The Six Flags idea is a go on Saturday. Micah spends the night with me on Friday and then on Saturday morning, we pick up Casey at his dorm, and then Josie at her house. I say hello to her father while we're there but we don't stay for too long before we're headed for the amusement park.

"Are you guys going to ride the roller coasters with us?" I ask Josie and Casey, who are both sitting in the backseat.

"I am," Josie confirms. Although I haven't seen Josie since she went back to live with her dad, I have been texting her a lot just to make sure that she's doing okay. She was very excited when I invited her to come to Six Flags with us this weekend. "My dad takes me to Six Flags sometimes and we ride all of the roller coasters. My favorite is the Apocalypse."

"The Apocalypse?" Casey repeats, sounding very shocked by the name of the coaster. "Why would you want to ride something that's described as the end of the world? It's basically admitting to you that you might die."

"You are not actually going to die," Josie says with a light laugh. "It's just for dramatic effect, it's just the theme of the coaster. There's stuff like zombies and explosions and it's really fun."

"I take it that you're not going to ride the scary rides, Case?" I ask him as I get on the highway to head east toward the amusement park.

"I don't know. Definitely not something called the Apocalypse," He mumbles.

"What about the drop tower?" Micah asks. "I don't think that it has a creepy name, that one is pretty fun."

"I think that I'll just see how things go," Casey decides. "I've never been tall enough to ride the big rides, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet."

"You should ride all of the rides," Josie tells him. "A lot of the carts in the rides hold two people. So, if you don't ride then I'll have to ride by myself."

"We won't leave you by yourself, Josie," I promise her. "Even if Casey is a wimp."

"I prefer the term 'selective'," Casey defends himself.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, wimp," I tease him and Josie tries to stifle a laugh. "Anyway, tell me how school is going. Are you making a ton of friends?"

"I wouldn't say that I'm making a ton of friends, but I do have friends," He confirms. "We do study groups for the really hard classes, too. But I know that you're going to ask me if I'm partying, so I'll answer you now and say that no, I am not going to any parties or drinking."

"Alright, if you say so," I say back, amused at how he knew that I was going to ask him that next. "That's good, that you're not drinking or anything. What about you, Josie?"

"Oh, no, I don't drink either. Sometimes, my dad lets me have a drink of his beer or something but it's really gross," She answers me. "And my classes are so easy that I don't really have to study at all. My dad things that I should try to get into the advanced classes next year."

"What classes are you taking?" Casey asks her. They start a friendly conversation about their different classes, and how different their high school experience has been. Since Josie goes to public school and Casey goes to a private boarding school, they have completely different curriculums.

"Is that my shirt?" Micah notices the familiar dark blue plaid shirt that I'm wearing is his. He speaks quietly so that Josie and Casey's conversation is not interrupted.

"You forgot it last weekend," I defend. "So, I washed it and it's really comfortable."

I'm wearing the plaid shirt open with a white tank top under it and dark skinny jeans. Since we'll be doing a lot of walking today, I'm wearing my Nike's too.

"It looks good on you."

"Does that mean that I get to keep it?" I ask him hopefully.

"No," He says with a little laugh. "Just that you look good in it. That's not saying much though, you look good in everything."

"No flirting, please," Casey interrupts our conversation from the backseat. "Come on, we are right here."

"They're cute," Josie defends me and Micah. "Don't be so mean."

"Yeah, Case, don't be so mean," I side with Josie. "We're adorable."

"It's gross," Casey complains.

"They're in love," Josie informs him. I see Micah turn to look at me in my peripheral vision when she says that but I just keep my eyes on the road, trying not to have a reaction to that. "They can't help it."

"You're in love, Ellie?" My brother asks me expectantly from the backseat. Micah doesn't come to my rescue, he just watches me with the two people behind us as they all wait for me to answer the question.

"I don't know," I slowly admit. "I guess that I could be."

"You are," Micah assures me. "We are. We're in love."

"When did you decide that?" I glance away from the road to look at him.

He just shrugs at me and gives me a non-answer. "I don't know."

"Disgusting," Casey says. "I mean, I'm happy for you, Ellie, but it's disgusting."

"Thank you for those words of support, Case," I mutter, hoping that nobody else can tell that my face is flushing. We hadn't discussed being in love before; I thought that it was still too early to talk about that. Micah, however, doesn't have any problem at all in claiming that we're in love. I'm okay with that, I think that it's accurate, I'm just shocked is all.

