“Three! Two!”

The girl lifted her arms to take her shot, her eyes focused on the basket as if Shannen weren’t even there.

“One!”

The shot went up. Shannen jumped. She reached. Time froze. And then, her fingertips just grazed the bottom of the ball, sending it sailing off the court.

“Yes!”

The timer buzzed, and the Orchard Hill bleachers emptied out onto the court, surrounding the team. Everyone was jumping up and down, hugging, screaming, crying. I was looking for Ally, hoping to congratulate her in the mayhem, when suddenly Shannen was in my arms.

“Did you see that?” she yelled.

“That was awesome!” I replied.

“We’re going to Jump, right? Did Hammond drive?” She slung her arm over my shoulders, tugging me through the crowd. Hammond had scored an Explorer for his birthday, so he pretty much drove everywhere now. He’d been worried he wasn’t going to get a car, but apparently his parents were selling their shore house after this summer to pay for his college, so now they felt like they had spending money again or something.

“Yeah. Let’s find everyone.”

My eyes scanned the gym, still looking for a glimpse of Ally. Finally I found her, standing over by the door, grinning at her mom. Dr. Nathanson and Quinn were over there too, Quinn bouncing around in her cheerleading uniform like a toddler on too much Kool-Aid. I guess the high of a big win canceled out whatever negative feelings she had about Ally. Then a couple of guys from the basketball team—Marshall Moss and Chad Lancaster—went over and gave Ally these big bear hugs. Marshall practically swallowed her into his varsity jacket even though she was covered in sweat. A lump rose up in my throat. What was that all about?

“Jealous?”

I blinked. “What?”

Shannen stood in front of me, her arms crossed over her jersey. “Want me to go invite her to Jump?” she asked sarcastically, nodding over her shoulder at Ally and her growing entourage. Her friend Annie was over there now too, plus Dorkus Drake, though he was hanging back looking pouty

“What? No. What are you talking about?” I said.

She rolled her eyes at me. “You so like her. Why don’t you just admit it already?”

“I was looking for Hammond and Chloe.” I spotted them standing next to the bleachers. “There they are. Let’s go.”

“Yeah. Sure you were. I have to hit the showers first,” Shannen said, clearly irritated. “I’ll catch up with you guys.”

I watched her jog toward the door, which also gave me a chance to check if Ally and Marshall were holding hands, or worse. But they weren’t. Which was good, at least. Ally turned and followed Shannen toward the locker room, and her family went out to the lobby to hover and wait—Marshall and the rest of them included. A surge of envy nearly knocked the wind out of me as Marshall yucked it up with Ally’s mom. Marshall and those guys got to be close to Ally—to help her celebrate after one of the biggest wins of the year. And I—just because of where I lived and who my friends were—couldn’t.

jake

“Where the hell are we going?”

“Have you learned nothing yet?” Shannen asked, turning around to walk backward so she could face me. “When I’m in charge, you don’t get to know till you know!” A freezing cold wind whipped her hair in front of her face. She and Faith giggled and walked ahead again, looping their arms together. Hammond cursed under his breath. I kicked black snow from the curb onto Fourteenth Street and got cursed at by some crazy dude on a bike.

It was fifteen below outside. No one should have been out in the city—on foot, on a bike, or at all. But for some reason, we had let Shannen talk us all into driving in and going to Paddy B’s, this one bar in the Village that Cresties had been going to since the dawn of time because they didn’t card. All of us except Chloe, who had some big family event tonight. I didn’t get what the big urge was to hit Paddy B’s all of a sudden. We’d been there before Christmas, and we could have gone again when it wasn’t cold as a witch’s butt cheek.

And now, after an hour of playing pool and drinking beer, we were out on the street again, following Shannen to do who knew what who knew where. Only the Idiot Twins had stayed behind at the bar, wanting to finish a game of darts with a couple of NYU dudes who had challenged them. We were supposed to swing back there and pick them up after we completed Shannen’s latest mission. Whatever it was.

Shannen and Faith suddenly stopped in front of a brightly lit window. They peered inside, clutching each other, standing on their toes.

“Holy shit. It’s him,” Shannen said.

Faith doubled over laughing. “Oh. My. God. Come on. Let’s go in!”

Hammond looked up from the turned-up collar of his coat. He stared at the sign, which read FIFTH AVENUE GOURMET.

“Oh, shit,” he said.

“What?”

But he was already following the girls through the door. Why couldn’t anyone answer me? I grabbed the still-closing door and tromped into the warm shop. Shannen had her cell phone out and was holding it up as if to take a picture as Faith strode up to the counter.

“Mr. Ryan?” Faith said with a gasp. “Oh my God! Is that you?”

My heart took a nosedive. Mr. Ryan? As in—?

The man behind the counter was tall, slim, graying, and stunned. He wore a white shirt, a stained black apron, and a matching visor. He was getting paler by the second. Ally’s father. I was looking at Ally’s father.

“Hello, Faith . . . Shannen. How are you girls?” He looked at Shannen, who was still holding up her phone. “Are you—is that a camera phone?”

“No,” Shannen said, waving her phone around. “I just can’t seem to get any bars in here.”

My fingers clenched into fists at my sides. Suddenly I realized what she was doing. She was taping this onto her video card. And he had no idea.

“Hi, Mr. Ryan,” Hammond said, walking up to the counter. “Sorry to surprise you like this. Shannen didn’t tell us where we were going,” he said through his teeth, staring Shannen down.

“What? I didn’t know he worked here,” Shannen said. Her acting was completely believable. “Do you actually work here?” she asked, training her phone on Mr. Ryan.

“Well . . . yes. I do. I have . . . for about a year now,” Mr. Ryan said, looking suspiciously at the phone. “Chloe’s father was kind enough to give me a job while I get back on my feet. I’ve been trying to get my old job back.”

“Yeah? And how’s that working out for ya?” Shannen said, leaning her elbow on the countertop and keeping the lens trained on him. “I mean, it’s gotta be tough after you cheated dozens of people out of, what, millions of dollars?”

His lips clamped together, and he looked like he was about to hurl. “It . . . it wasn’t like that,” he said. “It’s complicated. You kids couldn’t understand—”

“Well, why don’t you try explaining it to us?” Faith said snottily.

He slipped his visor off. Bowed his head. Mopped his brow with the back of his hand. “I . . . I didn’t . . . I never meant to . . .”

That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore. “All right. That’s enough.”

Shannen whirled around, surprised. It was like she’d forgotten I was there. I grabbed the phone out of her hand and exited camera mode.

“What’s your problem?” Shannen asked.

“Excuse us, sir,” I said, clamping my arm around Shannen’s shoulders. “We were just leaving.” I dragged Shannen out of there, feeling her tense under my arm.

“I just wanted to say thanks a lot, Mr. Ryan,” Faith said behind me. “If it wasn’t for you, my parents wouldn’t be getting divorced.”

Unbelievable. This was why we’d come into the city? To torture Ally’s dad?

“Faith, I’m so sorry,” he replied. “I didn’t—”

“Whatever.”

We were back out on the cold sidewalk, but my skin was so hot I didn’t feel the chill anymore.