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Like he was a thing with Erica last year?I wanted to say, but knew better. I just kept shoveling breakfast in.

I gave money to Sarah to pay for things and hit the corner store on my way home. The weather had gone from sunny to gray and by the time I left the store I was using the cereal box as an umbrella to avoid big fat drops of rain.

I could’ve driven straight home then, but Lacey’s house was practically on the way. I pulled over in front of it. Her mom’s car was in the driveway, like most cars were on weekend mornings, and I trotted past it to her front door, determined to play it casual.

I knocked and waited with a cheerful but not manic grin on my face, playing through a dozen age-appropriate variations of, “Why hello Ms. Harper, can Lacey come out to play?” in my head.

I heard shuffling behind the door, but the door itself didn’t open.

“Hel-lo?” I asked the doorknob, leaning forward with my ear. The blinds covering the window beside the door crinkled, and two dark eyes peered out between slats. I didn’t know what to do, and before I could do anything it was too late—the blinds flipped back closed, hiding Ms. Harper again.

I waited—for her to shout for Lacey to come get the door, for her to get the door herself, but nothing happened. I raised my hand to knock again—but shehadseen me. Wouldn’t knocking now be rude? It was obvious she didn’t want me here, probably because I was, as Lacey’d told me she’d said before, a bad influence.

I trudged back to the Buick. Lacey was definitely grounded. The only question was for how long—and if her mom’d let me see her before she got sent to parochial.

I pulled the Buick into its spot in front of my own trailer and walked up the steps with the cereal box under my arm. I openedup the front door quietly, expecting to hear the TV blaring again and was dismayed when it was not—because I knew why.

Mom was up.

“Hey, darlin’,” she said, from her spot on the couch. Allie was curled up in her arms. They were still watching cartoons albeit much more quietly as befit my mother’s hangover.

“Hey,” I said, waving the cereal box as my proof of innocence. I had reasons to go out. Foraging, for my people.

“Been gone long?”

I froze. Had I known that waitress? And had she known my mom? No, that was silly—I knew Redson was small, but come on. Breakfast hadn’t been that long—I wished I could see Allie’s face to help me judge. “Not too long. The weather outside’s getting awful. We were just out of cereal.”

“You get any milk?”

I shook my head.

“So it took you forty-five minutes to get to the corner store?”

Busted. My stomach sank as my mother pushed Allie off her lap. Allie looked back at me quickly and gave me the look I imagined drowning people saw from people on overcrowded lifeboats.

“Sarah and I went to breakfast—she had something important to tell me—she’s dating Ryan now.” I spilled almost every bean I had, hoping to outrun the storm.

“You know the rules.”

“I do—but?—”

“But for some reason you can’t follow them.”

“It was just breakfast, Mom?—”

“Do you think I’m stupid? Do you?”

She didn’t really want to know the answer to that—but maybe she could see it flicker in my eyes.

“You’re grounded,” she said.

“What?” My voice rose without thinking.

“You heard me.”

“What is there to ground me from? It’s not like I do anything?—”

“Give me your phone.”