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Isa didn’t resist. She followed Mandy just as Mandy had followed Isa before—without question. Gravel crunched under her feet as she tugged her friend along, through an open gate to an expansive backyard, and ducked under a trampoline.

Mandy lay on her stomach waiting, listening to the nothingness in the night. It was as though the air itself were holding its collective breath for them. Mandy couldn’t even hear the rapid beat of her own heart. Then at last a vehicle drove past, and her pulse finally started to slow.

“That was close,” Isa whispered as she panted by Mandy’s side.

“Too close.”

“But so worth it.” Isa’s wide grin made Mandy smile.

There under the taut material of the trampoline, the cool grass tickled Mandy’s chin, and the crushing silence ended as a cacophony of crickets chirped. They had just TP’ed Brandon Martínez’s house, turning it into a winter wonderland of sorts. Mandy couldn’t help but imagine a toilet sitting on the lawn amid all the streams of toilet paper.

“I’m really sorry that happened to you.” Isa’s voice broke through the vision swirling in Mandy’s head.

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but”—Isa paused—“you didn’t deserve that. And one day you’ll find someone who likes you for you, not for anything you can give them or do for them. Because you are amazing, Mandy. You are so caring, and loving, and creative, and talented, and loyal, and I…I love you for real,” Isa said.

Mandy turned to her best friend. The girl who committed a misdemeanor and almost got caught with her and never blinked an eye. “I love you for real back.”

Mandy reached over and pulled Isa into a side squeeze—which was an awkward way to hug, but it did the job—then she flopped onto her back. Isa lay next to her. And there in the darkness, in the damp grass with the crickets chirping, Mandy interlaced their fingers and tried to find the stars through the underside of the trampoline.

Chapter Seven

May 2011

Mandy got up fromthe table, placed her black napkin on her chair, and smoothed down the front of her knee-length red dress. She had felt so powerful when she tried it on. Like stepping into a stronger version of herself.

“Fits like a glove,” the saleswoman had said.

“Don’t worry about the price.” Mom had her hands clasped over her heart.

But wearing it now in this fancy restaurant with chandeliers the size of small cars, surrounded by people wearing equally fancy clothes, all Mandy felt was exposed. Once she was out of her parents’ sight, she swerved left toward the bar instead of heading right to the bathroom. She needed a moment alone. The conversation she just had with Isa played in the back of her mind on repeat.

“One shot of tequila,” Mandy told the bartender.

“One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.” A handsomeman slid up next to Mandy, sipping on his own glass of dark amber liquor. “This is probably going to sound terrible, but that frown doesnotfit your face.”

He was right. It did sound terrible, and if Mandy hadn’t been questioning everything that had just happened with Isa, she probably would’ve told him so. But her brain was tired. Her heart was heavy. And she needed something to make her stop thinking about it. Thinking about Isa.

“Really,” she responded instead. “Whose face would it fit on?”

The man with dark brown skin and light brown eyes chuckled, showing off perfectly straight teeth just past full, luscious lips. He was well dressed in a suit expertly cut to fit his body—likely custom made. “Touché.”

The bartender slid Mandy’s drink toward her. “Should I add this to your table?” she asked.

“Put it on my tab,” the man said.

“Thank you.” Mandy raised her drink to him, and he clinked his glass against hers.

“What are we drinking to?”

That was a great question. Mandy should be celebrating—that was what today was all about, after all—but in that moment, there didn’t feel like muchtocelebrate. Everything seemed so daunting, and complicated, and…impossible. Was Mandy losing the one person who ever really meant anything to her? No. She couldn’t think about it. “To the unknown,” she landed on, not knowing what else to say.

“To the unknown.”

Mandy took the liquor down in one gulp, allowing it to burn a little before she carefully placed the lime between her lips andsucked. “Thanks again,” she said, and then she walked away from the gorgeous man, who on any other day she might have tried to flirt with. But not today.

The tequila didn’t take away the hurt Mandy felt under her ribs, but it was what she needed to plaster on a smile and return to her parents.