and I leave school together to initiate Operation Convince Mama Vaughn. Devon’s on his way home to get ready for the party. It’s not really going to be much of a party—just Kush, Sean, me, Devon, Will, Amber-o-zia, and C.A.—but it’s more exciting than our usual Friday night. I follow C.A. out to the parking lot to her battered old Subaru. The first time I saw her car, I was surprised. C.A. carries herself like one of the county’s have-a-lots, but even though we’d gone to school together since kindergarten, I didn’t know much about her life off campus. “Don’t diss the Sue-Bee,” she says, like she can hear my thoughts. “My mother pays for my insurance so I had to have liability-only, which meant a beater car.” She throws herself across the hood and hugs the dull gray metal. “My darling Sue-Bee cost me five hundred dollars’ worth of baby-sitting money.” “At least you have a car.” She breaks into a grin and flips over, looking at the sky. “I know. Freedom.
