Chapter 25: Portia
Bart and I had exchanged several text messages, but he hadn't encourage me to come back to school early in any of them. In some weird, girly way, it hurt, and in another, it didn't bother me. I was grateful to have a couple days with my parents and Jude, even if he wasn't a barrel of laughs to be around. I hadn't gotten all the details, although I heard enough from the top of the stairs to understand that Jude had finally let go of the emotional wall he'd erected around his heart.