“You, Evie, are a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them.” She reaches over to stroke my hair, and my eyes instinctively flutter shut. It’s exactly the touch I’ve been craving, and it isn’t something she does often. My hair does not look inherently strokeable, and my mom isn’t particularly physically affectionate, at least not with me. “You’ve been having a hard time, haven’t you.”

I inhale a deep, shaky breath, willing myself not to cry as I nod.

She presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Just a hug, please,” I mumble into her shoulder, and as she wraps her arms around me, I let myself melt into her until I can finally breathe.

Chapter Seventeen

EVENTUALLY, I FILL HER IN on the basics, ignoring the smile playing on her lips when I tell her that I might like a boy. As if on cue, my phone buzzes with a message from Claire, begging me to send her an update on The Guy, and my mom leaves so I can chat with her. Much as I hadn’t wanted anyone to see me like this, as soon as I tell her that I’m home for an appointment and she asks if she can come over, I say yes without any hesitation.

I have really, really missed my best friend.

It seems she missed me too, because twenty minutes later, we’re chatting on my bed like nothing has changed. “Wait.” I curl my fists in the blanket to stop myself from flailing. “Lowen told you they like you on a Post-it Note?”

“It was cuter than it sounds!” she insists, whacking me with a pillow. “It was very sweet and very brave and you do not get to mock anyone, considering you have not told Salem in any way at all.”

“That’s different,” I grumble. “And we are not talking about it. So tell me what else I’ve missed.”

“Well, you can probably guess the biggest news around school…”

“Tell me what I missed that doesn’t have anything to do with my sister. Or Craig. I don’t need to know a thing about what he’s up to.”

“Good. Trust me—that boy remains trash.” Claire takes a drink of water from the purple Nalgene she carries everywhere. “But Oscar and Vivien broke up, and then got back together, and then broke up again when she found out he hooked up with Kaya while they were broken up. Oh, and Mrs. Taber got knocked up again. She’s leaving at the end of the semester.”

“Remember last time, when she said she wasn’t coming back?”

“Pretty sure she means it this time,” she says with a grin. “Oh, and my cousin Angi got engaged.”

“Angi of the sublime mac ’n’ cheese?”