“I could help you fix it up,” he offers, sliding his hands into the pockets. “Your dad and I were supposed to start at the beginning of this year, but we . . . We never got around to it.”

I shove down the pain rising in my throat as I stand back up. “Yeah, I’d like that. Thanks, Uncle Nate.”

“No problem. I’m happy to help. Just promise me that you’ll think about it before you sell it.”

“I promise.” I wave good-bye then slide into the driver’s seat.

I try to focus on the positive side of having a car again as I pull into the busy school parking lot. I wish I was running late because I know it’s going to draw attention.

“What the hell happened to your truck?” Logan appears by the door the moment I climb out of the car.

“I traded it in for this,” I lie as I grab my bag from the back seat.

He cringes at the nails-on-chalkboard noise the door makes as I push it closed. “That’s seriously your car now?”

“What? It’s a classic,” I say like I know what I’m talking about. Really, I’m just repeating Uncle Nate’s words.

“Classic means old, and old stuff is usually a piece of shit,” he sneers, picking at a small section of paint that’s left.

I push him away from the car. “Don’t touch the car, man, unless you’re going to be nice.”

“Oh, come on, Grey.” He shoves me back. “You act like you actually like this car or something.”

“You know what? I kind of do,” I tell him truthfully. I knew it the moment I saw it, dings and all. Turns out, I’m a classic car kind of guy, just like my dad was when he was my age, at least according to Nate.

Logan gapes at me like I’ve lost my damn mind. “What the hell is going on with you? I mean, you spend all summer blowing everyone off, and then you come back to school and barely speak to anyone. It’s like you think you’re better than everybody now.”

“I don’t think that at all.”

“Then what the fuck’s going on with you?”

I picture telling him about my promise to become a better person and see him laughing in my face in response.

“I have to get to class.” I sidestep around him and head toward the sidewalk.

“Piper thinks you’re acting weird, too.” He follows me. “She spent, like, an hour last night yapping my ear off about it.”

“I’m glad you two are getting along.” I scan the grass area, the benches, and the trees for a certain brown-haired girl with really big eyes. I desperately want to talk to Luna so I can tell her I’m okay with what she told me yesterday.

“So that doesn’t bother you?” Logan questions as we reach the sidewalk.

“Does what bother me?” I ask when I spot Luna and her friend Ari crossing the parking lot. She’s wearing an oversized, bright orange hoodie that looks big enough to fit me, along with a pair of loose khakis. Her hair is down and wavy, and she doesn’t have a drop of makeup on.

As I’m openly staring at her, she laughs at something Ari says, and it makes me smile.

“Dude, are you checking out Luna Harvey?” Logan asks, sounding appalled.

I realize that I’ve stopped walking and that he’s watching me. My first instinct is to say no, but I find myself glancing at my car parked in a sea of nearly brand new vehicles.

“So what if I am?”

“You’ve got to be shitting me.” He shakes his head. “So, is it the baggy as shit clothes that turn you on? Is that part of your new”—he waves his hand at my car—“whatever the hell you want to call what’s going on with you?”

“She doesn’t dress like that all the time,” I growl. “And who cares if she does? She’s still a person, which is more than I can say for you.”

“You think I give a shit about being nice?” He laughs in my face. “Girls don’t want nice guys, man.”

I clench my hands into fists to stop myself from punching him in the face. “Just drop this, okay? It’s none of your damn business what I do or who I’m checking out.”

“You know she’ll never put out for you, right? Girls like that don’t.” He glances in Luna’s direction and shakes his head before looking back at me. “Do yourself a favor; go find Piper, say you’re sorry, and let her fuck some sense back into you.”

“Why would I apologize to Piper?”

“For blowing her off yesterday.”

“I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about,” I say. “I didn’t blow her off.”

“She thinks you did, so just say you’re sorry; otherwise, she’s going to dump your sorry ass and look for something better.” He grins as he points at himself. “Someone like me.”

I open my mouth to fire back a comeback, but Luna and Ari pass by us, and my attention travels from Logan to Luna. Her eyes pop wide the second she sees me. Then she grasps Ari’s sleeve and hurries toward the school.

I swing around from Logan and chase after her.

“What the hell are you doing?” Logan yells. “You’ve freakin’ lost your mind!”

I blow him off and continue jogging after Luna.

“Luna! I need to talk to you.”

Ari glances over his shoulder at me with his brows dipped before he looks back at Luna and whispers something to her. The two of them keep power-walking toward the school as she says something back to him, and he responds with a stern look. Huffing with frustration, she slows to a stop and waits for me to catch up.

“Hey,” I say as I reach her.

“Hey,” she replies, still clutching Ari’s arm.

“Hey,” I tell Ari as I slide the strap of my backpack that my mom fixed last night higher on my shoulder.

Ari looks from her to me then shifts his weight. “Um, hey.”

Silence stretches between us until Luna finally cracks a tiny smile.

“That was a lot of awkward heys in ten seconds time,” she says amusedly.

I smile. “It kind of was, wasn’t it?”

Ari snorts a laugh. “I think we might’ve broken a record.”

“Well, we are good at being super awkward.” She playfully nudges her shoulder against his.

“We were gifted with the awkward gene,” he replies, grinning at her.

Again, I find myself both intimidated and jealous of Luna and her friends and how comfortable they are together. I briefly felt a momentary comfortableness yesterday when we talked, and I wish I could experience it all over again. And again. And again.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” I ask Luna, sounding more nervous than I normally do.

“About what?” She seems equally as nervous.

“About what happened yesterday . . .” And I want to apologize to you, but not in front of Ari. I want to be alone so I can make sure to do it right, to say everything I need to say.

Luna fiddles with a bracelet on her wrist. “I don’t know if there’s really anything to talk about.”

“I think there is.” I inch toward her and lower my voice. “I think we need to talk about a lot of stuff.”

Ari clears his throat. “I have to stop by Mr. Belsteron’s classroom this morning,” he tells Luna. “I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”

Luna tenses as he backs away from her. “Can’t you wait, like, five minutes?”

“You’ll be okay.” He casts a glance in my direction, and I detect the faintest bit of a warning in his eyes. “You better be, anyway.”

Ari is a timid guy who’s never gotten into any fights that I know of, not even verbal ones, so I’m shocked he has the balls to threaten me. I think I might respect him for it, too.

Luna watches him go until he vanishes into the school. Her shoulders rise and fall as she inhales and exhales before she turns and faces me. “Before you say anything, I just want to say that I’m sorry.”

Wasn’t that my line?

“Sorry for what?”

“For running off . . . for not thanking you for helping me get home in time . . . for blowing the tutoring thing off . . .” She slips her hands into the front pocket of her hoodie. “For lying to you and letting you think I was poor and that I needed all that stuff I took from Benny’s.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m sure you have your reasons for why you did what you did. And I’m the one who should be saying sorry, anyway.”