I didn’t have to work on Friday, so I slept as late as humanly possible, hoping by the time I got up my mom and Gray would be out at some farmers’ market or art show or something. When I finally made myself sit up, I slid my phone off the bedside table and checked the texts. It was still there. The text from Jake. So I hadn’t imagined it.I rly am sry. Just wanted u 2 kno. Friends?I had yet to reply. Did he really want to be friends? Was that even possible? Did it even matter?I groaned and pulled a hoodie on over my tank top and shorts, then shoved the phone into the pocket. As I trudged downstairs, I realized I was out of luck in hoping my mother wasn’t home. I heard her laugh mix with someone else’s and closed my eyes. My head felt so heavy I thought it was going to drop off and roll across the floor. Sometimes sleeping late just makes me feel more tired than usual. What was up with that?At the bottom of the stairs, I stopped in my tracks. Shannen and her mother were sitting across the island from my mom. Well, Shannen’s mom was sitting. Shannen was more slumping so far down on her stool she was about to slide to the floor like a piece of overcooked spaghetti.“Ally! There you are!” My mother’s voice was all happy, but her smile was strained. Silent message: Don’t be a pill right now. Shannen, meanwhile, tried to bore a hole through the marble countertop with a concentrated glare. “Look who’s come down to visit for the weekend.”I glanced from Shannen, who would have been dead on sight if I had a gun or a bow and arrow or even a sizable spitball, to her mother, who had always been nice to me. Shannen’s mom had a short, black bob, dark eyes, and a perpetual good attitude. How she could have spawned Satan was beyond me. Except that her DNA had mixed with Shannen’s dad’s. He definitely had some Beelzebub in him.Of course, right now all I could think about in her presence was that her son—her pride and joy, the guy she hadn’t seen in more than two years—was living just fifteen minutes away. And I was the only one in the room who knew it. And it was really unfair. To both of us.“Hi, Mrs. Moore,” I said.“Hi, Ally.” Her tone was apologetic. Was she apologizing for surprising me, or for bringing my worst enemy with her? “Listen, we came down here in part because your mother and I think that it’s about time you two girls talk to each other.”I looked at my mother, who confirmed this with her hopeful expression. They had to be kidding. Why, in the name of all shattered high school friendships everywhere, would I ever speak to Shannen Moore again?“I’m sure that Shannen has a very good explanation for what she did.” Here, Mrs. Moore paused and looked at her daughter, who may as well have been a wax statue. “Although she’s yet to share that reason with me. But I know she’s sorry.”Yeah. She looked sorry. Really sorry.“Mom, I can’t do this right now,” I said.She opened her mouth, and suddenly my phone rang. I fumbled it from my pocket and saw Cooper’s name on the screen. My heart seized up, bringing a blush to my cheeks. I turned away from the kitchen.“Hello?”“Hey, it’s Cooper.”His voice sent a pleasant warmth zipping through me.“I’m downstairs in the truck and I’m thinking pizza. Wanna come?”I had never wanted to do anything more. Ever.“Yes! I’ll be down in two seconds.” I turned the phone off. “I gotta go.”“Ally,” my mother said.I was already halfway across the living room when I turned to walk backward. “Oh, hey! We’re still on for tomorrow, right? The city thing?”My mother hesitated at the topic change. “Yes. We’re still on, but Allyson . . .”I grabbed my wallet, which I’d thankfully left on the glass table next to the door.“Allyson Lauren Ryan.”Ugh. I stopped. I hated it when she used my middle name.“You cannot leave this house right now,” she said, storming toward me.“Mom! I can’t believe you did this,” I whispered furtively. “She’s, like, . . . I mean, she’s evil, mom. Pretty much everything bad that happened to me this year? It was her fault. This summer already sucks and now I get Shannen Moore shoved in my face?”My mother exhaled through her nose and crossed her arms over her chest. “I know it’s no excuse, but her family is going through a rough time. I’d really like you to talk to her.”“So her dad sucks. We all know this,” I said, glancing toward the open entryway to the kitchen. “That doesn’t mean she can be such a bit—”My mom’s eyes widened and I stopped. My face turned pink.“Well, you know she is,” I said, looking at the bamboo floor.“Ally, her parents are getting a divorce,” my mother said. “That’s why they’re here.”My heart lurched. Suddenly I felt bad for Shannen. I saw her get up and walk toward the fridge, checking her phone for texts.“They are?” I asked.“Yes. And they may be staying here for longer than a few days while things get . . . sorted out.”And the sympathy was gone. “What? Mom! Come on!”I brought my hand to my forehead, feeling desperate and angry and very trapped. Shannen was going to be living here? The person who had left our old lawn jockey on our front stoop, tricked me into breaking into the school pool and gotten me two weeks’ detention, and—oh yeah—showed the world a video of my wayward father working behind the counter at a deli while getting humiliated by a bunch of kids? That girl was going to be living down the hall from me? Who knew what she could get up to with such easy access to my room, my stuff, my life? Then a horn honked outside and I remembered. I wasn’t trapped. I had an escape vehicle right outside.“I gotta go,” I said, yanking the door open.“Ally,” my mother said, fed up.“Mom,” I replied, matching her tone.I bolted out the door and slammed right into Hammond’s broad, polo-shirted chest.“Hey,” he said. He cleared his throat, but didn’t move. Didn’t back up or move to the side or anything. “I came over to see Shannen. Bummer about her parents, huh?”“Yeah. Bummer,” I said flatly. “So, what? Faith’s not with you?”He looked confused. “No. Actually, I’ve barely seen her since last weekend. She might’ve gone home. I think you kind of crushed her, you know.”I felt a pang of guilt, remembering the look on her face at Charlie’s party, but quickly pushed it aside. Faith had been a psychotic bitch to me all year. I couldn’t feel guilty for blowing her off. And now I’d gotten what I wanted—one less person stalking me. Of course I’d be exchanging Faith for Shannen and I was definitely not sure about the merits of that deal.“Okay. Well. See ya!” I said with false enthusiasm. I stepped past him and jogged down the steps.“Wait, Ally!”“What?” I demanded, whirling on him.He walked down a few steps, standing over me, and shot Cooper a look. “What’re you so pissed about?”I rolled my eyes. “You know what, Hammond? If you don’t know, then I can’t help you.”Cooper waited with one hand on the wheel and one on the stick shift. I got in the truck, slammed the door with the telltale creak of a car that has lived its life in the salt air, and sighed.“That guy so wants to get in your pants,” he said by way of greeting.I did a double take. For a moment my thoughts fell on my phone and Jake’s text, but that made no sense. And Hammond was still watching us from the steps.“Who? Hammond?” I choked a laugh. “No.”But my face was purple. Cooper noticed this, and chuckled.“Yeah. Real convincing.”“Can we just go?” I asked.“Your wish is my command, Crestie Girl.”We lurched forward into a three-point turn, and I bit back a retort at his awful choice of nickname. He was, after all, driving the getaway car. But hadn’t he heard what I’d said that night? I was not a Crestie. I didn’t want anyone thinking I was. Especially not the guy who was supposed to be helping me forget them.