I stepped away from Tanner to give myself privacy, to think.

"Dad said I could come anytime, and I think it would be best—" Her voice broke off.

"You don't think that," I said, because she couldn't. She knew what Dad was like as well as I did. I pressed the phone to my cheek, willing Adrian to be logical. "Turn around and come home. If you're leaving because you think I'm interested in Rick, you've got it all wrong. I went out with Tanner a couple of times. That's why his car showed up at our house. That's why Rick was talking to me at my locker."

She cut me off as though she hadn't heard me. "I know what I saw. Guys start out liking me but end up liking you. I'm just not enough for anybody. They all want to move on to Chelsea, the deluxe model."

I shut my eyes, trying to make all of this undo itself. "I promise you there is absolutely nothing between us."

"Maybe you believe that. Maybe you don't think about things until after they've 'just happened.' "

"Or maybe I'm telling you the truth."

"You're only making me feel worse for what I did." Her voice broke again. She didn't finish.

"What did you do?" I asked but I'd already guessed. She'd let the air out of Rick's tires. He'd forgive her easily enough, though. After all, he'd been asking for her. He wanted her here. My mind was already sprinting into the future, already bringing Adrian home. I turned so that I faced down the hallway toward where Rick sat. In a moment I'd walk over and hand hini the phone so that he could assure her that none of it mattered.

"I put the beer into your duffel bags."

The future skidded to a halt and I was suddenly back in the present. "You what?"

"It wasn't fair, Chelsea. You always get what you want." Her voice was not accusing now, just sinking, and asking me to understand. "It doesn't matter for most things, but music is all that Rick ever wanted. He's worked his whole life to succeed at it. I couldn't let you just waltz in and take that away from him on a whim. I'm sorry I got you and your friends suspended. I'll call the principal on Monday and confess."

It only vaguely registered in my mind that she didn't know I wasn't suspended. I gripped the phone, shocked. It had been my own sister. Tanner had told me that Rick wouldn't sink that low, but Adrian had. My thoughts spun around the betrayal; dark, black, and swirling with anger. It was an unforgivable act, worse than anything I did to her with Travis.

But my fury died as quickly as it flared up. It's hard to stay mad at a person when moments earlier your heart stopped beating in fear of her death.

And besides, my amazement seemed bigger, more solid than the anger. She'd done this for Rick. They weren't even going out anymore. She had thought he'd betrayed her in the ultimate way—by liking me—and yet she still cared enough about him to want to hand him his dream.

She had told me, but I hadn't believed her. She really did love him.

"Chelsea, are you still there?"

"Yeah, and I still want you to come home."

I heard her take a ragged breath. "I can't. I've ruined everything with you, and with Rick, and I just need to go away for a while."

"No, you don't—"

" I 'm sorry." Then silence. I checked the cell phone, but even before I saw the "call ended" sign, I knew she'd hung up.

I stared at the phone, my thoughts racing.

Tanner walked up. "Is she coming back home?"

I shook my head.

"Can you get a hold of your mother?"

I punched in her number, and waited, but she didn't answer. "I don't know what she could do anyway," I said as the phone rang. "She's in Arizona."

Mom's answering message came on. Her voice sounded so happy in it. It could, because she didn't realize she'd just lost one of her daughters. I told her to call me right away. Before I'd even hung up the phone, I walked over to Rick. Tanner followed me.

When I reached Rick, he looked up at me suspiciously, "What do you want?"

"Your help."

He shut his eyes and leaned back against the wall. "Sorry, last time I checked hell hadn't frozen over."

"It's about Adrian."

His eyes opened but he still regarded me suspiciously. His gaze darted over to his brother and then back to me. "What about Adrian?"

"She's at the airport in Spokane. She wants to go live with our dad because she thinks she's messed things up here too badly." I shoved the phone at him. "Call her. Tell her to come back home. She'll listen to you."

"What?" Rick's eyebrows drew together, like he didn't quite believe me. "Why did she leave?"

"She put the beer in the squad's duffel bags."

Instead of using Tanner's phone, Rick pulled out his own, and pressed Adrian's number into it. He glanced back at me while he waited for it to connect. "Why did she do that?"

"Because she wanted to make sure you won the audition."

"And she didn't think I could beat you? That's a nice vote of confidence." As he held the phone to his ear, his hand tapped against his jeans. "So she'll be suspended. It's not the end of the world. There are worse things."

"Like living with my dad," I said.

Tanner and I watched Rick silently, waiting for a sign that Adrian had answered.

But Rick let out a grunt and shook his head. "She's not picking up." To her voice mail he said, "Adrian, don't get on the plane, okay? Just call me." He shut the phone and hit redial. I watched him while my insides slowly fell to my feet. She wasn't going to answer. She wasn't going to come home.

Rick stood up, agitated. "So much for 'she'll listen to you.' She won't even talk to me." He swore then, although I assume not into her voice mail. He shut his phone and called again. "It doesn't make sense. Why would she sabotage your song so I'd win, and then take off so I never see her again?"

It hurt to admit it, but I had to. "Well, she sort of thinks you have a crush on me."

"She what?" Rick said this too loudly, and several people stared in our direction. "Just because I was at your locker on Tuesday?"

"That, plus she saw Tanner take me home on Monday and thought it was you." Both Tanner and Rick stared at me, so I quickly added, "I told her she was wrong. I told her I'd never done anything to make you like me."

Rick hit the redial button. "That's the truth and then some."

While Rick paced around the floor cursing, Tanner continued to stare at me, his gaze heavy. I could tell he knew what I'd done. I took a step closer to him and lowered my voice. "I did tell Adrian there was nothing going on between Rick and me."

"But you didn't prove it to her. That would have been easy enough. All you would have had to do was tell her to talk to me."

"I thought it was better if they didn't get back together." When his eyes turned accusing, I added, "You said as much yourself when I went to dinner at your house. You were glad that Rick and Adrian had broken up."

He let out a sigh and his gaze traveled past me, to where Rick paced across the hallway with the phone. "He's been calling and leaving messages for her for the last two days, asking her to come to the auditions. He cares about her. So my opinion doesn't matter."

I looked over at Rick. "And she cares about him." Saying it made me feel worse. Adrian cared about him and I'd messed things up for her. Again.