The pledge, p.20
The Pledge, page 20
“I do.”
He smiles, and taps his hands on the railing of my bed.
“So,” he says. “How about that date?”
Epilogue
A thump sounds on Sam’s door, startling him.
He smiles, gets up from his desk, and trudges over to his door. Sunlight is bright gold outside, lighting up his dorm room. His hair is long enough to tussle, and he is tanned and healthy. There’s a lacrosse stick leaning against the wall, and the sneakers he wears while playing are under his bed. He reaches the door, then stops for a moment, eyeing the Taser that he has on his desk within easy reach. He ignores it and opens the door. A part of him still thinks that a nightmare might be outside. The Freak, or some other masked killer, is waiting for him. But that thought is distant now and easy to ignore as long as he works at it.
Oren is standing outside, his hands shoved into his pockets. He thrusts his hands into the air, uncharacteristically animated. “Spring break, baby!”
Sam grabs Oren by the shirt and pulls him into his room. The pair totter backward, and Oren pushes Sam’s door closed. Sam leans forward and kisses his boyfriend.
“Well, hello to you, too,” says Oren.
Sam goes to kiss him, but Oren turns his head, his focus landing on the open, and only half-packed, suitcase on Sam’s bed. Oren lifts an eyebrow.
“I got distracted writing,” says Sam.
This has been happening lately, more often than not. After he got out of the hospital, he changed majors to creative writing, and, given how well he is doing in his classes and how happy he is, he knows it was the right decision. Sam goes over to his laptop, closes it, then quickly finishes packing.
“You know we leave in five minutes, right?” asks Oren.
“One more,” asks Sam.
Oren gives it to him. And then another one for good measure.
A few kisses later, Sam and Oren go downstairs, where the rest of the AΦN brothers are piled into a van. Jerome hops out of the driver’s seat and comes over to hug Sam. Jerome has been excelling in his role as president, and even though this stretch of time will be remembered as one of the darkest in the brotherhood’s history, he has made sure that the brothers have remained close.
The drive passes quickly, and soon, they’re all checked in at the airport and walking to the gate. As Sam collects his boarding pass, he notices Alyson, in a bright floral dress.
Ever since he got back from the hospital, the pair have started hanging out all the time again.
An hour later, Sam is sitting between Oren and Alyson on a plane filled with other spring breakers. Everyone seems to be wearing the loudest outfit they own, so the plane is kind of a Technicolor nightmare. A group of sorority girls start blasting Sean Paul’s “Temperature” from a set of portable speakers, and people start singing along. Sam joins in, surprising Alyson.
“You know the words?” she asks.
“You don’t?”
“I mean, I do, but I’m not going to sing it.”
“You’ve just got to lean into it.”
What can he say? He is going to spring break, and he is sitting next to his best friend and his boyfriend. Life is good.
A flight attendant hurries toward them and tells them to shut off the music.
“Devastating,” says Alyson.
Sam laughs.
Farther down the plane, Mikey and his new boyfriend, a guy named Zamir, are holding hands. Even if they had a rough start, now Sam truly considers Mikey his brother. Farther forward is Beth. Given her level of fame, he’s surprised she’s coming to this.
“Spring break!” shouts someone, and the crowd cheers.
* * *
The hotel that Jerome booked is about as Florida as it gets.
It has bright pink walls, and there’s so much color everywhere. Workers in white shirts with deep tans and unnaturally perfect teeth stand behind the desk. There’s a store in the corner of the lobby, which is selling spring break merch, including a tank top with SPRING BREAK FOREVER in big neon letters across the chest.
Sam, Oren, and Alyson go over to the store.
“You’d look good in that,” says Oren.
That’s all Sam needs to hear, so he grabs one in his size and buys it. As he leaves the store, he decides he should respond to the messages he got on the plane.
He responds to Mom first.
Have a good spring break, Sam. And stay safe.
I will!
Things between them still aren’t fantastic; there’s still a deep well of hurt there. But she’s trying, and Sam appreciates that.
The next message is from Eli. After everything that happened, Eli decided he wanted to get away from Munroe, which is understandable. He and Sam message occasionally, and last Sam heard, Eli was in Chicago and had started a new band that was doing really well. They might not talk all the time, but Sam knows that if he ever needs him, Eli will be there. Sam hopes Eli feels the same way.
