He laughed at what was obviously a private joke between them. I wondered when they’d talked together and why Elise hadn’t told me about it.

He took his jacket out of the locker. “No, WSU still hasn’t made that into a major.”

She leaned up against the adjoining locker. “If I played you and won, would you do me a favor?”

He smiled at her. “That depends on the favor.”

I tried to catch Elise’s eye. I tried to tell her, using psychic vibes, not to mention anything about borrowing a car.

My psychic powers are woefully undeveloped.

By this time Chad had walked up. “You better find out how well she plays poker before you promise any favors. You’re not all that hard to beat, Card Sharky.”

Mike shut his locker door. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

Chad made a scoffing noise. “Like you could.”

“The favor isn’t for me,” Elise said, cutting into their ribbing. “It’s for Cassidy.” They all turned and looked at me. Ever so slightly, I shook my head at Elise.

“You see,” Elise went on, “Cassidy takes her driver’s test next week. She’s got it all down except for the parallel parking. She hasn’t been able to practice it because her parents are both Carparkaphobic.”

“Carpa what?” Mike asked.

I shook my head a bit more vigorously, but probably only managed to look like I had a nervous tick.

“Carparkaphobic,” Elise said, as though it were a real diagnosis. “That’s the fear of being trapped between cars. They got that way after they were in a terrible car accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was a horrible tragedy. They’ve never quite gotten over it, have they Cassidy?”

I gulped. “Uh, no.”

“Anyway,” Elise said, shifting her backpack on her shoulder, “we’re looking for drivers to help out on the get-Cassidy-her- license project.” She gave Chad her sly grin. “Care to volunteer?”

Chad raised an eyebrow at me. “So you’d like to go park with me?”

I knew I was turning bright red again. “Parallel park.”

He leaned closer. “The other kind is more fun.”

“But I don’t think it helps on your driver’s test.”

“I don’t know—a pretty girl like you—it might be a skill that comes in handy with your tester.”

Visions of Mr. Jensen came into my mind. “Oh yuck. The guy who tested me was about fifty years old.”

Chad cocked his head. “I thought you hadn’t taken the test yet.”

“Well . . . I took it. I just didn’t pass. He told me to work on my parking.” I quickly added, “My parallel parking.”

Chad laughed and I felt myself blush. Elise rolled her eyes.

“Right now we’ve got football practice,” Chad said, “but I’d be happy to park with you sometime, Cassidy.” He gave me a wink. “See you around.” Then both he and Mike walked away.

Elise waited until they were out of earshot, then let out a frustrated sigh. “Cassidy, why are you so uptight?”

“I’m not uptight. I’m nervous.” I looked the direction the guys had gone. “Do you think Chad thinks I’m uptight?”

“I think he thinks you’re an idiot.” She turned and headed down the hall, quick-paced. “Why did you keep emphasizing it was just parallel parking you were interested in? Haven’t you ever heard of flirting?”

I walked alongside Elise, matching her stride. “Yeah, but what if I had said, ‘Sure, I’d love to go park with you,’ and then he took me seriously?”

“Oh. That would be tragic.”

“I don’t want him to think I’m easy.”

“Cassidy, you’ve liked this guy for two years. That’s . . . ,” She reached into her backpack, took out her calculator, and pushed some of the buttons. “Let’s see . . .730 days, 17,520 hours, 1,051,200 minutes. Trust me, you could use a little more ease in your life.”

“What? You think I should be loose?”

“Not loose—looser, a little bit loose, as in loosen up.”

“I want him to respect me” I said.

“Well, keep doing what you’re doing. He’ll respect you. He won’t ever ask you out, but he’ll respect you.”

When we got to the parking lot, Josh was sitting in his car waiting for us. I was especially glad he hadn’t left us, since I wasn’t in the mood for a two-mile walk during which all Elise had to say was how stupid I was.

He started up the car as soon as he saw us. “Where have you been?”

“Out wasting time,” Elise said.

I opened the door to the backseat and climbed in. “We were talking to someone.”

“We were winning his undying respect,” Elise said.

“Elise thinks I need to be looser.”

Josh shook his head. “Try to be here on time tomorrow, all right?”

He drove for a few minutes in silence and then seemed to match the morning’s conversation with the present one. “You weren’t out asking guys to help you drive, were you?”

Elise sat back in her seat firmly. “As a matter of fact, we were.”

Josh winced. “Please tell me it wasn’t any of my friends.”

“We weren’t being geeky about it.” Elise shot me a look. “At least I wasn’t.”

I glared at her. “You’re the one who came up with the story about my parents having Carparkaphobia, not me.”

Josh threw his head back and groaned. “Please tell me it wasn’t anyone who knows you’re my sister.”

“Well, I didn’t start out the conversation by saying, ‘Hi, I’m Josh Benson’s sister.’ Although I may try that approach tomorrow.”

“All right,” he said. “You win. I’ll take you driving. Just promise me you’ll stop soliciting upperclassmen.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “And that goes for you too. If you really need to, I’ll practice parallel parking with you, but we do it in your car. Mine can’t handle many bike racks.”

I was too insulted by his whole attitude to be flattered by his offer. He might as well have told me he thought I was incompetent. “No thanks,” I said. “I think my parents are over their bout of Carparkaphobia.”

Elise shook her head and laughed, and once she’d laughed it did seem funny. That was the thing about Elise. You couldn’t take yourself too seriously when you were around her. She could make anything feel comical, harmless—even making a fool out of yourself in front of the guy you’ve liked for two years.

At that moment I was glad she was my friend. I thought she was happy and that things would go on the way they were. But by the end of the week, everything had changed.

Chapter 8

The next morning, I noticed right away that Elise was in a bad mood. When I climbed into the car, Elise barely did more than grunt a greeting at me. Josh had been texting someone while he waited for me to get in, and once he put his phone down, Elise picked it up.

She looked at the screen and scowled. “I can’t believe you’re texting the cheerleader.”

Josh pulled out onto the street. “Samantha texted me first. I’m being polite. That’s something you could practice once in awhile.”

She tossed his phone back on the seat. “If you marry her, your chances of having genetically boof-brained kids go way up.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” he said.

Elise turned and glared out the window.

My gaze went back and forth between them. I figured they were in some sort of fight, but then Josh glanced over at her and sighed. “It won’t be that bad.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re graduating in eight months.” She turned in her seat to face me. “Guess what my parents told us last night. Just guess.”

I felt a pinch of dread in my stomach. “You’re not moving again, are you?”

“No,” she said. “That would actually be better.” She leaned toward me to emphasize her point. “My mom is pregnant. With number seven. We’re barely making ends meet as it is, and they’re having another kid.” She sat back in her seat with a determined thud. “Well, I’m not babysitting it. They can find somebody else to be their slave labor.”

It stung that Elise had said moving would be better than having another sibling. I obviously relied on her friendship more than she relied on mine. I said the only thing I could think of to make her feel better. “I would come over to help you babysit, if you wanted.”