As if Shannon’s desperate for new friends.

It was weird spending the entire summer apart. We haven’t done that in years, and certainly not since high school began. But then, my mom had never been asked to accompany her boss to the Outer Banks for the summer. And she’d never dragged her daughter with her, rather than let her stay home alone in Stratford.

It was a summer of firsts.

“So cool,” I confirm, giving her a smooch on the cheek that leaves a coral lip print. “And we’re reunited, so that’s what’s—”

“Hey, ladies.”

The greeting isn’t a tentative drive-by like the others, and it comes complete with a shadow. A six-foot-three shadow. I am not the squeeing type, but if I were, I’d be shattering some eardrums. “Hey, Harding.” Do I sound too flirty? I might sound too flirty. But the way he’s leaning against my locker is definitely flirty, so really, I’m not being weird. “Did you get taller over the summer?”

Okay, now I’m being weird.

“I did, thank you for noticing.” He squints at me like he’s scrutinizing my face. “You look different too, Bogdan.”

“In a good way?”

He flashes me a smile, revealing the crooked teeth that only make him cuter. “In a very good way.”

“That’s what I was just telling her,” says Shannon, looping an arm around my shoulders. “Look at this hot bitch.”

“I am, I am,” Chase says with a grin, but I barely hear him. A ghost is walking through the door of the school. A ghost with smooth bronze skin and full lips and lush dark waves and amber eyes that I know from experience can convince you to do things you never, ever dreamed you would.

Things you liked. Things you loved. Things you’ve thought about with the lights off every night since.

Why is there a Jasmine Killary–shaped ghost haunting Stratford?

Haunting me?

“Yo. Bogdan.” Meticulously manicured nails snap in front of my face. “Where’d you go?”

I blink, expecting my vision to clear, but Jasmine’s still there, a flesh-and-blood being whose face may be partially obscured by a phone, but whose very real existence is as undeniable as the thunderous pounding in my chest at the sight of her.

Where’d you go?

How do I tell my best friend I don’t even know where to begin answering that question?

THEN