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Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out two one-dollar bills. Topher snatched them from him and left without another word.

“Don’t say it,” Jack said to me after we listened to him stomp up the stairs and let himself out the front door.

“How do you know what I was going to say?” I asked.

“I should stand up to him.”

“That’s not what I was going to say,” I said, even though that had been my first thought.

He sighed, looking defeated. “What were you going to say?’

“I was going to say, how are you so sweet when you have to live with that?”

“Sweet?” he asked like it was a bad thing.

“Such a good guy,” I said.

“Agood guy?” he asked, like that was worse.

“What’s wrong with being a good guy?”

“Nothing,” he groaned.

Just when I thought I could read Jack like a book, he did things like this and I was left utterly confused.

Chapter 12

“Did you bring a date to my party?” I asked, walking up to where Troy was sitting outside on one of the logs Jack had helped me move earlier to form a seating area. Like I’d anticipated, the outdoor area was more popular than inside this year.

“I would never,” he said in an exaggerated denial. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“This is Laney,” he said, nodding to the girl sitting next to him.

“Nice to meet you,” I said. “Pretend like you’re not together tonight or my reputation will be ruined.”

“Or you could find yourself a guy and turn this into a co-ed party,” he said.

“It’s already co-ed,” I said.

“I meant co-ed as in both singles and couples.”

“That’s not what co-ed means, but I’ll accept your definition.”

“We started off at Cassidy’s party,” Laney said.

My eyes went wide. “Traitor!” I said, shoving Troy’s arm.

“You don’t accept couples,” he whined.

“And then?” I asked, curious how they ended up here.

She shrugged. “People were posting funny, bloody pictures and Troy said yours was better.”

“Really?” I asked.

“What can I say?” Troy said. “You’ve grown on me.”

“Plus,” Laney added. “Something weird was going on with Micah and Cassidy. It got awkward.”