Page 74

“Ew. People really do that?”

“Yes,” they all say in unison.

Gracie wrinkles her nose. “And those are pretty tame examples.”

“I actually like the edits of Nathan,” Summer says, laughing. “Because I don’t want to do the work of making them, but I like looking at Nathan. It’s like they’re giving me a little gift. And if they’re too creepy or weird with the captions or song choice, I just report them for copyright infringement since they don’t have permission to use most of the clips they use.”

Amelia cackles. “Summer! Are you serious?”

Summer shrugs, looking unapologetic. “Sometimes I’m petty. I won’t apologize for it.”

“Can I report videos, too?” Bailey asks.

“Yup. And if that doesn’t work, I can also send a legal takedown notice. Half the time, they’re using videos the Appies own.”

“I love having a lawyer friend,” Amelia says with a laugh. “I wish I had a cool skill to contribute. Gracie can play amazing music, and Bailey can spay or neuter our pets.”

“Don’t sell yourself short! You could write our life stories,” Bailey says. “And I can’t spay or neuter pets until I’m done with vet school.” She makes a face. “Also, saying I can just spay and neuter animals sounds really weird. How about … I can help people find the perfect dog to adopt?”

“I want to adopt a dog!”

Liam appears behind me, and I almost jump out of my skin. I’m just grateful he wasn’t here when we were talking about edits.

But maybe this is actually worse.

“Can we?” he asks, borderline begging.

“We can’t have a dog right now,” I tell him. For like the hundredth time.

Look—I like dogs. All animals, really. But dogs require a stability we haven’t had, what with me switching jobs and moving from Oakley to Savannah then back to Oakley, mostly staying in apartments where we—let’s be honest,I—would be responsible for walking the dog all the time without having a yard. Liam is responsible. But would he do most of the dog-related things? Probably not. Because he’s responsiblefor a ten-year-old.

“But now we’re in a house,” he argues now. “There’s a fenced yard and everything.”

“A house werent. I’m sure the rental agreement says no pets.”

“Did you even look at the rental agreement?”

I signed it. Did I read it? Unlikely. But I definitely willnow.

Before I can answer, Liam turns his full charm on Bailey. “Can you help us find a dog to adopt?”

Bailey glances between us. Liam, with his adorable, pleading eyes. Me with desperate ones sayingDon’t you dare.

“Um,” she says.

Just then the announcer welcomes the Appies back to the ice and the crowd cheers.

I stand up. “We better get back to our seats! Time for the second half.”

I know very well it’s a period, not a half, and that there are three of them in a hockey game.

But I’m hoping to distract Liam from any talk of dogs, and it works because he corrects me and then talks about the breakdown of a hockey game all the way back down to our seats.

CHAPTER16

Camden

The hourafter our game almost kills me. It’s interminably slow.