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“See? That there?” he pointed. “That’s the hostility.”

I wondered if Lacey would agree. My hands found my phone inside my bag and pulled it out just as I got a text in from her:

R U OK???

I started to text her back then thought better of it. If she cared enough about me to make sure I was OK, I’d been forgiven-ish—or at least she’d finally hear me out in person.

Liam put his truck in park outside my trailer. “See you in class, tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

I smiled and shut the door on him and waited till he pulled away. I knew what I was waiting for—my mom’s car was gone and Allie’s light was off, so I wasn’t going straight inside. I needed to talk to Lacey.

CHAPTER 23

When I got to Lacey’s place I circled around the back and texted her, giving her thirty seconds before I lightly rapped on the screen.

Her blinds rose and I could see her there as she opened the window, haloed by her bedroom’s light, and we stared at each other through the screen.

“Can I come in or what?”

We’d discovered the malleability of screens years ago, how easy both of ours were to shimmy out with screwdrivers, butterknives, nail files.

“Yeah,” she said, and I tried not to hear the reluctance in her voice, as she popped the bottom corner out.

I took it, unhinged the rest, and pulled it out, placing it carefully beside the window so I could replace it later. Her trailer was three feet off the ground, so this next part was the hardest. I tossed my backpack in first, then asked, “Ready?”

“Ready.”

I backed up a little bit and then flung myself at her window, using my arms and kicking off the exterior wall itself to yank myself up high enough for her to grab me and haul me in. She lassoed her arms beneath my armpits and pulled and we fell intogether, in a tumble of limbs. Once upon time this part was the best part, when we lay on the ground together like shots were being fired, holding back giggles, making sure we hadn’t been louder than Ms. Harper’s CPAP machine, until we were sure we’d succeeded, flush with pulling one over on an Adult.

This time though, we were both counting our own heartbeats, touching but still, as white Persian kittens sitting on white clouds beamed down from posters overhead.

Eventually Lacey said, “We’re safe.”

“Cool.” We untangled ourselves, and I tried to find some non-crotch flashing way to sit on Lacey’s floor while she looked critically at me.

“That’s your studying outfit?”

“My mom dressed me.”

“She dress you for all your dates?”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Jessie?” She leaned across the floor. “Do you know how stupid what you just did was?”

“His parents were home, I knew I’d be safe.”

“You studied…at his house? With him?”

I gave up on modesty and fell back, my back against her bed. “Yeah. Lacey—trust me—I knew I’d be fine.” If I’d gotten Darius to believe I had electric powers, how much harder could it be to convince her?

“While you were there—did he use his phone?”

“What?”

“Did he?” she whispered louder.