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The world screwed back into place and things were normal and everything I could feel-hear around me dialed back into a muted roar, as I looked at her expectant face. “Yeah—how did you know?”

“I know everything worth knowing,” she said with a catty smile.

Which meant that no one knew Lacey’d been assaulted. If word was out, Sarah was sure to know. I sank back in my desk a little.

What if it was Liam who’d assaulted Lacey? What if it wasn’t? Could Lacey maybe narrow it down for me? What kind of asshole was I for thinking about myself right now? The worst kind.

“So? What’d he say?” she pressed.

“He apologized for his friends being jerks at the Shax last night.”

She waited, then prompted me. “And what’d you say?”

“I…sort of insulted him for hanging out with them.”

Sarah smacked my shoulder. “You’re the worst, Jessica.”

“Definitely.” With Darius’s help I’d gone and blown the first and likely only interaction with Liam I would ever have. But if this past weekend had proven anything—Liam’s type and mine weren’t meant to overlap. No matter how many times I’d seen pictures of his couch.

Ms. Liebel clapped her hands loudly and started class.

Halfway through class we broke into groups by table, to spend time drawing examples of meiosis and mitosis and explain them to one another. Like any good group assignment, most of us talked about other things instead.

“I’m super glad Lacey’s not here today,” Sarah said.

“Why?”

Sarah gave me a look. “You have no idea how much heat I’m taking, Jessie. None.”

“So?”

“Lacey wouldn’t be able to handle it, is what I’m saying.”

Lacey was far stronger than Sarah knew. “Are you deflecting it some?”

“As much as I can. But there’ll be a reckoning of some sort.”

That didn’t sound good. “How—or where?”

“I don’t know. But if she doesn’t start apologizing, from the moment she hits campus next, to everyone she sees, freshmen to senior—she’s over.”

Apologizing? Her? After what had happened??? “What does being over even mean?” I asked through clenched teeth. The shininess was back, as was my headache, in full force.

Sarah gave me a pitying look. “Let’s just hope we don’t have to find out, okay?”

I was going to press her again, but Ms. Liebel clapped her hands again for our attention and started lecturing.

I tried to concentrate, but chromosomal abnormalities didn’t hold my attention the way worrying about Lacey did. I wound up writing to Sarah on the corner of my notebook.

Can I borrow your phone?

Sarah read it, nodded subtly, then waited for Ms. Liebel to look away before handing it into my lap.

“Tell her I’m mad at her,” she whispered, as I typed in her birthday to unlock it.

“Uh, sure thing.” I whispered back. It felt strangely warm in my hands—like Sarah’d handed me a puppy or a kitten to hold instead of plastic and metal. I could see the denim of my jeansand the faded linoleum of the floor, but if I concentrated just right, letting my eyes relax and my mind wander—there were things shooting out of the phone, and other things were shooting in, like fireflies. All the time. It was like the lit-tip of a sparkler. Like a firework that felt alive.

I held it for a moment, tapping the screen often enough that it wouldn’t go dark and need a fresh key, marveling. Did anyone, could anyone, else see this? I watched the waves shoot in through my hands and out again, making me a part of it.