3

About an hour later, my brother and I were sprawled on the sectional couch doing homework in our sweats when Charlie and Mindy walked in.

They wore matching Templeton Varsity sweatshirts, a testament to their cheerleader status, not to mention the awesomeness of Charlie’s parents. Technically, she belonged at Herring Cross High with me, at least according to planning and zoning in Herring Cross, Pennsylvania. But she’d been one of the few students from our region to test into Templeton’s elite Hartley Honors program, and even though they had to pay to send her to an out-of-district school, Mr. and Mrs. Reiser had ponied up without hesitation.

When I’d broached the subject of attending Templeton to my parents, strictly out of curiosity, my dad had belly laughed and said, “Repeat after me: free is the way to be.” That had been the end of that discussion, even though I applied to the honors program anyway and got accepted.

Four years in a row.

“Hey, Charlotte,” Nick said, propping himself up on his elbow and flashing a grin. Then, because he loved to give Mindy a hard time, grumbled a cursory, “Kishore.”

“Nicholas,” Charlie drawled back. “You’re looking dreamy today.”

Nick’s crush on Charlie was the most obvious thing in the world, but I could never tell if Charlie actually enjoyed flirting with my brother or if she got a rise out of seeing the giant dope it turned him into. I opted to believe the latter, because thinking about my best friend coming on to my younger sibling kind of grossed me out.

I reached over and pushed Nick’s head. “He looks like an ape, same as every other day.”

Nick shoved me back. “You look like a dog-faced beast and have the breath to match.”

“Hey, don’t talk that way about my hero.” Charlie flopped onto a free cushion while Mindy squeezed in next to her. “Your sister saved me from making a whale-sized ass out of myself, or didn’t she tell you?”

“The only one who’s a whale-sized ass is a guy who’d cheat on you.”

Mindy groaned and I rolled my eyes. “Nice one, Slick.”

“Um, speaking of asses?” Mindy said, sitting up straighter and fixing a razor-sharp stare on me. “You know Kendall Keene?”

I pushed my books aside and sat cross-legged on the cushion. “We were friends a long time ago. I take it you’re not a fan?” So much for the idea of all of us hanging out sometime.

“How could you be friends with her?” The pitch of Mindy’s voice rose so fast that I half expected my mom’s china to start shattering in the dining room hutch. “I almost died when she got put in the group with us. I don’t think she knows other people are even in the room half the time because she’s so in love with herself.”

I opened my mouth to divert, my normal course of action when Mindy’s snobby switch flipped to activate—especially since it seemed to feed an ugly side of Charlie’s personality that I hadn’t thought existed and was more than happy to keep dormant. Except I wasn’t fast enough, and Charlie chimed in before I got the chance.

“She eats lunch with a mirror propped up on the table in case she gets crumbs on her face. Like that’s not why napkins were invented.”

“And she threw the hugest tantrum when she thought there was no room for her in the honors program,” Mindy added.

“Wait a minute. Are you talking about Kendall as in Kendall’s-a-Shitty-Friendall?” Nick asked incredulously.

Charlie burst out laughing. “Is that what you call her?”

“She’s back,” I confirmed, shooting Nick a look. “And that’s what he calls her. But she seemed perfectly nice when I talked to her today.”

Mindy snorted. “Yeah, she’s fine until you beat her on a test. And don’t bother trying to hide your grade; you have a better chance of smuggling the freaking Precious past Mordor.”

“I know, I know, she has a competitive streak. But think of it this way—you’re pretty much guaranteed an A on your history project.”

“Forget history.” Mindy collapsed against the backrest and started swiping through her cell phone. “I need all the help I can get with chem. Mrs. Pace is such a bitch.”

“Anyone thirsty?” Charlie asked, shooting off the couch. “I’ll get some root beers.”

I appreciated her effort, but it didn’t stop me from wincing. Mrs. Pace, the chemistry teacher at Templeton High, also happened to be my ex-boyfriend Jordan’s mother. It was hard enough to keep my mind off him without direct mention of his name, but Charlie’s disappointment in Jason had hit a very familiar nerve in me, and my brain was taking way too many detours into Jordanville as a result. And Charlie knew it.

“I’ll get them.” Nick stood up. “Sit down, Char.”

“Aw, you’re sweet.”

She threw a pillow at his butt as he left the room and Mindy teasingly called, “I could go for a sandwich!”

I eyed Charlie. She’d slumped into the couch as soon as Nick was out of sight, and the corners of her mouth had settled into a frown. Mentioning Jordan must’ve reminded her of her own cheater. As the bearer of bad news, I felt guilty all over again.

“How are you today, Char?”

One shoulder lifted slightly. “Eh, I’m okay. I’m so over it. Sort of.”

Total lie. Cue another rush of guilt. “Are you mad at me?”

Charlie’s dark eyebrows drew together. “Why would I be mad at you? You did me a favor.”

