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going to charge you anyway—” He stopped himself.
    “What?” she said. “Would you not have invited me?”
    He didn’t say anything for a moment. “Look, it’s been a long drive so far,” he told her, not looking away from the road. “Let’s just chill with the Q&A for a few minutes, okay?”
    “Sure,” she said. “Whatever you say.”
    After that, Elijah turned the satellite radio on again and resumed listening to his Geek and Gear podcasts.
    Caelyn settled back in her seat and stared out at the passing scenery, wondering if she’d made a mistake getting off the bus and into his car to go all the way to Florida. If this was the kind of atmosphere that was going to exist the entire drive, then she definitely would regret her decision.
    It was when they passed into Maryland that Caelyn’s phone rang for the first time.
    She looked at her caller ID.
    MOM.
    A thrill of anxiety raced through Caelyn’s body when she saw that her mother was calling. She rejected the call, forcing it to voicemail.
    Elijah glanced over at her. “You all right?”
    “Yes,” she said. Since when do you care? She wanted to reply, but that was a little too childish, even for the mood she was in right now.
    A moment later, her cell was ringing again, and once again, it was her mother’s number. Maybe that meant it was an emergency. Caelyn tried to think if someone would have already known she’d taken off, and contacted the school, the police, her parents.
    She didn’t think so. The only people who could possibly have noticed she was gone by now would have been one of her roommates. But Alicia had been staying over Ben’s last night and Nellie would probably assume that Caelyn had stayed over Jayson’s apartment.
    Her phone was still ringing. She really didn’t want to answer, but another part of her thought it was useless to just ignore her mother’s call. She would just keep calling and calling.
    Sighing, Caelyn answered. “Hi, Mom.” She forced her voice to sound cheerful.
    “I thought you might be sleeping in,” her mother said, in a tone of voice that indicated she didn’t really approve of the reasons that might cause Caelyn to sleep in, but she understood it was part of college life to stay up late partying.
    “Oh, no, I’m awake,” Caelyn told her. “I’ve been awake for awhile.” That was an understatement.
    Elijah smirked.
    Caelyn looked away from him, out the passenger window.
    “Well, whatever,” her mother said, like Caelyn’s sleeping habits weren’t any of her business. “The reason I’m calling is because I’ve got a work conference next week in Boston.”
    Caelyn’s stomach dropped faster than an elevator with the cables cut. “Oh,” was all she could manage.
    “That wasn’t exactly the reaction I was hoping for, Caelyn Mary.”
    “Sorry, Mom, I’m just—I’ve got a lot of work to do. Classes are harder than I expected and it’s overwhelming.”
    “I’m sure you’re going to do just fine, Caelyn. You always worry about grades and you always do wonderfully.”
    “Yeah, well, this is different, Mom. Cambridge University is a lot harder than high school.”
    “I’m sure it is,” her mother said, sounding relatively unconvinced. “But I still think you can find time to see your mother for dinner one night!”
    Caelyn didn’t respond. She couldn’t allow her mother to expect that they would see one another next week. Caelyn wasn’t even going to be in Massachusetts.
    Maybe now was the time to just get it out—tell her mother the truth. Admit that she was leaving school for the semester, dropping out and running to Florida. What could her mom really do? Caelyn was eighteen, an adult, and perfectly capable of making her own decisions.
    But the mere thought of saying those words struck terror into Caelyn’s very soul.
    Her mother would be crushed, devastated. Caelyn was the first person in her family to attend an Ivy League college and her parents were totally proud of her for