about your seven-year-old clothing choices." Reagan pointed her index finger warningly at Cath and left, the door clicking shut behind her.

Cath blew out an exasperated sigh and glanced back at the clothes laid out over her thick sheets. Her eyes slowly traveled to her laptop- a new one, better and faster, that her dad had gotten her last spring. ("For your studies," he had said). Then her eyes moved to her busts of Baz and Simon, the cutouts, and the posters. Which brought Cath's mind to Carry On, Simon.

She had finished it.

Those words sounded strange in Cath's mind. All of this time, she had imagined finishing Carry On in wrenchingly perfect ways- Baz, sacrificing himself for Simon to live- them walking into the sunset- them living happily ever after. But now that Cath had actually finished it, the hits over fifty-five thousand, she felt weird. Strange. Like nothing was tying her down.

Cath shook the thought out of her mind. (She actually shook her head). She quickly changed into the clothes and glanced briefly in the mirror. Glasses. Sloppy bun. Jeans. Simon tee, Simon sweater.

Cath looked the exact same as she had last year.

Except… except. Except, Cath didn't feel the same. She and Wren were back, locking their schedules tightly around each other. Unbreakable.

Cath had a real boyfriend. (Sorry, Abel). A boyfriend that she had kissed. That she liked. Levi. The thought made Cath's heart glow, as if it had lit up.

Thinking about this made Cath reach for her phone. She scrolled down her list of

contacts, finding Wren quickly. Even though Wren lived just down the hall from Reagan and Cath, Cath assumed that Wren would still be sleeping. Even so, she sent her a message, texted Levi quickly, and left a voicemail for her dad, then tucked her phone into her bag and headed to her first class.