“A favor you never asked for. You know I never wanted to hurt you, right?”

“Of course she knows!” Mindy squawked. “If you really wanted to ruin her life, you could’ve kept your mouth shut and let her sleep with the asshole.”

I gasped. “Oh my God. Were you going to?” Charlie had never been the kiss-and-tell type, but since she’d barely copped to dating the guy, this was news. To say the least.

“Were you going to?” Mindy echoed. “More like, did you?”

“No!” Charlie tucked a strand of hair behind her reddened ear and shrank against her seat. “Jesus, Min, way to give everyone a coronary.”

“Speaking of coronaries.” A heart problem reference was a weak segue at best, but Charlie was withering in the heat of the sex spotlight, so it would have to do. I pulled my book bag off the floor and dug around inside. “I have something for you.”

Charlie gave me a quizzical look as I reached out, extending the heart pin I’d made in my open palm. A smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she took it, running her thumb over the sparkling red and black stripes. “I love it. Thank you.” Her fist closed around the pin. “For everything.”

“Hey,” Mindy said, poking Charlie’s arm. “We have something for her too, remember?”

“Oh, right!” Charlie bent to retrieve her own bag on the floor, then handed me a photocopied piece of paper from inside it. “Our English teacher gave this out today. You were the first person we thought of.”

“Story Break Magazine’s High School Essay Contest,” I read aloud. “Topic: For Love of the News: How Far Would You Go to Get the Story?”

“They want nonfiction,” Mindy said, twirling her black hair around her finger. “You scaled a freaking house to catch a cheater. You’d be a shoo-in for an award.”

“Are you kidding?” I held up the piece of paper. “This is a journalism contest—”

“The subject you’re going to study in college,” Charlie cut in.

“They’re looking for kids who went to foreign countries and did relief work or…or stopped a bank from getting robbed,” I sputtered, ignoring her comment. “Not tales from Marisa Palmera’s Idiot Files.”

Mindy raised an eyebrow, unfazed. “Did you see the prizes?”

I scanned the paper again, and my mouth dropped. First, second, and third prize were all scholarships—for $2,500, $1,000, and $500.

“We thought you’d like that part,” Charlie said smugly.

Hell yeah I liked that part. Shopping for a college education on my parents’ budget was proving to be way more torturous than trying to barter for my choice of high school had ever been.

“I’ll think about it,” I mumbled.

“Think about what?” Nick asked as he reentered the room with an armful of soda cans and—to my surprise—a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a paper plate.

“About changing her name to Marisa Palmera, Private Eye,” Charlie answered, helping him pass out the drinks. “It has a pretty badass ring to it. Don’t you think?”

Nick peered over my shoulder and snatched the flyer from my hand. “What would you write about? How you once took a job in the school cafeteria to see if they were putting pink slime in the food?”

“Did you want to eat that shit?” I grabbed for the paper, but he held it out of reach.

“Or maybe you could tell them about how you hid outside Mr. Hastings’s classroom for two hours to find out if he was having an affair with Miss O’Donnell,” Nick added.

“Mrs. Hastings used to babysit us! I had to know!”

“No way,” Mindy garbled through a mouthful of peanut butter. “She’s totally writing about how she busted creepo Jason.”

Nick snorted. “Funny how Lois Lane Junior never felt the need to check up on Jordan Pace, or she might’ve dumped him instead of the other way around.”

I jabbed at his stomach and snatched the paper from him when he doubled over. “Or maybe I won’t write anything for the contest, because my days of channeling Nancy Drew are definitely over.”

My phone started to ring in my bag, and I took the opportunity to shove the flyer inside while I pulled my cell out. When I saw the screen lit up with Kendall’s name, my stomach fluttered a little. When a smile tugged at the corner of my mouth, I was shocked to realize the feeling was excitement.

I threw a “be right back” over my shoulder and darted up the stairs to my bedroom. As soon as I closed my door, I connected the call.

“Hey,” I said. “You’ll never guess what I was looking at earlier.” The contents of my memory box from our trip were still scattered across my bed. I sat down and picked up a smooth, fan-shaped shell, eager to share my nostalgia.

But before I could say another word, Kendall cut in. “Marisa, I’m sorry to bother you while Charlie and Mindy are over, but do you think you can get away for a second?”

“I’m already alone in my roo—wait, how did you know they’re here?”

“I really need your help. Can you come outside? I’ll explain everything.”

I shot off my bed. “You’re at my house?” I hurried to my parents’ room, the closest spot with a view of the street. Sure enough, a black Volkswagen sat at the curb in front of our house. “Kendall, what kind of help are we talking about here?”

Kendall sighed. “The same kind you gave Charlie.”

And that’s when the bubble of positivity I’d been floating in since reconnecting with Kendall Keene in the parking lot burst like a microwaved marshmallow all over the room.