Once at the park, we get our tickets and head inside where Josie continues to talk Casey into riding the roller coasters with us but he's still looking pretty nervous about it. Instead of starting with the roller coasters and big thrill rides, we go for the smaller rides like the swings and bumper carts.

"Okay, Case," I put my hand on my brother's shoulder as we approach the first roller coaster of the day. "You have to make a decision now. What's it going to be?"

There's a long pause as we all wait for Casey to decide if he wants to ride the roller coaster or not. Eventually, he lets out a long sigh and says, "Fine. I'll do it."

"Yes!" Josie cheers excitedly and we all head into the line of the ride. Casey is obviously nervous about riding the roller coaster but I think that he doesn't want to seem like a wimp if he doesn't ride it. He's got a lot of pride, I'll give him that. Josie tries to comfort him, promising him that it doesn't even go that fast, or that high.

"So, you're in love with me but you still won't let me keep the shirt?" I ask Micah quietly, leaning against the metal rail that shapes the line of people. Since it's a Saturday and the weather is nice, it's a bit crowded today but it's not unbearable. I've seen longer lines here before, so I'm definitely not complaining.

"I will let you borrow it," He concedes just a little bit. "But that's as far as I'm budging."

"I should warn you now that I'm the kind of girlfriend that will steal your hoodies," I inform him slowly. "So you should get used to that now, since you're so in love with me."

"Wow, you're really going to milk that, aren't you?"

"Most definitely, one hundred percent," I confirm with a nod.

Micah nudges toward Casey and Josie and then asks me, "Are those two flirting?"

Casey says something and then they both start laughing. I turn back to Micah with a shrug. "I don't know, I think that they're just getting along. Casey is too young to flirt."

"No, he's not," Micah snorts with incredulity. "He's fourteen. Almost all fourteen-year-olds flirt. It's terrible and he'll cringe at it in years to come, but I'm pretty sure that something is happening with them."

"I think that you're just a romantic," I shake it off. I'd changed Casey's diapers when he was a baby, I can't imagine him being old enough to flirt or have a girlfriend. I know, logically, that he really is old enough to do so, I just don't like it. I know that he's a sweetheart, and he probably won't ever intentionally be an asshole to girls that he likes. I just feel like it's still necessary for me to talk to him about dating, so that he knows exactly how to treat girls.

"I think that you're blind to it because you don't want to believe that your brother is getting old enough to date," Micah accuses me with an amused laugh. "She's really laughing a lot, I bet he's got some game."

"No, he doesn't."

"I think that Josie would disagree."

I shove his shoulder and say, "You're the worst. Shut up."

The line takes about fifteen minutes to get all the way through and while we wait, I keep peeping over to Josie and Casey because of what Micah suggested. I can't tell if they're flirting or not, because to me it seems like they're just having a conversation. Micah is still convinced that they're flirting though. Especially when Josie starts laughing, yet again, and puts her hand on Casey's shoulder.

I'm still convinced that it's not a big deal though. I don't think that either one of them know how to flirt—especially what Josie has been through.

"Are you freaking out, Case?" I ask him when we get to the front of the line.

"Yeah, thanks for pointing that out, Ellie," He snaps at me because he is so clearly freaking out that he probably didn't need me saying that to embarrass him even more. Even though he's scared though, I'll give him props for following through with this and not chickening out.

This coaster is an inverted line with seats by two, so I sit with Micah behind where Josie sits with Casey, who looks like he is about to pass out. Josie is amused but tries to comfort him.

Once our seats are safely fastened, Micah reaches over to me and holds my hand. It's difficult to see him with the seats between us but if I lean forward just a little bit, I can see him. "Hey," I squeeze his hand in mine. "I'm in love with you too."

He smiles at me. "Yeah, I know."

"You're ruining a moment," I accuse him, leaning back into the seat again. The ride starts, pushing our rows of people up a long, slow climb. I notice that in front of us, Josie is trying to calm Casey down by holding his hand, similar to the way that Micah is holding mine.

"You see that, right?" Micah asks me. "I told you so."

"That doesn't mean anything."

"You're in denial," He accuses me with a short laugh.

"Try not to pee your pants when we go down," I tease him in response as we're getting nearer to the drop. "I know that you're really terrified on the inside."

"I'll try my best," He jokes.

I look down, not feeling afraid at all about the plunge back to the ground and then all of the twists and turns. I know that I've fallen harder many times before, this one is nothing.

