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“The animal shelter!” Dale said loudly. “You work there.”

The taste of black coffee with loads of vanilla creamer, definitely notmydrink, filled my mouth at the same moment I processed Dale’s very correct statement. I saved myself from spitting the mouthful of coffee across the table but did not save myself from sucking half of it into my lungs, resulting in a spastic coughing fit.

Asher patted my back as my eyes watered uncontrollably. After several agonizing minutes I finally cleared my airway.

“You okay?” Asher asked for at least the fifth time.

I nodded, grabbed a napkin from the holder in the middleof the table, and patted beneath my eyes. “It was hot. The drink washot.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“It wasn’t your fault.” It was actually Kamala’s fault. She gave her bestie Gemma’s drink. Probably to prove a point. I crumpled the napkin and set it on the table, shooting Kamala a look. She was either ignoring me or pretending to.

“You do, right?” Dale said, undeterred by my near-death experience. “Work at the animal shelter.”

“She doesn’t—” Asher started at the same exact moment I said, “Yes.” Because I did. I worked at the animal shelter, Petsacular. Had for over a year.

“You didn’t tell me that,” Asher said.

“Then you would’ve come and found me before I was ready to meet you,” I said, thinking fast.

A shy smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “Probably true.”

“Who did you adopt?” I asked Dale.

“My sister adopted a scraggly orange-and-white cat.”

Scraggly? Did he only like purebreds or something? “Chuck Norris?”

He scoffed as if the name didn’t fit. “Yes.”

“Did she change his name?” I asked.

“She mostly calls him Norris.”

“Nice,” I said. I was going to win over Asher’s friend. Wait, why did I care if I won him over? He was kind of a punk. Plus, I wasn’t really Gemma. She was a catfish who had been lying to Asher. It wasn’t like I was going to permanently take her place. I was just trying to help him save face, make it so he didn’t have to performsome crazy dare for his entire school, and most likely the entire internet, to see.

“Petsacular,” Asher said. “Right there, this whole time.”

“Did you think I lived in the internet signal or something?”

“My phone screen,” he said, giving my sarcasm right back.

A smile crept onto my face. It always made me happy when a guy could fire back. “Fair.”

“But really, I couldn’t picture you roaming around our town anywhere. Now I can.”

“Now you can.” I needed his friend to leave so I could tell Asher the truth.

“Doesn’t the name of the pet shelter drive you crazy?” he said, thoughtfully. “It’s always driven me crazy. So close to being an—”

“Anagram,” I interrupted him.

“Exactly,” he said.

“Yes! It drives me crazy. I tried to tell Kam—uh—one of my friends, but she didn’t care.”

Kamala cough-laughed across the room. She wasn’t ignoring me after all.