"Hey. I brought you some dinner." Rhiannon slips into our bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Since the school day ended earlier, none of my sisters have been up to see me. It’s not the kind of thing that happens by accident, so they all heard what happened. They’ve been giving me my space.

I‘ve been on my computer for the last five hours—playing as Kinsey, my level-seventy Wood Elf Witch in City of Ages. Being her makes it a little easier to forget about being me. At this point, I wish I could step through the screen and stop being myself entirely.

When Nadine logged on, I told her all about what happened. Failing miserably to laugh the whole thing off, I brought myself to tears all over again as I gave her the play by play of everything that happened.

At least I didn’t have to sit through dinner with our parents asking all of us a million questions about our first day. If we had a good day, what our teachers are like and what we think of the other students.

It’s awful., the teachers are miserable old assholes, and everyone hates me. Not exactly the report they were looking for, but it’s the best one I’ve got.

"Thanks," I say, before pushing my keyboard out of the way to make room for my plate.

I expect Rhiannon to put the food down and leave me to my solitude, instead, she sits on the bed beside me.

"Not really in the mood to chat." I keep my face purposefully composed, but Rhiannon doesn’t even seem to notice. She stays put, sitting and waiting for me to crack first. "Seriously. I assume you heard about the note in Biology, I don’t want to talk about it. At all. Ever. I’m an idiot."

"It’s not that bad, Ray."

"Not that bad? I insulted everyone who has been remotely nice or interested in us—publicly. I just permanently killed my own social life in Fairview, now everyone probably figures we’re all snobs who think we’re a big deal and the center of the universe. Best first impression ever."

"Okay, it sucks. Maybe we could have saved the theatrics until everyone got to know us all a little better, but something like this was bound to happen with people watching us like this. To hell with anyone who says you’re full of shit and that no one cares about the Fairview Four, because they are watching us that closely, and it is creepy. But you probably didn’t need to say it out loud."

"Thanks," I mumble. "I feel much better now."

"Let me finish. I promise everyone will get over it. Probably faster than you’d think. This is the same old drama that happened at Ashmore, but now, you’re the one getting the brunt of it."

"Except everyone in Fairview was already watching our every move. Now, everyone in that class is at home, telling their parents what happened. And then they’ll tell their friends, who will tell the people they work with, and then everyone in town will assume we’re awful and Mom will lose her job and…" I’ve run out of steam with this particular worst-case scenario, but there are a dozen more I’ve been playing through in my head.

"You might be overthinking this," Rhiannon says with only a hint of a smile in her expression.

For the first time today, I consider that I am. Rhi isn’t one to try to make people feel better. She tells you what is on her mind and doesn’t waste time pulling punches. Sarcasm is a different story, but there’s never any question of what Rhiannon is trying to say. At least until recently.

"Really? You don’t think people will still be talking about this—about me—tomorrow?"

"Oh, no, they totally will be. But the day after that, a few less people will be talking about that, and a week later, no one will even care anymore. It’s cliché, but it’s cliché for a reason. As for Mom, they begged her to take this job. They aren’t going to take it back over some high school drama."

"Okay, so I find a way to avoid going back for a week or so?"

"Mom and Dad will absolutely go for that plan. School? Pah! Not that important."

There’s the sarcasm.

"Do you think they’ve heard yet about what happened? They might take pity on me."

"Well, seeing as Reece gave them all the gory details at dinner, I’m going to say yes, they’ve probably heard about what happened."

I throw my head back, letting it smack against the back of my computer chair as I groan. Why is this my life?

"Well, I’m voting no on the whole ‘you skipping a week of school’ thing anyway," she adds. "I went through the entire day barely talking to anyone besides Reece at lunch. You and I were supposed to have a class together, instead, I ended up having to sit by myself in all four of my classes for this semester."

I’d never say it out loud, but I’m not surprised Rhiannon didn’t talk to many people today—in spite of all the extra attention our family has been getting. She has this vibe about her that warns people off, and her expression is always dead serious. For people who don’t know her, it can still be kind of intimidating.

For people who have known her for her entire life, it can be kind of intimidating.

"You like sitting by yourself," I point out. Rhiannon means business when it comes to school, getting annoyed with anyone who tries to distract her in class since she was eight.

But I feel bad anyway. I’m not the only Donovan sister who’s most comfortable keeping to herself. I get how important it can be to have someone who you know isn’t silently judging you.

Now I’m a moron who doesn’t know when to keep her thoughts to herself, and a crappy sister.

"Fine," I throw my hands up in defeat. "I’ll be there tomorrow." It’s not like I ever really had a choice in the matter. "So, tell me about it… What did I miss? Was it pretty much like any other math class ever?"

"Too early to tell," she says. "I’m getting the impression that all of our classes here are going to be easier than the ones at Ashmore."

"It’s a little sick that you seem disappointed at that."

"Shut up." Rhiannon reaches over and pelts me with one of my throw pillows, narrowly missing my dinner, which I still haven’t touched.

"When I got to class, there were only two seats left together, against the wall in the back. Since you never showed, some random guy ended up sitting beside me. He didn’t seem to get the hint that I wasn’t interested in talking or hearing all about how… never mind. It’s stupid."

"By any chance, was a guy with a green streak in his hair there?"

"Um. I don’t think so. Why?"

Hope falls flat into the pit of my stomach. "Never mind. It was random. Where’s my seat? There had to have been at least one left since I wasn’t there."

"Two rows up."

"Trade with me," I offer. "You know you’d rather be sitting closer to the front, I’d rather be the one hiding in the back—even if that means finding new and creative ways to avoid overly chatty people. Also, I’m your favorite sister and you want me to be happy."

After the day I’ve had, I guess I’ll be going out of my way to hide out in the back of any and all classrooms from here on out. If Rhiannon can help give me a head start, then I’m all for it.

