Merit shot me a smooth look. Okay, maybe I had oversold it.

We got in Merit’s car, and he was quiet for a minute. “I’m going in with you,” he said with finality.

“You can’t come in with me. You have to be on the list, and you aren’t on the list.”

“So, I’ll get on the list,” he said, flipping the dial on the radio and turning it up.

“It takes, like, a while.”

He looked over at me, exasperated. “There are a lot of rules in jail.”

“Yeah. I think that’s kind of the point.”

He did his laugh where the breath came out of his nose, the one that made me fall in love with him just a little bit every time.

“So, uh, how’s Sophie?” I asked. I was going for casual, but it came out high-pitched and borderline desperate. I was pathetic.

“Oh, you mean my GIRLFRIEND?” He yelled the last word.

“The very one.”

“She’s, uh, maybe somewhat threatened by you.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” I asked coyly, flipping my hair.

We both laughed.

“I like Sophie, but it’s kind of a lot,” he said. “She’s very territorial.”

“You don’t say.”

“Juniper Shores Socialite isn’t helping matters much,” Merit said. “In fact, I kind of think she’s the root of all our problems—which I keep telling Sophie. I mean, if you trust an anonymous Instagram account more than your own boyfriend, we’ve got bigger issues, right?”

I nodded. That was a good point. The amount we all trusted said Instagram account was concerning. “Who do you think it is?” I asked.

“Who do you think it is?”

“I really thought it was someone in our house, but now I’m not so sure,” I said.

Merit laughed. “Like my mom?”

“No. Your mom’s too classy. Maybe Julie? Not Alice, because Juniper Shores Socialite is obsessed with talking crap about Alice.”

“But you don’t think it’s someone in our house now?”

I thought for a minute. “No. I think it’s someone kind of obsessed with our house. Maybe Laura Lucas. Or Chloe’s mom.”

Merit nodded. “Chloe’s mom seems like she has a lot of time on her hands.” He paused, then perked up. “Oh! And she is so up in Chloe’s business. She knows everything going on at the high school too.”

I nodded. “I think that’s what stumps me.”

Merit gasped. “Wait! She always says ‘we.’ What if it’s, like, a mother-daughter duo!”

My jaw dropped. “Yes! I think you’re totally right.” I thought for a long moment. “But I really don’t think Chloe would have let her mom talk junk about my dad like that.”

“Maybe not,” Merit agreed. “But people will do crazy things when they’re getting attention for it.”