Chapter Thirty-Six
YEARBOOK CREW
HARVEY’S PARTY
TREASURE ISLAND HOES
DOROTHY AND FRIENDS
Gabriel has renamed the group chat so many times that it takes me a while to find it on my phone. When I scroll down in my messages, I see the current title is listed as LIAR AND brIMSTONE. Which is both quite damning and, if I’m being honest, not really as on brand as the other group names.
Me: Guessing I’m the liar here?
Me: Is the designated liar at least permitted to say sorry to everyone? In person?
Gabriel: …
Gabriel: Sry, just came here from the brIMSTONE ONLY chat. We will accept apologies on the condition that they are accompanied by copious gifts.
Sunny: (In caffeinated liquid form.)
Gabriel: Right, sorry! Copious gifts in caffeinated liquid form. And/or Chappell Roan concert tickets. Or quality jewelry. Or notebooks! Julia said notebooks.
I check the time. I have a few more hours until all the shops close down for the evening.
Me: Understood. Tomorrow morning okay? Or no because it’s the Lord’s day?
Gabriel: …
Gabriel: Tomorrow works. God will understand. (BIG Chappell Roan fan.)
Me: You know I’m not going to have Chappell Roan tickets, right?
Sunny: FOR THE LOVE OF CHAPPELL ROAN, JUST brING US SOME FUCKING COFFEE, IVY.
I’m waiting for everyone by the school’s side door the next morning. Sunny turns the corner first. She slows down the moment she sees it’s just me standing there. I watch her go from a brisk stride to slumped over, shuffling the rest of the way across the street.
“Sorry no one else is here yet,” I say. I rotate the coffee tray so her drink is facing out. “You don’t have to talk to me while we wait.”
“I won’t,” Sunny says curtly. She takes a sip, looking away. She turns back and points at my backpack. “What did you bring?”
“Copious gifts, of course.”
Sunny rolls her eyes. I catch the slightest hint of a smile, but I don’t linger on it. Gabriel and Julia show up at the same time around the corner.
“Thank you,” Gabriel says as they each pluck their usual orders from the tray.
“Where’s yours?” Julia asks.
I shrug. “Gifts are for the Brimstone Only group chat today. But there’s more. Let’s go inside.”
Hands now free, I unlock the door and hold it open as Sunny, Julia, then Gabriel tromp down the stairs to the Bat Cave.
Sunny sinks into her seat, then takes an enormous gulp of coffee. She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. “I assume you’re here to show us the treasure?”
Julia leans forward in her chair.
“No,” I say. “We didn’t— Cam and I didn’t find it. Our theory was wrong.”
“So, that’s it, then?” Gabriel asks. “You’re done?”
I picture Cam’s face at our dig spot. The way he looked as he walked away from the hill. Like all the light was taken right out of him. All the magic of the hunt was used up.
“Yeah. We’re…done.”
I snap out of the memory and reach into my backpack, mentally queuing up the speech I wrote last night. “I totally wrecked this adventure for everyone and I’m so, so sorry. Each of you deserves an adventure that’s all your own.”
Sunny pulls a face. “Okay, Chuck E. Cheeseball. Cheers to that. Thanks for the coffee.” She starts to get up.
“No, wait!”
I fumble inside my backpack until I find the small pink envelope. I pull it out and hand it to Sunny.
She holds the edge of the envelope hesitantly. “What’s this?”
“AGB,” I say.
“What’s AGB?”
“Open it and find out.”
Sunny flips the top open and pulls out a small note.
“Remember that girl at the front desk of the Chong-Moon Lee Center? Her name’s Beiye, and she’s part of this really cool group: Asian and Gay in the Bay. Mr. Wong was one of the original founders, but it’s really huge now, apparently. Lots of clubs and social events and stuff.”
I tap the phone number at the bottom of the note. “Not that you have to be interested,” I add, “but I think Beiye was sort of hoping you would text her too.”
Gabriel lets out a low wolf whistle.
Sunny reads the note to herself. She swallows and folds the flap back down, then looks up at me. Her expression is unreadable. “Why did you do this?”
“Because you deserve to be at the center of things,” I say. “And not always feel like an outsider. Plus…Beiye is very hot. I basically had to let her add her number when she asked.”
Gabriel claps his hands. “My turn, my turn! I want a hot date!”
I turn to him and smile. “Okay, so here’s the thing about your date. I don’t have a specific person yet. But picture an absolutely gorgeous European guy or girl or nonbinary hottie sitting across a café table from you in Paris.”
“Paris?!” Gabriel leaps out of his chair. “You got me a ticket to Paris?”
“What? You can’t get just one person a ticket to Paris!” Sunny cries. “What the hell is this?”
I hold up a hand. “Wait! Wait. Calm down. This might be a ticket to Paris; I’m not sure.
I had wanted it to be my ticket earlier, when we started this whole thing.
” I pull out a guide to the Paris College of Art.
“I was going to submit our yearbook as a portfolio for an art program in Paris. But I’ve thought a lot about it, and the thing is, you’re the one who made this yearbook truly special, Gabriel.
