“I’ll always come if you want me to, Liss.” She gave another small smile and put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it briefly. Then she turned and left the library.

I thought I’d lost Ellen for good because of this feud. Because our boyfriends hated each other. But maybe, I realized, I could end the war and get a friend back at the same time. The thought made me smile.

Chloe eased up beside me. “You ready for AP Bio?”

“Sure,” I said, turning to face her. “Thanks, by the way. For agreeing to this.”

“Yeah. You owe me.”

“Well, at least the stupid fight will be over soon,” I said. “Won’t that make up for it?”

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Lissa, I couldn’t care less about the problems between the teams. I know it’s stupid, and I know it affects you, but it doesn’t really have an impact on me, since I’m not really committed to any of the boys.” She shrugged. “I didn’t do this to end the fighting. I did it because I know it’s important to you. And you’re important to me.”

I smiled. “Thank you, Chloe.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, picking up her messenger bag. “I also did it just to spite Kelsey, so it wasn’t totally selfless. I hate that bitch.”

I laughed.

“Come on,” she said. “Mr. Hall will flip his shit if we’re late.”

chapter six

That afternoon, as Chloe and I walked out to the student parking lot after last block, Randy jogged up behind us. “Hey, Lissa, hold up a sec.”

We stopped, and I turned to face him. “Yes?”

He came to a halt a few feet from me, looking momentarily confused. “Something wrong?” he asked. “You look upset.”

“It’s noth—ow!” Chloe had just elbowed me hard in the side, and now she gave me a stern look. I sighed. “Okay, fine. Yes, I’m a little upset, Randy.”

“Shit. What did I do?”

“Okay, my work here is done. I’ll give you two some privacy.” Chloe brushed past me and walked over to her convertible. I saw her climb onto the hood and pull her long legs up to her chest.

“So what’s wrong?” Randy asked. He was already dressed in his workout clothes for football practice.

I kicked at a small chunk of loose pavement, a little harder than I’d intended, and it skittered across the parking lot, colliding with a Dumpster a few feet away with a loud thud.

“Didn’t your mother teach you to use your words?” Randy joked.

I looked at him sharply.

“I—Sorry,” he said. “I know you don’t like to talk about… sorry.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Let’s rewind. What’s wrong? What did I do? Tell me.”

“Look,” I said, forcing the word out of my mouth. Chloe was right. I needed to open up and tell Randy how I felt. “It’s just… I’m not cool with being your…” My eyes stayed trained on my hands, where they wound and unwound in a steady rhythm near my waist. “Your booty call.”

“Booty call?”

“Last night,” I reminded him. “My room. You bribed me with flowers before ditching me. You were there; I’m sure you remember.”

Suddenly, the lightbulb clicked on over his head. “What? That? That wasn’t a booty call, babe. It’s only a booty call if you’re not with the girl. But we’re in love, so it’s cool.”

“Not to me,” I muttered. “It hurt. I felt used. I’m tired of you ditching me for this stupid fight, Randy. It really bothered me last night. It’s been bothering me for a while, actually.” I stared at my feet and shoved my hands in my pockets so I’d stop wringing them.

“Lissa…”

I looked up at him.

Randy shuffled his feet and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to feel that way. Can I make it up to you?”

“How?”

“Let me take you out Friday. Like, on a nice date.”

“Randy—”

“Seriously, Lissa. I mean it. Let me try again. Please?”

I sighed and shifted my weight from one foot to the other. “Well… okay.”

“Cool,” he said, leaning forward and kissing me on the cheek. “I’ll pick you up at seven, okay? Dress up. We’ll go somewhere nice. Mom is going to some work retreat this weekend, so we’ll have the house to ourselves if you want to come back to my place after.”

“Sounds good.”

“Great. Well, I have to get to practice. I’ll see you around.”

I let him give me a quick kiss on the lips before he ran back toward the double doors that led into the gym.

When he was gone, I turned and walked over to Chloe’s car. “Let’s go,” I said, smacking the hood of the black convertible. “I can’t be late for work.”

Chloe slid off the hood as I got into the passenger’s seat.

“Now, Lissa, was that so hard?” she asked.

“Yes… but I’m glad I did it. You were right; it is better for me to just be honest with him.”

“When am I ever wrong?”

“Well, there was that time last year when you attempted to convince me that Harrison Carlyle was straight by going up to him at The Nest and trying to—”

“Hey, hey!” Chloe raised a hand to silence me. “We do not talk about that night.” She sighed. “I should have known when he told me what kind of shampoo would help with my frizz.”

“So you can be wrong.”

“Rarely,” she said. “And I wasn’t wrong in this situation—so there.” She winked at me and laughed. “It’s good to know that my dreaded Hallmark moments do pay off.”

I rolled my eyes at her.

She started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, heading toward the Hamilton Public Library, where I shelved books every Tuesday and Thursday. Since I couldn’t afford a car and Randy had football practice, Chloe usually gave me a ride.

That’s how Chloe and I had started hanging out, actually. She heard me talking about needing a ride at the lunch table last year and volunteered to drive me. At first I was kind of nervous. I knew the rumors about Chloe, and I was sure being alone with her would be totally awkward. Like, her car would be full of condom wrappers or freaky sex toys or something. Not exactly the kind of girl I’d usually hang out with.

But I’d misjudged her. Chloe was shockingly normal. She listened to Top 40 radio, wanted to see the same movies I did, and, aside from a few empty bottles of Diet Coke on the floorboard, kept her car fairly clean. Nothing really set her apart from any of the other girls whose cars I’d ridden in. And, honestly, after talking to her during that first car ride, I’d realized how much I liked her. Chloe started driving me home or to work every afternoon, and within a few weeks, she was my new best friend.

“So Friday, huh?” she said as we sped past the Fifth Street movie rental with the top down and the radio blasting an old Backstreet Boys song.

It was ninety degrees outside, normal for late August, and I was already dreading the cooler days of autumn that would be coming all too soon.

“Were you eavesdropping?” I asked, unconsciously popping open the glove box the way I always did when I got in Chloe’s car.

“Of course I was… and will you get out of there?”

“I’m just looking for a CD.”

“No, you’re not. You’re alphabetizing them.” She reached over and swatted at my hand and, with a sigh, I shut the compartment. “So if the strike starts ASAP, it looks like your date will be interesting. Poor Randy. He’s got that empty house and everything.”

“We’ll still go to his house,” I said. “Maybe we’ll watch a movie or something.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s an alternative he’ll be thrilled with.” She laughed and grabbed a cigarette from a pack on the dash. “Shane wants me to come over to his place Friday night, too,” she said, lighting up and taking a drag. “I told him I’d love to, but the idiot isn’t going to know what hit him when I don’t give it up.”

“You could have just said no,” I told her. “You didn’t have to say you’d do it.”

“What’s the fun in that?” She took another drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke out between her pink-glossed lips.