“Then . . . I’ll never give you any grief about your emoji usage,” Palmer said, raising an eyebrow. “You can use them to your heart’s content. But if you can’t, you can’t use any for the rest of the year.”

“You’re on,” Toby said, and Palmer held out her hand to shake.

“Witness?” Palmer asked, and Tom and Wyatt raised their hands. “Okay, Toby has agreed to text using only emojis for the rest of the summer. And if she can’t, no more emojis until next year. If she can, I never make fun of her again.”

“What did you just do?” Bri asked, staring at Toby. “And why are the stakes so low for Palmer?”

“It’s fine,” Toby said, though she was starting to look discomfited. “I can totally get what I need to say across to you guys. I mean, it might take some more work, but that’s why emojis are awesome.”

“Not just us,” Palmer said, shaking her head. “Nothing but emojis in all your texts to everyone.”

Toby paled—it was clear she hadn’t considered this. “Wait,” she said a little faintly. “You didn’t say that. Did you?”

“She did just say texts,” Tom said, though I wasn’t sure how much this meant, since he would have backed Palmer up in pretty much anything.

“Wyatt?” Toby asked, turning to him, looking more and more worried.

Wyatt shook his head. “Sorry,” he said. “Miss Palmer speaks the truth.”

“But . . .” Toby looked from me to Bri, like we hadn’t been trying to stop her a minute before. “How am I supposed to tell my mom I’m running late for dinner? Or ask someone to cover my shift at work?”

“Be creative,” Palmer said with a grin. “I mean, emojis can express whatever you need them to. Someone told me that.”

“Fine,” Toby snapped, like she hadn’t just agreed to these terms. “I can totally do this. Just watch.”

“I will,” Palmer said, “and don’t think we won’t be checking your phone to make sure you’re not cheating.”

“Andie,” Bri said, turning to me with the air of someone who knows that a subject change would be wise, “how was your date?”

“Oh, yeah, the date,” Tom said, turning to me and smiling wide. “So?”

“Ugh,” I said, as the earlier part of my night came back to me, and my friends’ expressions immediately changed from excited to sympathetic.

“Oh, no,” Palmer said, reaching out and giving my hand a squeeze. “Not Dogboy! I had high hopes for him.”

“Dogboy?” Wyatt asked.

“Yeah, well,” I said with a shrug. “One of those things.”

“Was it a bad date?” Bri asked, scooting closer to Palmer so that I could sit next to her.

“I didn’t think it was terrible,” I said, thinking back to the actual time spent at the restaurant. It would have been fine if Clark had gone along with any of my conversation suggestions. “But then when he drove me home . . .”

“Bad kisser?” Tom asked sympathetically.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “We didn’t even come close to that. He just had a really bad time.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Palmer said immediately.

“No, he did have a bad time,” I said. “He told me he did. Apparently, he was mad that I didn’t ask him anything about himself or tell him anything about me.” A moment after I’d said it, it was like I actually heard what I was saying. My friends looked back at me, slightly frozen expressions on everyone’s faces.

“Um . . . did you do that?” Bri asked, hesitation in her voice after a pause in which everyone had become very interested in the ground, or the contents of their cups. “Or . . . not do that?”

“I did what I always do on dates. He was just weird.”

“I think it sounds like he called you on that thing you do,” Palmer said, and Bri and Tom nodded knowingly.

“What thing?” Palmer, Tom, and Bri all took a breath at once, like they were preparing to detail just what was wrong with me, and I shook my head. I didn’t think I wanted to hear it, and anyway, I needed to get to work scoping out new prospects. I shook my head. “Never mind. Let’s talk about something else, okay?” I looked around the group, trying to think of anything that didn’t involve emoticons or my dating life. “Wyatt,” I said, feeling like he was the most neutral person here, as well as the one currently least likely to make fun of me, “are you here for the whole summer?”

“Three whole months,” he said, nodding. “I’m going to have to look into the job thing one of these days.”

“The coffee place next to the movie theater is hiring,” Bri said with a shrug. “I know, because every time I go in there to get lunch when I’m working, they ask if I want to apply.”

Tom frowned. “But aren’t you in uniform?”

Bri nodded. “Apparently, they think I wear a white shirt and bow tie every day.”

“It wouldn’t be the worst look on you,” Palmer said with a smile.

“Cool,” Wyatt said. “As long as I can get a discount, I’m happy.”

“Or, um, I could see if the museum is hiring,” Toby said, clearly trying to figure out what it was she normally did with her hands. “And then we could hang out.” She seemed to regret saying this almost immediately and looked down at the ground, her cheeks turning the same color as her Solo cup.