"You make a compelling argument," she says, laughing. Her smile looks just like our dad’s, whereas Reece, Reilly, and I smile more like, well, each other.

"This will sound incredibly cheesy," I warn her, "But it’s kind of nice to see you like this again. You were so pissed for so long, so I wasn’t sure if you’d ever get back to normal. Not that normal you smiles that much either."

At first, she scowls at me, but the expression quickly melts back into a grin. "I know," Rhiannon says. I’m glad I didn’t send her spiraling back into miserable-bitch mode. "I’m getting there. There was just so much going on that you guys didn’t know about."

My eyes widen a little before I can stop myself. There’s news, and I want to hear it.

"What is it then?" I try to keep my tone casual, but this is the first thing all night that has truly taken my mind off what happened. There’s a chance that pity alone will be enough to get her to start talking.

We’ve all asked Rhiannon about what has been up with her, and as soon as we do, she clams up, making it clear the conversation is over. Maybe, if I don’t make a big deal out of how she’s been acting these past weeks, she’ll open up. Either that, or she’ll do it to take my mind off my own personal misery.

Is it wrong to hope for that? Probably.

Rhi takes a deep breath, and I have no idea if she’s bracing herself to explain everything she’s been going through, or about to tell me to fuck off and mind my own business. I’m prepared for either.

"You swear you won’t go blabbing this to anyone else?" she asks.

I can barely wrap my head around what I’m hearing. My first instinct is to squeal, pinkie swear, and promise to do whatever she wants if she’ll just tell me all her secrets. That would be the wrong approach—Rhiannon is like a baby deer, always skittish and overly cautious. Anything could scare her off.

Honestly, I’m surprised it isn’t Reece she decided to confide in. Reece has a code, and she’ll never tell on one of her sisters or share any of our secrets without permission no matter how many times the rest of us screw up on that particular note.

"Of course," I nod solemnly.

"There was this guy." She pauses, considering her words. "There is this guy. I met him three weeks before Mom told us we were moving, at that art festival I went to. You remember—the one I had to go to on my own because Reilly was sick and you guys wouldn’t go with me."

A guy. All this time, it’s been a guy she’s been pining for.

I think my mind may have just exploded or I’ve somehow been teleported to a bizarre alternate dimension.

I swallow hard and try to come up with something to say. The last thing I expected was for Rhiannon to confess to anything to do with dating or guys. She’s never shown interest in anything like that—guys, girls, dating, serious relationships, none of it. Though now I understand why it isn’t Reece she’s talking to. Even a hint of Rhiannon’s dating would have our most romantically inclined sister dancing around like a moron, teasing Rhiannon behind the rest of our backs. She’d never hear the end of it until Reece had somehow taken over Rhi’s entire relationship somehow. Which is, I’m fairly certain, the last thing Rhiannon would ever want.

For a full minute, Rhiannon says nothing. Eventually I can't take it anymore.

"Tell me about him," I prompt. "Who is he? What’s he like? Are you guys still together even though..?"

"Yes. We're still together." Her tone is harsher than I’m expecting. "Just because we don't live in Richmond anymore doesn't mean we're not together. We still text almost every day, and we keep trying to Skype each other, but our schedules never match up."

My plan hadn’t been to put her on the defensive, and I'm not sure how to undo the damage now. "Okay... I'm trying to be chill about this, but you're killing me here. What's his name? You can at least give me that!"

"Derrick," she says and then cracks a smile. It's the most genuinely happy I've seen her look in a month. "He's a student at VSU. He writes music and works at an auto shop."

"Wait, what? How old is this guy?"

"Only two years older than us."

I nod and smile, stalling for time until I can come up with a response. Our parents have strict rules about who Reece can date, but that’s because Reece would date pretty much anyone. The topic has never come up with me, and as far as I know, they haven’t broached it with Rhiannon either. Yet, I’m somehow still confident they wouldn’t be all that excited about her having a secret boyfriend who is already in college.

"Why didn’t we ever meet this mystery guy? Derrick." My voice comes out dull and lifeless. I should try and make it sound like I’m teasing her or something, but I can’t. It’s hard to process any of this. Rhiannon has a secret boyfriend. An older, secret boyfriend. An older, secret boyfriend whose existence has been making her miserable for weeks already. I did not see any of this coming.

No part of me ever would have pegged Rhi for the type to become this obsessed over a guy, but I guess that, if it were me, I’d do the same thing. I can’t imagine finally finding someone, then being forced away from them a few weeks later with almost no notice. Leaving him behind must have been awful, it’s hard not to wish she had told us so we could help her if possible.

"We were waiting until after our birthday," she says. "Because of the age difference thing. But then Mom told us about the move. Everything got messed up so we never got the chance."

We turn fifteen in four days, something we all always assumed we’d be doing in Richmond.

I pick at my food as Rhiannon continues to tell me about Derrick, though the details all stay weirdly vague. She doesn’t tell me where their first date was, how far they’ve gone, anything like that, but the tone in her voice tells me he’s seriously important to her. Even now, two weeks since they’ve seen each other, he’s there at the forefront of her mind—a place usually reserved for boring stuff like classes and extracurricular activities that will benefit her college applications. I’ve never seen this side of my sister before. I’m not sure what to make of it.

I wish I could talk to Reilly, or even Reece about what has been going on with her. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do for her to make this better-- to make it hurt less that she has to be apart from this guy I’ve never met.

Rhi needs to see that Mom isn’t the enemy here. Now I can finally understand why she’s been so incredibly, relentlessly angry. I can’t see a way to fix any of it.

But, I keep my mouth shut both with Rhiannon during dinner, and when I bump into Reece in the bathroom that night. I desperately want to say something, but it’s not my secret to share.