I take my hand away from Micah's to hold onto the handles on my seat and wait for the drop to happen. I can't hear Casey crying in front of us, so that's good. If he really does like Josie, he probably shouldn't cry in front of her on their first date.

When we go over the first hill and drop back down, I hear Josie scream and Micah yelp but I just take a deep breath and let the breeze brush over my face in an almost calming manner. Maybe it sounds insane, but I find the adrenaline rush calming. It feels like relinquishing control over the situation. Whatever happens, it happens because of the roller coaster dragging me up and down and upside down. If something goes wrong, it's not my fault. I'm just riding the ride.

When the ride is over, we get off and I grab my book bag from the cubby before we exit the ride to find our next activity.

"How do you feel, Casey?" I ask my brother on our way to the main pathway.

"I can't feel my legs," He admits to me. "But that was pretty awesome. What are we doing next?"

"What do you guys want to do?"

"Well, I saw the Cyclone over by the souvenir shop," Josie suggests.

"Okay, yeah, we can do that," I nod and then we change directions so that we can head over to the Cyclone ride.

"You guys probably think that ride is lame," She adds quickly. "If you want to go do something else, just Casey and I can go ride it by ourselves."

"Yeah, Ellie. It doesn't seem like your kind of thing," Casey sides with Josie.

I see Micah trying to hide a gloating laugh because it's now pretty obvious that they want some time alone, probably to flirt some more without us looming over them. I'm totally bummed out that Micah was right.

"Okay," I mutter quietly. "Fine, we'll go ride the drop tower. You have your phone fully charged?"

"Yep, I've got it," He assures me. "See you later, El."

They start walking away from us and once they're out of earshot, Micah doesn't waste any time in gloating about him being right about their flirting.

"So, was I right or was I right?" He sarcastically asks me, taking my hand in his as we start walking in the opposite direction.

"I hate everything that's happening right now," I tell him with a long sigh. I'm not ready for Casey to grow up.

"He'll be fine," Micah assures me.

"I've given him the sex talk, so he better not get anybody pregnant. When did you lose your virginity?" I ask him curiously.

"What do you mean?" He looks at me in confusion. "You took my virginity."

I stop walking because I'm in complete shock when he says that but then he starts laughing hysterically and I realize that he was joking. "That wasn't funny."

"You should have seen the look on your face!" He cackles. "That was amazing. I could not have asked for a better reaction."

"Micah," I scold him. "I'm being serious."

He puts his hand around mine again and pulls me to continue walking after his stupid joke. "I was sixteen."

"That still gives him two more years."

"Well, that's just me. It's obviously not going to be exactly the same for him. There are some fourteen-year-olds who-"

"Nope, don't say it. I'm just not going to think about it. I've given him as much advice as I can, he knows what the right thing to do is. I'm not going to worry about it," I decide.

"How do you think he feels? After last weekend, he thinks that we're having sex, so it must be gross for him too."

"We are having sex."

"That's not the point that I'm trying to make. Okay, let's just drop it before you vomit all over the place," He says jokingly. "Let's go find that drop tower."

After the drop tower, we get a snack and decide to go find Casey and Josie again so that we can ride another big roller coaster together. As we're walking, I notice a few policemen walking toward us. I don't think much of it but when I glance back over toward them, it looks like they're looking right at me. I'm just being paranoid.

"I love you, Micah," I randomly tell him as we're walking. The police are getting closer and I'm trying not to look at them because I really think that I'm just freaking myself out. It's been a long time since I talked to Davis on the phone where he threatened me, so he would have done something sooner than now. And other than Davis, there's no other way that I could have been caught for being an escort. I'm careful, Jill is careful. I always get nervous when I see police around and they never are there to arrest me, so I just need to calm down.

"Yeah, we've already been over this. You're such a softy," Micah teases me. I look back over at the police and they're definitely still looking at me. I think that this is for real. Not a drill. They're coming for me.

Maybe I am being paranoid, but I stop walking and turn to Micah and I hug him, just in case. He's surprised and confused, but he hugs me back. "I know. I just love you."

"I love you too, El," He promises me. "But you're really embarrassing yourself."

I know that he's joking and if I wasn't getting so nervous about the cops being around, I would have laughed.

"Eleanor Gordon," I flinch when I hear a man say my name. I unwrap myself from Micah and turn to face the policemen. This really is happening. My vision is going blurry, my face is getting hot, and my mind is getting jumbled. I don't know what to do.

"Yes?" I answer him in a choked voice.

"You're under arrest for prostitution. You have the right to remain silent."