I’m going to kill Nic.
No. I’m going to first skin her alive and then I’m going to kill her.
I run after her, but she’s already in her car driving away. She’s my ride. Shit.
Now she’s not responding to any of my messages.
“Oh, I’m going to kill you!” I yell at my phone.
“You can just turn it off, that kind of kills it,” Alex says behind me.
He’s walking away from the house and I follow him, “Where are you going?”
He yells behind him, not even bothering to look at me, “This party’s lame.”
Shit. Now I have to catch a ride with him again.
But beggars can’t be choosers so I say, “Can you give me a ride home? Nic left.”
He stops walking and I stop walking after him. 
He spins to face me. He squints, “Say the magic word.”
I take a step back, “What?”
He crosses his arms over his chest, “Say ‘please’.”
I breathe through my nose, “Alex!”
He shrugs, “Have it your way. Or just call your Dad. I’m not going home yet anyway.”
He walks several steps away from me.
This jerk is really going to leave me here!
Swallow your pride, Allie.
I take a deep breath and say, “Just take me with you.”
He stops walking.
I say through gritted teeth, “Please.”
He spins around and nods, “Okay.”
I walk behind him, wishing I could shoot the back of his head.
We get to his car and I say, “Where are we going?”
He puts on his seatbelt, “I’m hungry.”
God, he’s always hungry. I mean, he’s an athlete and I think he’s a growing boy. He’s over a foot taller than me now.
I slump on my seat while he drives away.
We stop at an intersection and he says, “So, we’re graduating.”
I sigh, “I know.”
“Are you giving me a real gift this time?”
I’ve given Alex plenty of gifts before, well, they’re not really gifts. The last one I gave him was an exploding box filled with glitter. I left it on his bed, and he was stupid enough to shake the damn thing. He had to clean his room for a week and he still didn’t get it all out.
I laugh and say, “Maybe.”
He sighs, “I wonder how it would feel like to have a normal birthday.”
I smile. Our parents make a big deal out of our birthdays since we were younger. We alternated the celebration to his birthday and mine, so I’ve celebrated my birthday on the day for only half of my life. We were also forced to greet each other. 
This year it’s Alex’ turn.
But I guess now it’s going to be mine too.
Since we’re in Switzerland I say, “I’m still going to greet you on your birthday.”
He looks at me and then looks back at the road, “I’ll greet you too.”
We get to a fast-food joint and Alex orders a couple of burgers and fries at the drive thru. We park nearby and start eating.
We’ve never done this before. It’s unusual but comfortable.
I take a huge bite off of my burger when he says, “I’m thinking of something.”
I chew and talk at the same time, “What?”
He moves to face me, “I think we should be friends.”
I almost choke on the burger.
I take a sip of my drink, “What? Dude! Ew.”
He raises his eyebrow, “’Ew’? Really?”
I look at him and he raises his hands, “No. Not real friends, just friends for show.”
I scrunch my brow, “What do you mean?”
He sighs, “Our parents want us to get along, right? We can pretend to be nice to each other while we’re on vacation, that way they’ll get off our backs and leave us alone.”
I roll my eyes, “If you think that would stop our Moms from planning get togethers then you’re clearly mistaken. If anything, that would make things worse.”
I can see it now; Mom will be planning every holiday with Alex’s family from now on.
I shiver at the thought.
He shakes his head, “No. What do you think our parents will do if we prank each other, bicker or fight during the vacation? They’re going to be breathing down our necks, pushing us to do activities together and they’ll watch us like hawks so they can see our progress.”
He makes a fair point.
We’ll be having more freedom during the vacation if we pretend we’re getting along. I can do whatever I want.
I nod, “Okay.”
He raises his eyebrows, “Okay? No witty sarcasm?”
I roll my eyes, “If we’re going to pretend to like each other I think that kind of reaction makes it less believable.”
He chuckles, “Are we starting now?”
I shrug, “Might as well. I need practice.”
He claps his hands, “So, how do we do this? I mean we can’t just start being nice without a backstory. They’re going to know something’s up.”
And then I get a message from Nic.
I shake my head and grin.
“Well, I think I have the perfect story.”
I show Alex the photo and he smiles softly.
It’s a little blurry and dark but it’s pictures of me and him at the party earlier, when he saved me from the drunk idiot. Alex has his arm around me and I’m looking up him smiling.
I didn’t even know Nic took the pictures. 
I look down at my phone and grin, “We’ll tell Mom the truth. You saved me from a drunk guy earlier and we got to talking.”
He nods, “And we decide that since we’re leaving in a couple of weeks, we shouldn’t spend it hating each other.”
I nod, “That’s a good story. I think Mom would buy it we even have these pictures as proof.”
He offers his hand to me, “So, truce?”
I squint at him and shake his hand, “For now.”
He grins.