The bell rings. As I’m packing up, Yuki turns to me. “Have you decided if you’re meeting us later?”
“For what?” I ask.
“We’re going somewhere after school to think of ideas for Sam,” she says. “I sent you a text last night.”
I look around the table, a little confused. “I never got your text,” I say. “I didn’t know we were supposed to be meeting.” I take out my phone to double check. I’ve had it with me the entire day. Why do I keep losing messages? “When did you send it?”
“It was pretty late,” Yuki says. “You might have been asleep.”
I think back to last night. Maybe the calls are blocking them. I remind myself to check the log of phone calls I’ve been keeping later.
Jay appears beside me. “You should come,” he says. “You know Sam better than all of us.”
“What about Sam?” Oliver asks, looking curious.
“We want to do something special for him,” Rachel says. “With Julie.”
“Like what?”
“We’re still deciding.”
“Oh…” Oliver leans forward, his lips pressed. “Can I … be part of it?”
Everyone turns at me.
“Of course you can,” I say. I look at Yuki. “But I can’t meet you guys after school today. I’m really sorry. I already made plans with someone.” I don’t mention that that someone is Sam.
Yuki touches my hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll get together again. We’ll plan something great for him.”
Although I smile at this, I can’t help feeling a little left out of the group. It’s been a while since I spent time with the three of them outside of school. We used to go over to Sam’s house regularly, listening to music together. Since it’s my last year here, I don’t know when I’ll see them all again.
* * *
As soon as school gets out, I head straight into town. Instead of stopping by work like I normally would, I wait at the corner stop for the three o’clock bus out of Ellensburg. I won’t be going too far. Only until the mountain ridges rise into view and the roads become nothing but trees and sagebrush. This is Sam’s idea. He said he had a surprise for me when we last spoke. I’m supposed to call him as soon as I get off the bus.
The bus drops me off near the footpaths where there’s a crowd of hikers, but I wander off the main trail toward the line of trees. I’ve never gone this far off the path before. All around me is nothing but endless woods and mountainsides. I cut through fields of wildflowers, letting my fingers brush along the tops of purple-and-yellow asters. Sam’s voice guides me like a hand over the phone, leading me through a sunlit clearing in the middle of the wood. His voice swells with excitement. It’s the first time I’ve heard him this way since that first phone call.
“I’ve been waiting to show you this forever,” he says.
“But what is it?” I keep asking.
“I told you, it’s a surprise,” he says with a laugh. “You’re almost there. Keep going.”
Tree trunks thicken as the path he guides me through becomes more wooded and narrower. Rods of sunlight shine at different angles through the high branches. Wildflowers color the ground purple and gold. A breeze blows the low-hanging branches, making their leaves brush gently over my shoulders as I pass beneath them.
“There should be a small creek up ahead,” Sam says. “Once you find this million-year-old log, cross over it and then turn right.”
I can’t believe he can recall all these details. It’s as if he can see it, too.
I glance around me. “How will I find my way back?” Town is miles and miles away from where I am. Even though I have him on the phone, it’s only me out here.
“Don’t worry,” Sam says. “I’m right there with you.”
Sunlight shimmers at the end of the wood as I head toward it. Once I break through the trees and reach the other side, I brush my hair back and take in the view that emerges before me. A field of gold stretches from my shoes, spreading out toward the sky. A breeze comes up from behind me, bending the tops of the grasses, sending them rolling like ocean waves. In the distance, a single tree stands in the middle like a boat stranded in a golden lake. I take a few more steps out, letting my hand glide along the foxtails as soft as feathers. It doesn’t take me too long to realize why he brought me here.
“Barley…” Sam whispers in my year. “Just like from the song.”