Chapter 1
Okay!” Ms. Mulaney said. She adjusted the tote bag on her shoulder and raised her voice “Can everyone hear me?”
I nodded, and so did Bryony, but Amy and Carlos were kissing again and—I had a feeling—not paying attention to anything except each other.
We were lined up, along with the rest of the students from Harbor Cove High, outside the Grad Nite welcome tent.
It turned out we weren’t going in through the main gates.
We’d come around a side entrance and seen a long line of other high schoolers—and their chaperones—going into the tent.
It was huge and white, with WELCOME TO GRAD NITE printed on the side of it, the G in Grad Nite adorned with neon Mickey ears.
Maybe feeling like she’d gotten enough nods and muttered yeses, Ms. Mulaney continued.
“Inside the tent, you’ll have your bag searched and receive your wristband.
Then you can enter the park. As a reminder, California Adventure is the only theme park you’ll have access to.
Please do not attempt to leave and go into Disneyland, because you will be escorted away by security and not able to return to the rest of your night. ”
“Wait,” Manny Ortega said, raising his hand like we were still back in English class. “But then how do we go on Space Mountain?”
“Well—you don’t,” Ms. Mulaney said. “We’re in California Adventure. You can put your hand down, Manny.”
Bryony turned to me and shook her head. “It’s like he didn’t read any of the emails.”
“I know.”
“Grad Nite goes until two a.m., when you’re going to make your way back over to the same door we will be going in.
If you are not there, I will not be happy.
If you have an emergency, find me or one of the cast members.
Okay?” She looked around at all of us. And maybe sensing this, AmyandCarlos stopped furiously kissing and glanced over at her.
“Great. I want you all to have a lot of fun and celebrate your accomplishments. But please keep in mind that tonight, you’re still representatives of Harbor Cove High.
I will expect you to uphold our school’s good name. Any questions?”
“Yeah,” Sheridan said, looking up from his phone. “Who’s the celebrity that’s here tonight?”
A murmur went through the crowd immediately, and I turned to Bryony, but she shook her head—she clearly didn’t know what Sheridan was talking about either.
“Wait—like, a celebrity that’s our age?” Manny asked, for some reason raising his hand again.
Ms. Mulaney shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And, Manny, you really can put your hand down.”
Sheridan held his phone up. “DitesMoi is saying that it’s extra starry right now at Disney’s Grad Nite.”
DitesMoi was a social media gossip site that I looked at much more than I would have admitted to.
And while sometimes they were way off base, most of the time they were at least partially correct, which meant that there was a not-insignificant chance someone famous was going to be at Grad Nite with us.
“So, it’s probably someone from LA, right?” Manny turned to me. “Cass, what do you know?”
I blinked at him, surprised. “Me? How would I know?”
“Didn’t you go to school in LA?”
“Yeah, but, like, two years ago.” When my dads had been flipping a craftsman-style bungalow, we’d lived in Raven Rock, a small suburb in the northeast corner of Los Angeles. It had not exactly been a celebrity magnet.
“So?” Sheridan took a step closer to me. “Can you find out?”
I took a breath, about to tell him no, since I wasn’t in touch with anyone from my old schools, but then decided it wasn’t worth going into it all. “It’s probably just a rumor.”
“Exactly,” Ms. Mulaney said, clapping her hands together. “Why don’t you all focus on having fun, and not who might or might not be here?” The rest of us nodded, even though Sheridan was still focusing down on his phone. She smiled at all of us. “Good. Now let’s have a great night.”
Everyone cheered, and the line moved forward.
I could see the people in front of us seemed to be from a school in Santa Barbara.
They were all wearing matching T-shirts that read SANTA BARBARA BUCCANEERS GRAD NITE, and I gave a silent thanks that we hadn’t been required to dress in matching outfits.
I glanced over and saw Sheridan frantically scrolling through his phone. He caught my eye and gestured down to it. “If someone famous is here, I’m going to find out,” he said. “They definitely would have posted it to their feed.”
“Well—good luck.” I mentally shuddered, just thinking about someone being able to go through my internet profile, dig through my past, find out stuff about me that I didn’t want people to know.
But then, I kept a lower online footprint than most of my friends at school.
Since I’d found it better to make a clean break whenever I left, I always started a new social media profile when I moved somewhere new.
I liked it this way—it was a fresh start, and I didn’t have to look at the happy pictures of all the people I’d had to leave behind.
It also meant that I no longer could see any of my old friends, but I’d learned through experience it was better that way.
It just hurt too much to see stories and posts and videos of everyone having fun without me, moving on, and eventually forgetting me.
I knew it would happen anyway, and at least this way I didn’t have to see it.
We moved up in the line, and Bryony looked over at me. “So, what were you thinking our plan should be? I know you want to go on Radiator Springs Racers, right?”
“Always.” It was my very favorite ride in the whole park, and if I could ride it with a low wait time or even get to ride it multiple times, it would make my whole night.
“And I want to do the Spider-Man ride.”
“Of course you do.” Bryony had a not-so-secret crush on Tom Holland. “Anything beyond that?”
She shrugged happily. “I mean, I think we can just let the night unfold, right?”
I grinned at her. “Totally. It’s going to be amazing no matter what we do.”
We moved forward again in the line, reaching the cast members. In short order, our bags were checked and we’d both been given neon-green plastic bracelets with today’s date and DISNEY GRAD NITE—SENIOR printed on them.
“There’s a QR code on your wristband,” the cast member closest to me said, pointing at it. “It has tonight’s schedule, a map, everything you’ll need.”
“That’s really cool,” I said as Bryony and I walked out of the tent. We scanned our codes, and I felt my eyes open wide as I took in the sheer amount of information that had come up on my phone.
“Wow,” I said as I read it, scrolling down on my phone, trying to take it all in. “Have you ever heard of this band?”
“Eton Mess,” Bryony read off her own screen, then shrugged. “Nope. But I want to do all of this. And the rides. And get a lot of delicious snacks…” She shook her head. “So basically, we’ll need a month to get through all this.”
“Well, since we just have tonight, we better get cracking!”
Bryony shook her head at me as we started walking out of the tent. “Did you just say get cracking?”
“What?” I asked. “It’s what Oscar always says.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Sure he does.”
I laughed at that and grabbed her arm, more than ready for our night to start.
“Let’s go!” Outside the tent, there was a step-and-repeat with DISNEYLAND GRAD NITE!
printed on it, along with the silhouettes of people jumping for joy and tossing their mortarboards into the air.
Beyond that, I could see two large wooden doors, propped open, with cast members on either side of them checking wristbands as people entered.
I felt myself smile as we got closer. I knew I was doing the right thing. Bryony and I would have one epic, fun night—and then I’d leave tomorrow, taking only amazing memories with me.
We hurried toward the door, and I flashed my wrist at the cast members, who nodded. Bryony was keeping pace next to me, bouncing on her toes the way she did when she got really excited. I grinned at her, knowing we were about to have an unforgettable experience.
And it was all going to be great.
I glanced up at the doorway for just a second, then straightened my shoulders as I walked forward and crossed through—and into this night that would only come once in a lifetime.
Or so I thought.