I realized that I want to tell stories about the past and the present.
I don’t necessarily want to create visual art out of it.
You’re the visual artist. You deserve to be in this program.
And our yearbook, your yearbook, would make an amazing application. ”
I hand the guide to Gabriel. He takes hold of the pamphlet, cradling it gently, like I’ve given him an actual, real-life treasure. It reminds me a lot of the way Cam held Gay Treasures when he first showed it to me.
“Thank you,” he says. His voice is unusually soft.
I turn to Julia and smile. “New notebook, right?”
I pull out a hardback journal covered with archival linen and embossed in gold foil. Julia’s eyes widen as she sees the intricate design. She opens her hand.
“Thank—”
“Ah, no.” I stop her. “Not yet. You also need something to write about.”
I remove the last item from my bag, a manila file bulging with loose papers.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get another copy of Gay Treasures,” I say.
“But I went back to that message board online and found and printed every scan of the book that I came across. There were seven treasures hidden. That means there are still at least four other hunts out there to complete. You were right—these are magical. And you’re the perfect person to make a fairy-tale treasure come to life.
You know how to make magic real, Julia.”
I hand her the notebook and file stacked together.
“Well, there you go. Coffee and gifts. So, now, here’s my official apology.”
Gabriel, Julia, and Sunny stare up at me.
“I messed up—big-time. But the truth is, I messed up way before I went back to the history center with Cam. I shouldn’t have been working on the hunt in the first place without Cam’s permission.
I shouldn’t have pulled you in and pushed him out, then pulled him back in and pushed you guys out.
This was always his thing, and I was petty, and I wanted to beat him at it.
I thought if I found the treasure and used it for my application to Paris…
I could finally get away from thinking about the time when he and I used to be friends.
But that’s not how the past works, is it? ”
Julia smiles.
“We’re supposed to learn from the past,” I say.
“Like, we have to first know it, so we can understand it. I think that’s why Gilbert Baker made this hunt.
And it’s funny, because I did learn a lot about Harvey and San Francisco…
but I was also using the whole thing as a distraction.
I didn’t want to look into my own past. But I’m doing that now. ”
I hear a small snort from one of the chairs. Gabriel and Sunny both turn toward Julia, who is nearly shaking as she presses a balled-up fist against her mouth.
“Are you laughing or crying?” I ask.
“I’m sorry.” Julia takes her hand away and dabs at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I was laughing, because—well—you’re totally doing the Wizard of Oz thing right now.”
“I’m…what?”
Julia sniffs, beaming. She holds up the file and notebook I’ve just given her. “This is going to give me the courage to find my own magic, right?”
I nod, hesitant. “Yes…”
“And you didn’t exactly hand Gabriel a diploma, but you did just hand him a college guide. And Sunny—”
Gabriel gasps and brings his hands to either cheek. “You gave her that girl’s number! Like a heart for the Tin Man!”
Sunny cackles. She waves the note in the air. “Can you hear that? It’s ticking!”
“Hang on,” I say, folding my arms. “So, I’m the Wizard, then? Isn’t he the bad guy?”
“Kind of,” Gabriel says. “Depending on your perspective.”
I groan and plop down into my own chair. “Oh my God. I am the Wizard. How am I both Ian and the Wizard?”
“Just lucky, I guess,” Julia says, still clearly amused. She gives me a hug, wrapping her arms around both me and the chair. “For the record, if I do one of these new hunts, I definitely want your help. All of your help.”
Gabriel joins the group hug. “Shovels and Hoes forever,” he says into our shoulders.
I pull back and look at him. “Excuse me?”
He holds up his phone screen. “Oh, that’s the new name of our group chat. I’m going to change it now.”
“Maybe don’t put our group name in your application to Paris,” I say.
“I won’t!” he says, mock offended.
I grin. Something about his voice makes me know, right then, that he’s really going to apply. My heart hurts as it swells, like a sore muscle flexing.
It’s different from the kind of pain I’ve felt with Cam over the last two years.
There’s the kind of pain you get from pressing on a bruise or accidentally rubbing hand sanitizer over a paper cut.
It’s sharp and acidic, something to breathe through, to get over, to move beyond and never look back.
As I look at Gabriel and Julia and Sunny in front of me now, I feel the kind of pain I want to get better at.
I want to keep caring about people like this.
I want to be cared for by people. Even if we’ll hurt each other sometimes. I want to keep trying again and again.
Julia tucks the files into her backpack. Gabriel hugs the brochure to his chest.
“You know,” he says. “There’s a saying about treasure hunts. ‘Even if you don’t find gold, the real treasure—’ ”
Sunny turns to him. “Don’t you dare,” she growls. “I cannot handle that level of corniness right now.”
But Gabriel just winks at Sunny. “ ‘The real treasure is—’ ”
Sunny claps a hand over Gabriel’s mouth and muffles his voice. Julia and I grin at each other. We have to finish the corny quote for him.
“ ‘The friends you make along the way!’ ”