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Kamala hummed. “And that would prove that all he cares about, all theybothcare about, are TikTok views.”

Werethey going to stage some sort of public act of humiliation that they could post online? That thought made me angry. “We should go, then, right? Let them feel stupid doing their TikTok thing with us watching.”

“We should definitely go,” she agreed.

Rule:Abandon all rules. They can’t save you in the end.

“Did you seriously buy Dale a birthday present?” I asked Kamala as I picked up the wrapped box in the passenger seat and sat down.

“It felt weird going to his birthday party empty-handed.”

“He’s lucky I’m not giving him a punch in the face for his birthday.”

She laughed a little.

I buckled my seat belt and shook the box. “What is it?”

She pulled out onto the road. “Um…just something I thought he needed.”

“Oh, that clears it up.”

“It’s a GoPro.”

My mouth fell open. “You bought Mr.Rich another way to record things?”

“I bought it before the TikTok thing. But now that you say it like that, yes, I should’ve just left it at home.”

I groaned. “You like him, don’t you?”

“Before…when he hadn’t…I don’t know!”

Why wouldn’t she? Between the Bean Games and our catfish dates, Asher and I had thrown them together at every possible turn. “You can like him. He didn’t do anything to you.”

“After what he did to you? No way. That has to be on your list of dating rules, right?Never date a guy who screwed over your bestie.”

“My dating rules suck. They were a form of protection that didn’t work in the end.”

“What?” Kamala gasped in faux surprise.

“I know. That’s what you’ve been telling me forever.”

She reached over and grabbed my hand. “I always understood why you needed them.”

As we neared our destination, the anger that had convinced me showing up at Dale’s birthday party was the only reasonable thing to do was quickly wearing off. It was replaced with shallow breathing and nervous energy.

It must’ve been obvious because Kamala asked, “Are you going to talk to Asher tonight? Or are we strictly going to give them death glares while they record social media stunts?”

“I think the second option? I haven’t decided yet.” My body seemed to be shutting down, making the decision for me. I wanted to tell Kamala to turn the car around, that I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to see Asher. I was still hurting too much, regardless of how hard I was trying to ignore it.

There were so many cars at the house when we arrived—the entire circular drive was packed as was the street—that we had to park halfway down the block and walk. The sun had set and the sky was a chalky gray. The side gate was open, so we headed thatway. Unlike the last time we’d been in Dale’s backyard, it was full of people. People in the lit pool and in the pool house, people dancing on the grass to loud music. People eating and drinking on the large covered patio. A table stacked full with wrapped gifts was also on the patio. Kamala pointed her present toward it. I nodded and followed her.

“There are so many people here!” she yelled at me. “I don’t even know this many people!”

“Dale probably doesn’t either,” I said.

Why were we here? Asher and Dale wouldn’t care about us watching them try to go viral online…again. They wouldn’t even know we were here. We reached the gift table and Kamala studied it like a game of Jenga, trying to figure out where she could put her box without knocking any of the others over.

“Are you wishing you hadn’t bought him such an expensive birthday present now?” I asked, staring at his haul.