“It wasn’t like that,” I say.

“Who else knows?” She looks at Toby. “Mom and Dad? The neighbors? Who?”

“Apparently, Mr. Kwan.”

I shoot Toby a look. That is so not helping.

Tori laughs. “Of course. Mr. Kwan. How silly of me?”

I’ve never seen Tori like this. She’s lost it. “Tor, we didn’t mean for any of this to happen this way. I’ve had feelings for Toby for a while, but I knew you wouldn’t like it so I never said anything.”

“That’s right. You knew. You knew I wouldn’t allow this, and you went ahead and did it anyway. You suck, Becca. You know that? You’re a backstabbing bitch, just like—”

“That’s enough, Tori.” Toby steps toward her, as if blocking me will protect me from her words. “Becca didn’t want to hurt you. I’m the one who initiated this. I had feelings for her, and I kissed her. If you want to blame someone, then blame me.”

“Believe me I do, but you didn’t do this alone. Becca is every bit as guilty. No, you know what? She’s guiltier. I trusted her.” She steps around Toby and faces me. “I trusted you as my best friend. How could you do this to me? You knew how I felt about all those girls throwing themselves at him. You knew! How could you let yourself become one of them?”

“She’s not one of them.” Toby steps next to me. “She never came after me.”

“Oh, good for her. She just let you seduce her. Poor, poor, Becca, she wasn’t strong enough to stand up to your—” she gestures the length of Toby’s body “—whatever this is.”

“Tori.” I keep my voice small and try not to sound defensive. “Can you please explain why it’s such a big deal if Toby and I like each other? Why have you never wanted people to hang out with the both of you?”

“Because then everyone will see he’s the better twin!” Her face is bright red, and she’s starting to shake.

The better twin? Where would she get an idea like that? “That’s crazy.”

“No, it’s not.” Her arms flail at her sides. “He’s perfect. He’s smart, popular, and good at sports. What am I good at? Making out. That doesn’t get me much.”

“It got you Ryder,” I say, trying to break the tension.

“That’s not funny.”

“But what about Ryder?” Toby asks. “You’re dating him now. Doesn’t that show you that this no sharing friends rule is absurd?”

She glares at Toby. “Is that why you set me up with him? So you could get your hands on my best friend?”

Sort of. “Tori, he knew how much you liked Ryder.”

“That’s not exactly a denial, Becca.”

I sigh. “Look, I don’t want to lie to you.”

“Funny because that’s all you’ve been doing. Lying and sneaking around with my brother. My brother!”

“I know. I feel awful, but you didn’t exactly make this easy for me. I wanted to tell you how I feel about him, but you were so insistent that I couldn’t be his friend. I knew you’d freak out if I told you we wanted to date each other.”

“You know Toby doesn’t date people. He’s not the boyfriend type.” She eyes him again, anger flooding her face.

I nod, and I can see the disappointment on Toby’s face. “He was like that, but this is different.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t be a Meredith. Don’t be stupid enough to think you’re the one who will change him, make him a better guy. You can’t.”

“She’s nothing like Meredith,” Toby says. I can’t help noticing that he’s willing to defend me, but not himself.

Tori ignores him, choosing to focus on me. “The only thing I have over Toby is that I can commit to someone. You may think I only like Ryder because he’s hot, but that’s not the only reason I’m with him. He gets me. He doesn’t try to change me, and he doesn’t care when I fly off the handle about things. He lets me be myself, and he likes me anyway.”

“Did you ever think Ryder was the relationship type?”

“I didn’t care. I wasn’t looking for a relationship when this started. I just wanted to hook up with my brother’s hot friend.”

“So why couldn’t I hook up with your hot friend?” Toby asks. His tone isn’t demanding at all. It’s full of genuine curiosity.

“Because she’s my friend. Because you’ll hurt her the way you hurt Meredith, and I’ll lose her like I lost Allison. Everyone who’s ever been friends with both of us has chosen you in the end. You’re the better twin, and I’m left by myself. First Allison and then Meredith. But I’ll be damned if I let you take Becca from me too.”

Meredith? When was she ever friends with Meredith? “Tori, what are you talking about? You and Meredith have always hated each other.”

“No, they haven’t,” Toby says, but Tori holds her hand up.

“Don’t! You don’t get to talk about this. You don’t get to spill my secrets after you’ve been keeping this from me.” I’ve never seen her this worked up. I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her shoulders. Her body shakes as tears stream down her cheeks.

“Tori, calm down. It’s okay. You’re not going to lose me. I promise. You’re my best friend.”

“I’m not anymore. He is. You’re always with him, studying—or at least that’s what I thought. When do we ever see each other anymore?”

“I’m sorry. I know we haven’t hung out as much lately, but you’ve been with Ryder too. It’s not all me.”

Toby steps toward us. “Tell her about Meredith, Tori. She deserves to know.”

She pulls away from me and glares at him. “Fine. You want to bring up the past? Unleash those demons? Why don’t you tell her? Tell her how you stole another one of my friends. Tell her why I asked you to stay away from my friends. Or are you afraid she won’t want to hang out with you anymore?”

I turn to him, wondering how bad this can actually be. “What happened? When were Meredith and Tori ever friends?”

He looks down at his sneakers and sighs. “It was the summer before ninth grade. You and your parents went to Aruba, remember?”

I nod. My dad had a business opportunity down there, and Mom jumped at the chance to spend the summer on an island.

“Well, Tori ran into Meredith at the mall. Meredith said her summer was boring and asked Tori to hang out. She even promised to introduce Tori to her other friends.”

The popular crowd. My God, Tori actually wanted to be in the popular crowd. Just like she wants to now that she’s with Ryder. I replay our conversations in my mind. The comments about those girls who kept calling her looking for Toby—they make sense now.

“Wait.” I turn to Tori. “Those girls that called for Toby. They didn’t dial you by accident. They had your number from that summer. They were calling you to get information about him.”

“Like I’d give it to them after what they did.” She shakes her head, and tears fill her eyes again.

I turn back to Toby. “What happened?”

“Meredith and Tori hung out all summer with some of the other girls. But they always wanted to hang out here instead of at anyone else’s house.”

“Because they all fell for my perfect brother,” Tori spits out.

Toby’s gaze pleads with me. “I didn’t do anything. I talked to them because they were here. I never called any of them. I never asked any of them out.”

“You didn’t need to. You walked around here with your shirt off half the time. That was enough.”

“You can’t blame him for that. It was summer. You have a pool.” I reach for her arm, but she pulls away.

“I guess you wouldn’t understand since you fell for him too.”

“That’s not why. It has nothing to do with what he looks like.” Well, not completely. “I’ve tried to tell you this. I’ve known him all my life. Toby’s a great person.”

“Yeah, so great that Meredith and her friends decided he was the one they wanted to hang out with. Him. They would call me and ask for him. They’d come over and ask him to go to the movies. By the time school started, they didn’t talk to me anymore. Only him. Everyone chooses him—the better twin.”