“We don’t have a fenced yard,” Jayla says, like that matters. I feel like she would have found another way to send Peak outside even if they did.
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees, which I’m trying so hard not to bounce.
becoolbecoolbecoolbecoolbecool
“Is this where you give me the whole ‘if you hurt her, I’ll kill you’ speech?”
She sets down the lotion and looks at me, really looks at me, and I squirm a little in my seat. “No.”
“No?”
“No, I’m not going to give you the speech, because it doesn’t matter.”
“What do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter what I say. You’re still going to hurt her.” I start to protest, but she shakes her head. “It’s not a knock against you. Everybody hurts everybody, even if they don’t mean to. Especially if they don’t mean to.”
“Then why is she outside?”
She narrows her eyes. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” I snort. “But I’m trying.”
Her eyes flick down to my bouncing knee and then back to my face. “How messed up are you, exactly? Like very or just moderately?”
“Very,” I say. I should be offended, but I’m not. I’m sure Jubilee has told her things; I’m glad she has someone to talk to.
Jayla nods, like she expected that answer. Peak said there wasn’t a test, but there is, there always is.
“For whatever reason, Jubi is convinced that you’re worth the drama. If she thinks you’re this special, I doubt you totally suck. I’d like it if we didn’t hate being around each other, for Jubi’s sake. That’s all I wanted to say.”
My ears get warm, and I stare down at my socks, wiggling my toes to distract myself. “Thanks?” I am profoundly uncomfortable now.
“I don’t want to hug it out or anything, so don’t look so excited. And this lying-to-Vera stuff . . . I know how she feels about your family, but—”
But then Peak bursts through the door, the dog rushing in and jumping up on me with damp paws. “Oh. Everything’s okay?” She sounds surprised. I hate that.
I run my hand through Cooper’s fur as he wiggles in my lap. “Yeah, we’re just watching TV. What’d you expect?”
“I . . . don’t know,” she says, looking at Jayla and then back at me.
“All right.” Jayla grabs her phone. “Pizza?”
“Yeah, definitely,” I say. “I’m starving.”
Peak waits for Jayla to go hunt down a menu and then squats in front of me. “You sure you’re good?”
“Great,” I say, kissing her forehead until she all-out grins.
Another lie.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
PEAK: Are you ever going to tell me what Jayla said to you while I was out with Coop?
BATS: No, probably not.
PEAK: Rude.
BATS: I like your friends.
PEAK: I’m jealous. I want to meet yours!
BATS: So, you want to meet yourself?
PEAK: Ha ha. Funny. No, I want to meet your friends back in Seattle.
BATS: Awkward.
PEAK: ?
BATS:
PEAK: You’re so dramatic.
BATS: Yes. But you like it.
PEAK: Only very occasionally.
BATS: I’ll take it!
PEAK: Seriously though, tell me about them?
BATS: There’s not much to tell. I didn’t have a lot of friends before I left here, and I had even fewer in Seattle. I wasn’t ever in the same school long enough. There were kids who used me to get into Geekery events, a few random hookups . . . That’s about it.
PEAK: Wasn’t there anyone important?
BATS: One. But in retrospect, I don’t know if I’d say important. I thought he was at the time, but now . . . ?
PEAK: Oooh, tell me everything.
BATS: Not much to tell. Rich boy with daddy issues. Trying