What follows is total chaos that, between pain, drugs, and exhaustion, passes in a blur. By the time I wake up in the infirmary, the sun is high in the sky, my ankle is on ice and elevated, and all at once, the previous night floods back in a humiliating rush.

“Oh, thank fuck you’re up,” Sabrina says on an exhale, jumping up to peer into my eyes. “Are you okay? Do you know who you are?”

“Jesus, Sabrina, yes, I’m fine, thank you. At least I think I’m fine. How long have I been out?”

“A while, but some of that was the doctors keeping you out to deal with your ankle. Turns out it’s only a sprain, but they were worried it was dislocated.” She points to the corner of the room, where a pair of silver crutches stand. “You’ll have to be on those for a bit. Good thing you already have an accessible room, right?”

“How long have you been here?”

“Not that long—the doctors came in about ten minutes ago, which is the only reason I know anything. Salem had to get to class—he has a quiz—so he asked me to take over. No one gives a crap if I miss art.”

“Salem was here?”

“Wow, you really have been out,” she says with a tip of her head. “Salem’s the one who found you. Said he heard a thump outside that woke him up, and realized you’d fallen out of your window. Which raises the obvious question: What the hell were you doing falling out of your window?”

I register a whole lot of things at once, most importantly that this is the story we’re going with in order to keep Salem, me, and Matt out of trouble. And that’s fine with me—the last thing I need is anyone knowing where I really was last night. But I guess this is an element of the story Salem couldn’t make up for me, which means I have to come up with something believable, fast.

And it’s Sabrina, who, against whatever odds, has become my best friend at this school other than Salem, so I give her the truth. Well, most of it anyway.

The parts that don’t involve her brother and my realizing I’ve got a heinous crush on him, specifically.

When I’m done, Sabrina gives me a hug, and fills me in on this morning and the news spreading around campus. Apparently, some people think I was trying to off myself, which is just sad. Others think I was meeting someone outside, which is mostly funny, considering my access to tens of guys within my own dorm. To everyone, I’m pretty much that deranged klutz who fell out of her first-story window.

It’s all not great.