“I don’t want to be here,” she mumbled into his chest. “I just want to go home where people aren’t talking about me wherever I go.”

Jake glanced at me with a somewhat stricken expression. I nodded encouragingly, and he patted her back.

“It’s okay,” I said. “We’ve got your back.”

The second bell rang, and Jake gave me another quick hug before he rushed to his homeroom class. Ally and I went into our room and took our seats.

“I’m glad you guys are friends again,” she said after she lowered her backpack to the floor. “Did you kiss and make up?”

“Funny.” I narrowed my eyes and smirked. “No. I told him I was sorry for acting all stupid. We’ve called a truce.”

She raised her eyebrows, probably surprised that I apologized. I pretended not to notice and took out my phone to avoid inviting more questions about it.

Not that I really believed it would stop her.

Luck was on my side, though. Bianca swept into the room and made a beeline for her desk in front of mine. Her eyes were wide as she sat down and leaned over to talk to Ally. “Did you hear who Hunter was caught making out with in his car this morning?”

My head snapped up, and Ally’s mouth fell open.

“Not…?” she said.

Bianca shook her head, her expression solemn. “Not Kyle,” she said in hushed tones. “He was with Lila Bishop.”

I nearly fell out of my chair at the news. Ally paused for half a second before her eyes brimmed with tears. She crumpled into her seat.

“I don’t understand,” she said, covering her face with her hands. “Is it me? Because it feels like it’s me.”

With a long sigh, I reached into my backpack and tossed her a travel-sized pack of tissues. It only seemed to make her sobs louder though.

I’d never been so happy to hear Mr. Jorgensen’s call to order as the tardy bell rang.

Chapter Thirty-Three

It was easy for Jake and me to fall back into our old routine. Well, mostly, anyway. We didn’t hang out at lunch the following day because he’d said he needed to work on stuff he said wasn’t ready for me to hear, and our study session after school was interrupted by a constant barrage of text messages blowing up his phone.

“Why don’t you just set it to Do Not Disturb?” I suggested after his phone buzzed for what seemed like the fifteenth time. “We’re not going to get much biology done.”

“Can’t.” He glanced at his phone, tapped the screen, and set it aside. “Clover’s in freakout mode over some stuff.” It buzzed again, and he let out an irritated huff.

“What’s she stressing about?”

“Stupid stuff.” Another buzz, and he groaned. “I don’t have time for this!” He pushed away his phone without looking at it.

I searched for a positive spin. “At least she’s got you to help her through whatever it is, right?” I said, trying to sound upbeat. I was still getting used to the idea of Jake having a girlfriend and wanted to be supportive, but he threw me off when he rolled his eyes and muttered, “Yeah, I guess.”

That wasn’t at all the reaction I expected.

I frowned. “Is everything okay with you guys?” I really didn’t want to hear the answer, but it seemed like the right thing to say.

Jake seemed confused, though. “Huh?”

I was about to clarify my question when his phone buzzed again, this time a long, incessant buzz that meant someone was trying to call him. And from the look on his face, Jake wasn’t all too thrilled about it.

“What?” he barked into the phone. He got up from the table and began pacing in the adjoining living room.

I bent my head over my homework so it wouldn’t look like I was listening to his side of the call. He sounded annoyed. I watched while he marched around the room.

“Why are you telling me this? I can’t—” He stopped short and frowned as he listened. “Then talk to Gavin about it.” A pause. “But if he’s—” Another pause. “I don’t know. He was happy with the arrangement last time I talked to him.” He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, stopping midway to grab a fistful of it. “A couple of days ago.” He glanced at me, and I offered an encouraging smile. He pointed at his phone and made a face. “Look, talk to Gavin. Straighten whatever out with him. I don’t know what you expect me to—” He paused again. “Then have your dad deal with it. I have to go.”

“Clover?” I said when he returned to the table.

He held up his phone. “This is what I’m talking about. She’s freaking out and expecting me to fix stuff way out of my control.” He shook his head. “I swear, when she’s like this, she makes Ally look totally Zen.”

I smiled. It was hard to believe anyone could make Ally seem calm by comparison. And Clover had this unflappable aura that made it look like she had everything covered. A part of me was glad to know it was all a facade, after all.

“She’s cool and all,” he said as he flipped through his notebook,” but I’m going to be so glad when I don’t have to deal with her all the time.”

“What?” I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly. It seemed like an odd thing to say about his girlfriend.

“It’s like there’s all this constant pressure, you know?” He shrugged. “I’m just saying it’ll be nice to be able to do whatever I want again.”

“That’s kind of harsh.”

“Maybe,” he said. “But it’s true.”

I turned my attention back to my homework. Something about the way he was talking about Clover bothered me. It was as if he’d already set an end date for their relationship and had begun the countdown. Or maybe Clover had served her purpose, whatever it was, and Jake was ready to move on.

Was that how guys thought? Did they think girlfriends were like bags of chips with a “use by” date? I thought of Hunter and Ally, how Hunter probably would’ve strung Ally along forever. Dante wanted to be with Bianca as long as he could control her. And my own parents….

I wasn’t Clover’s biggest fan, and I still wasn’t thrilled with the idea of Jake going out with her, but at that moment I felt kind of sorry for her.

“Maybe that’s why you’re having trouble with that song,” I said quietly.

“Hmm?”

“That song,” I repeated. “I mean, it sounded like a love song, and if you don’t feel that way anymore….”

He scratched the back of his head and gave me a curious look. “What are you talking about?”

“Never mind.” My ears grew hot and I tugged at my hair to hide them.

I started to wonder if I needed to thank Clover for going out with him first. She may have saved me. I had a chance to see a side of Jake I wouldn’t have known otherwise. After all, I could’ve easily been the one he’d toss aside like a set of old guitar strings when he got bored or frustrated or whatever.

The thought of it made my stomach churn.

Though we didn’t talk about Clover after that, it was hard to fully concentrate on homework. I gave up on biology, unsuccessfully attempted history, and bailed on English altogether after a while. I caught myself rereading paragraphs without understanding them. Images of Clover fighting back tears kept invading my thoughts. I stopped trying to work just before five o’clock and closed my books.

“I can’t concentrate,” I admitted.

He looked up, concern lining his brow. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I lied as I packed up my stuff. “I’ve got this killer headache, and it’s kind of, I don’t know.”

“Maybe you’re dehydrated?”

I forced a smile. “Maybe.”

“Let me get my shoes on, and I’ll walk you out,” he said, getting to his feet, but I zipped up my backpack and shook my head.

“No, it’s cool. I’ll text you when I get home.”

He paused. “Okay.”

I hoisted my backpack onto my shoulders, and Jake followed me to the door anyway. He opened his arms for a hug, and I hesitated. A quick escape was the best course of action, but I couldn’t figure out how to sidestep him altogether without weirdifying everything again.