I still had no idea how she’d found out the things she posted in Nashton. Why she’d turned like she did. But when she started posting about Nick, that’s when I knew I had to put an end to it.

I hated we were now in a head-to-head to win this thing with Dove—and if I didn’t manage to overtake Clara, and quickly, I’d have to delete my account, and she’d win all over again. It was like whenever something good happened to me, there she was.

Which is why I had another suspicion.

Was it Clara who was trolling me? Again? I didn’t want it to be true, but once I’d thought it, I couldn’t shake it.

And I told Fred how nice it was to finally tell someone. How Nick used to be my person, but the move, and Grams getting ill, had just made all the distance and disappearing even worse, and now I felt like neither of us had a clue about each other’s lives.

Fred seemed genuinely shocked—shocked about what happened and maybe a little shocked I’d told him. But he listened, and he didn’t judge, and he didn’t tell me I was wrong, or brave, or should have told someone sooner, he just listened and told me that whatever I wanted, he really believed I could make happen. He even offered to come with me and Ruby tomorrow to help with #OneElleOfAChristmasDayInLondon.

And I listened too, when he told me about Eve—how hard it was to get over someone you liked, even if none of your friends got it. And how he wished Holly would realize how great she was and that she wouldn’t worry so much about life not going to plan. And how sometimes when he finished a pizza, he wondered if it would be okay to order a second.

So we did. To share.

Chapter Thirteen

Holly

Go to a festive costume party, they said.

Americans are incredible at it, they said.

It’ll be fun, they said.

Well, they meant Elle. And Elle was a liar.

“Take me through this.” I pointed at what Nick had laid out on her bed. “One. More. Time.”

“Well…” He walked across the room. “Elle said you’d be up for Dean’s party?” Dean wasn’t just the lead singer of Au Revoir Hairs, he was Elle’s science partner. “And…well, I didn’t want to disappoint on the costume front.”