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Darius had called to warn me when Danny’d arrived but gotten my mother instead since she had my phone, and been compelled to do some explaining due to the bodily harm she’d threatened him with if he didn’t. Then she’d called 911 and sent out the cavalry, which actually wound up being very timely, seeing as they were saving us a trip.

“The pictures are gone, guys,” Danny said as he got on his knees, trying to take control of the situation again.

“But we’re not,” Lacey said.

“You don’t have any proof?—”

“This isn’t proof enough?” Shana threw her arms wide. “Come on now. You know better.”

Danny’s head scanned from side to side. Liam had his arms crossed, and Mason just looked horrified. Chase and Bruce were huddled together, talking quietly, likely figuring out their own cover stories.

Flashlights scanned the ground as police in rain ponchos walked up. “What the hell is going on here?” the first one asked.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on here,” Liam said, and started talking.

I held my arms out for Lacey, and she came over to lean against my side. “You want I should cut him off?”

She paused to think, then said, “No. It’ll make it easier for us if he talks first.”

Thank God we had a boy translating for us. Otherwise, how would anyone ever hear us speak, with all our vaginas in the way?

I may have said that last part out loud. Lacey may have snickered in response.

A cop gave us a poncho to share. And another recognized Lacey from her own incident twenty days ago. He gave her a nod—her being here corroborated Liam’s story. Danny’d sunk back onto his ass in the mud, silent and sullen. I wondered if this was the first time he’d ever lost before.

One by one, we got assigned police—the team did too. I could tell by Mason’s gestures that he was trying to put everything on Danny, but that didn’t stop the cop from arresting him. They also arrested Danny—the only thing I heard him say was how he wanted to talk to a lawyer. I told everything I knew, including the part about Mason’s cheating ring because why the hell not. I was still talking when a car pulled in past all the cop cars. Visible only by its headlights, I was sure it was my mom.

“Jessica, what the hell did you get yourself into?” she said, stepping out in the rain.

“Uh,” I said, completely unsure where to begin. I’d missed my chance to ask Darius what he’d told her, so our stories would be the same—my heart beat in my throat almost as hard as it had been when Danny’d showed up. I hadn’t really lost my mom, had I?

Then my mother reached out to pull me into a bone-cracking hug and I knew it didn’t matter. “You are grounded. Forever. I’m gonna put locks on your windows and chain you to the bed,” she whispered into my hair as she was crying.

“I know, Momma,” I said, hugging her back. “I know.”

I didn’t want to go until they were all the way done with everyone. I was right, Chase and Bruce had concocted some scheme to make themselves innocent, but the police took their phones and I knew I’d only deleted Lacey’s photos. I hoped they’d been too smug to delete anything else. By the end of the hour, our stories, plus Liam’s, werethestory, and the only thing the rest of us wanted was to get out of the rain.

“I can take her home now, right?” my mother asked the nearest officer, when he was done writing all our contact info down. He nodded, and my mother engulfed me again, then she pointed at Lacey. “You’re coming home with me too.”

“Thanks,” Lacey said, getting into the backseat, as I made to follow, before looking back. Darius stood behind us, keys in hand, and took a step forward as my mother walked over to the Buick’s driver side.

“Ms. McMullen?” he said, and she waited. “I know you don’t think very highly of me right now and all—but—your daughter is amazing.”

“Believe it or not, I know that,” my mother said. At that moment, maybe for the first time ever, I believed she did.

“I know she’s in trouble now, but can you please tell me when she’ll be through? We still need to go on a real date.”

I inhaled softly, like I could pull his words into my chest and keep them there.

My mother made an unintelligible sound, then said, “A month. From now. One day earlier, and so help me?—”

“A month. Thanks, Ma’am,” Darius said, and gave me a long wistful look before walking off.

My mother settled into the car after that muttering phrases like: “Oh my God!” “Teenagers!” “Hormones!” but kept to herself as she drove us back.

At Lacey’s, my mother didn’t even turn off the engine.

“Please, Mom—we’ve been through a lot. I just need to say good-bye.”