Page 8

I threw on an old but clean T-shirt and washed my face, smoothed down my eyebrows, and felt almost normal again. My hair was a mess. It had gone greasy around my hairline, turning the light brown darker, but I couldn’t do much about that, so I pulled it all into a messy bun on the top of my head and decided I would try to pretend that was my intention all along.

I stared at myself in the bleary mirror, pulling strands of my hair loose from the bun so I didn’t look like I’d triedtoo hard, then applied a tiny dot of foundation over the faint mark on my cheek. Brooke hadn’t mentioned the mark, and I wasn’t sure if she was being kind or discreet or if she just hadn’t noticed it. Either way, it was easier to hide it than to answer questions.

It had been a while since my last encounter with Child Protective Services, which put me on edge. When I was younger, I had been on their radar for a whole host of reasons, most of them related to my mom’s terrible taste in men, but as I’d edged through my teenage years, they seemed less and less interested in me. Knowing someone was looking for me put a different spin on the road trip. It was more important than ever that we put distance between us and Seattle … for my own freedom, and so I could protect Brooke from the mess I was leaving behind.

A knock on the restroom door startled me.

‘Mouse?’

‘Coming,’ I said, quickly shoving everything back into my backpack.

Brooke was waiting outside when I opened the door. ‘Sorry, I need to use the restroom. I ordered and paid, but they haven’t made the drinks yet.’

‘Thanks. I’ll give you some money,’ I said, already feeling embarrassed that she’d paid for everything so far.

‘It’s fine,’ she said, waving my embarrassment away and dashing into the stall.

I went over to the end of the bar to wait for our order.

‘Summer?’

It took me a moment to realize Brooke had given a fake name, which wassmart. I should have thought of that. I muttered my thanks and took the two takeout cups the barista had set on the counter, then went to a table near the front so I could watch who was coming into the parking lot.

The sharp-sweet smell of coffee and the familiar, generic environment of Starbucks was the permission I needed to relax. Everything here was as it should be, from the menu to the noise of orders being tossed back and forth between customers and baristas, and the gentle background music that I didn’t need to listen to.

When Brooke came back out, I couldn’t even tell that she’d gotten ready in a Starbucks restroom. She looked as effortlessly perfect as she always did, and something in my belly fizzed with want. My crush on Brooke had been simmering for a while now, at least since the beginning of the school year, when we had started having classes together for the first time.

She slid into the seat opposite me and took the first sip of her coffee, clearly not noticing me staring at her.

‘Do you really think they were child protection people?’ Brooke asked, both hands wrapped around her cup.

I thought carefully about my answer, wanting to show her that I wasn’t just freaking out like some little kid.

‘Honestly? Yeah.’

She nodded quietly and looked back out the window. ‘Okay.’

‘I don’t know why else they would’ve sent two cars and all female officers. That’s what they do.’

‘Do you –’ she paused for a moment, still not looking at me, clearly trying to figure out a polite way to ask her question. ‘Have … first-hand experience? Of that?’

I huffed a laugh. ‘Yeah, Brooke. We’re old friends with CPS in our house.’

‘Oh.’

‘It’s not what you think.’ Or maybe it was. I didn’t know her well enough to guess what she was thinking. ‘It’s better now. We just had a few issues with my dad when I was younger.’

‘I see,’ she said, her voice totally neutral.

‘It’s okay, though.’ I’d learned that lie by repeating it so many times it had become true. ‘We worked it out.’

‘Okay,’ she said, nodding, wincing a little in sympathy. ‘So, the cell phones have to go.’

‘Fine by me.’

No one ever texted me. I mostly used my phone to keep up with K-pop news on Twitter and stalk celebrities on Instagram. Those were habits that I probably needed to break, anyway.

‘Credit cards too?’ she said, and it took me a moment to realize she was asking for my opinion.