“I told you about her,” Shelby said, resigned. “She is obsessed with me for some reason. Won’t leave me alone. I heard you were stalking VF at the café the other day, Nikki. Pretty pathetic, don’t you think?”

“I wasn’t stalking,” I said. “I was on a shoot with my dad and when I saw Vee, I went over to say hi and ask a couple questions. I’m trying to—”

“Let me guess,” she said, interrupting me. “Find Luna. You’re trying to find Luna.” She turned to Eve again. “She’s like a broken record about it. Completely obsessed. It’s totally unhealthy. I’ve told you before, Nikki, and you seem to be too dense to get it. So I’ll say it slowly. I . . . don’t . . . know . . . where . . . Luna . . . is.”

“You thought I was Luna?” Eve asked, and I could tell by the look on her face that she was secretly thrilled about the mistake. She touched her hair lightly.

“Do you know where Luna is, Eve?” Shelby asked. Eve shook her head. “No. So you can move on now. Luna is not here, and we don’t know where she is.”

“Has she contacted you at all?” I asked, finally getting my bearings. “I mean, since taking off?”

“If you took off,” Shelby said, “would you go calling people to see if they noticed? No. You would hide. I’m guessing that’s what Luna’s doing. Hiding. Far, far away from here.”

“No doubt,” Eve said. “Luna’s not dumb.”

Unlike you two, I wanted to snap, but held myself back. You never knew when you might need someone’s cooperation in the future, and Eve seemed to be the one semi-not-horrible friend in the trio. And insulting Shelby just didn’t really seem worth my time.

The two boys had gotten out of the pool and were loping toward us, their feet making wet smacks against the concrete, their chests and bellies streaked with mini chlorinated rivers.

“Would you please go now?” Shelby asked, waving me off. “We’re sort of in the middle of something, and you’re in the way.”

“Fine,” I said. “But if you hear from her—”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll call you. I know the drill by now. But I can assure you I’m not going to hear from her. Can we both move on now? And by move on, I mean literally.” She waved me off again, a little grander this time.

“Whatever,” I mumbled, turning away.

“Have you tried her dad’s house?” Eve asked, before I could get out of her sight.

“No.”

“You should try there. Last I talked to Luna, she was living with him. I mean, if she’s missing, how come there’s not some big, like, police search or Amber Alert or something going on? Someone must know where she is.”

She had a point. One I hadn’t thought of before.