Bree seemed kicked off-balance by my aggressiveness, and she took another deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry if I came off rough, but Andi, we were wicked freaked out over you last night. I… I was so scared.”

“I was too,” Vik interjected, daring to look at me, but then quickly averting his eyes.

“Look,” Bree said, “just—don’t disappear like that again, okay? I… we just need to know you’re safe.”

“I already got this speech from my parents, Bree. I really don’t appreciate it again from you,” I said coldly. “If I wanted more guilt, I would have just stayed at home.”

Bree stared at me as if I were some kind of strange, dangerous creature. Good. Let perfect Bree with all her perfect advice and perfect sense finally see that maybe her understanding of life wasn’t so perfect after all. What did she know, anyway? I had seen things, experienced them, things she couldn’t even ever hope to comprehend or believe.

“What happened?” she asked, leaning against a desk with her arms crossed. “It’s just… when your mom called, and it hit me that I hadn’t heard from you since the party, I just got so… so scared that something had happened to you and—” She took an abrupt trembling breath, “and it was all my fault!” Her eyes were beginning to look wet.

“So sorry if I got you in trouble, Bree,” I sneered. How like her to be looking out for herself when I was the one that could have been dead—or worse!

“It’s not that! I just… where were you?” she begged.

I took a deep breath. Did I trust her? I looked to Vik, standing behind her like a faithful hound, ready to jump in if she tag-teamed him, a strange faraway look in his eyes. Did I trust either of them?

I took a slow breath. “I was with Riley,” I said. My voice came out surprisingly calm and level.

Vik took a sudden step back, knocking into the desk behind him, and Bree’s jaw dropped. “The whole weekend?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said, feeling defiant. “I was feeling… spontaneous. Just like you’re always telling me I should be,” I countered, unable to resist the jab.

Bree’s face fell. “Didn’t you think of calling your parents? Me? Anyone?”

I honestly hadn’t. Not once, all weekend. The thought surprised me. “No,” I said, my voice coming out more shaky than I wanted it to. “I left my phone at home… and I just got so… so caught up in the weekend… I just… I just—I just wish Riley were here!” I gasped, and a tear slipped down my face.

Bree, kind dependable Bree, turned on me then. “Andi, that’s so not like you!” she said, straightening up. “I mean, yeah you’re slow to respond to texts and stuff, but a whole weekend!?”