Covet (Clann)

help out at my uncle’s shop in Palestine on weekends sometimes, and for something like this, he’d usually say it would cost more to put in a whole new electrical system than it would to just buy another used car. Especially this one.” He glanced at me. “No offense.”
    “None taken. My parents got it for me last year for my sixteenth birthday. Mom couldn’t afford much, and she wouldn’t let Dad spend much on it, either.”
    But it had been a good little truck, dependable, always starting rain or shine. It had never once had a problem. Until Dylan murdered it.
    Teeth clenched, I leaned across the seat, grabbed my bags, then shut the door. As I got into the front passenger seat of Ron’s car, I tried not to stare at my destroyed truck. But as we pulled away, I couldn’t help but watch it shrink from view in the side mirror.
    “I can’t believe he did that,” I said as Ron navigated us through the neighborhoods that bordered the JHS campus. “How did you know what Dylan was planning?”
    “I didn’t. I mean, I didn’t know exactly what he was going to do, just that he was going to do something. I’m sorry I didn’t get there in time. Coach Parker made me run lines because I wasn’t paying enough attention in practice. Otherwise I would’ve gotten there sooner, maybe early enough to stop him. Did he do anything else?” He gave me a nervous sideways glance.
    “No, just harassed me with some paranoid crap about my trying to get back with Tristan.”
    And I was going to try and forget the part where I thought I heard him think that he wanted me. Just the idea made me shudder.
    “So, where to?” he asked a few minutes later.
    “Home,” I said on a sigh.
    I gave him directions, then leaned my head back and closed my eyes.
    A few minutes later, I felt the car jerk to a stop.
    “Looks like someone’s having a party,” Ron muttered.
    I raised my head and opened my eyes. My driveway was filled with familiar cars and trucks and one large RV. Not only had my mom come to visit for the first time, but it looked like Anne, Carrie and Michelle had all decided to stop by my house for the first time ever, too. What the heck?
    And then it clicked. “Oh my lord. I actually forgot my own birthday.”
    “It’s your birthday today?” Ron asked, his eyebrows raised.
    I nodded. With all the chaos and mess going on, I’d completely forgotten what day of the month today was. As of 4:22 p.m. this afternoon, I was seventeen.
    And apparently everyone had decided to throw me a party.
    My first reaction was, Awww, that’s so sweet of them! I’d never had a surprise birthday party before.
    And then I felt the tightness in my shoulders and neck and realized how dog-tired I was. After battling not to hear the riled-up grapevine’s thoughts about me and Tristan all day, on top of the dead truck, all I wanted was to crawl up the stairs to my room and fall into bed. Trying to force a smile and act happy for a whole bunch of people was the last thing I felt like doing. Everyone inside that house genuinely cared about me. They always knew in an instant when I faked a smile. They were all the people in my life whom I loved and cared about, the ones I didn’t want to hurt or upset.
    And no matter how tired I was, how little I felt like being at a party right now, this was my house and I wouldn’t be able to make my apologies and escape early like I might have if this were a public place.
    On top of that, my mom and dad would be in the same room together again for the first time since Nanna’s death, which would be awkward as always while they less-than-subtly forced themselves to be polite and get along with each other for their daughter’s sake.
    And it would be my first birthday without Nanna around.
    “Well, hey, happy birthday!”
    “Thanks. And thanks for the ride home.” I opened the passenger door, started to get out, then froze with one foot on the curb. Ron was my friend now, too. He would be hurt if I didn’t invite him in.
    But Anne was in there, and she definitely wouldn’t be happy to be stuck at a party with Ron.
    Oh please stake me now.
    Anne might take care of that for me later after she saw who I’d just brought home.
    “Want to come inside? I’m sure there will be plenty of cake and pizza to go around.” I looked back over my shoulder.
    He was staring at her truck. “I probably shouldn’t.”
    I took a deep breath. “Yeah, you should. Anne can get over it. She told me she broke up with