I heard it’s spring break—have fun!!
Thanks!
He calls Dad.
“Sam!” he says, answering on camera. He’s in the living room of Peter’s house. He’s obviously mustered Peter and Gus for this call.
“Look what I got!” says Sam, showing off his new tank.
Gus scrunches up his face.
“What?”
“It’s so tacky.”
“But that’s the charm, right?” asks Sam.
“If you say so.”
Sam scowls, outraged.
“What’s the weather like there?” asks Peter.
“Humid.”
It really is. Sam is already starting to sweat.
“I’m going to swim,” says Sam. “I’ll call you later.”
Sam ends the call. He goes out the lobby to the pool and spots Oren and Alyson sitting next to each other, sunbathing. Sam pulls his tank off and then drops down onto a deck chair next to Oren. Surrounding them is a swarm of spring breakers. Oren gives Sam a kiss in greeting.
Sam sits for a while, letting his mind grow blank. Oren gets up and walks toward the pool. Sam watches his boyfriend for a moment too long. Alyson catches him and lowers her sunglasses an inch.
“Shut up,” he says.
Sam’s phone chimes.
It’s a message from an unknown number. They’ve taken a photo of him, obviously a few seconds ago, as Oren is no longer beside him. Sam searches the pool for who could’ve taken it, but there are hundreds of people here. A message comes in.
Ready to die, Sam?
Sam starts typing a message. Once he’s written it, he smiles and starts planning his next move.
Good luck.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A part of me can’t believe I’m writing the acknowledgments of this book. Wild.
Here it goes.
First, I want to thank Nicholas. Thank you for being such an incredible, supportive boyfriend throughout this whole process. I love you.
To Liz Szabla and the entire team at Feiwel and Friends, including copyeditors Valerie Shea and Bonnie Cutler, and senior production editor Lelia Mander, thank you for your patience and support while I worked to get this book right. And to Xia Gordon for the brilliant, and super-creepy, cover! I love it so much. To Moe Ferrara, for being a dream agent for this even if it was a book you didn’t sell, and for everything you’ve done for me this past year, and to Leon Husock for selling the book in the first place. To all, thank you so much.
Jayden! I dedicated this book to you because you’re the most fun person to watch horror movies with, as well as being an incredible person I love so much. I hope this book gets a more positive reaction than a sarcastic “interesting.” Fingers crossed. Seriously, you’re the best little brother a guy could hope for.
Mum, Dad, Kia, and Shaye … all icons. Thanks for always being there for me when I want to excitedly talk to you when something publishing related happens, and for everything else, too. Special shout-out to Kia for your amazing notes on this, and for making the “stabby-stab-stab” book the best possible version it could be.
To friends Sophie Gonzales, Becky Albertalli, Caleb Roehrig, Adam Sass, Adib Khorram, Julian Winters, Tom Ryan, Lev AC Rosen, Alex London, Tricia Levenseller, Shaun David Hutchinson, Rogier, Allaricia, and David Slayton: thank you, all, for everything. Special shout-out to Sophie, for the constant chats that always bring me so much joy. Callum McDonald came through once again with the editing notes—I hope you’re happy with the description in the scene with Justin’s teeth! To friends Jaymen, Raf, Mitch, Finella, Sarah, Asha, Lauren, Maddy, Dan, Ryan, Ross, Brandyn, and Kyle: thank you for being amazing!
And lastly, thank you to you, for reading this and for supporting me. Thank you so much!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cale Dietrich is a young adult devotee, lifelong gamer, and tragic pop punk enthusiast. He was born in Perth, Australia, grew up on the Gold Coast, and now lives in Brisbane. He is the author of The Love Interest, The Friend Scheme, and If This Gets Out, with Sophie Gonzales. He can be found on Twitter @caledietrich. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 by Cale Dietrich
A Feiwel and Friends Book
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
fiercereads.com
All rights reserved.
Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022033978
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First hardcover edition 2023
eBook edition 2023
eISBN 9781250186980
Cale Dietrich, The Pledge
