Mrs. Young and I come in second for the three-legged race. We don’t place in any other events, but we don’t lose either, and I’ve got to think that’s some kind of win.

Before the start of the big water fight to end the day, I wait in line for frozen watermelon and orange slices while Kiera and Greg squeeze in behind me.

I stand there for a moment, letting all the possible things I should say run through my head, my nerves eating me up.

But then Kiera interrupts me mid-thought by tapping on my shoulder. “I’m not mad.” She says it so bluntly that she might as well add in a duh at the end. “I know you’re overthinking what you should say to me in that head of yours.”

I turn around and find that Greg jumped back a few spots to talk to Cooper. He waves, and then turns back to listen intently to Cooper discussing the pros and cons of water guns versus water balloons.

“But you could have told me,” she adds.

Relief floods my chest. I nod. “I almost did. That time you spent the night.”

“It was smart. What you said. It really made a difference. At least for me it did. My parents are still at each other’s throats, but who knows when that will end?”

“It did make a difference? Really?”

“Yeah,” she says. “In fact, after you left yesterday, I told everyone that you give just as good advice as Miss Flora Mae. Maybe even better. That shut ’em all up real fast.”

What alternate reality is this? “Wow. Thanks for standing up for me, Kiera.”

“I wasn’t standing up for you. I was just telling the truth.”

We make our way to the front and load up with fruit.

Kiera bites down into an orange and holds it in her teeth to give me a huge orange-peel grin. Orange juice runs down her chin, and she doesn’t care about being pretty or grown-up.

“Very mature,” I tell her. “Very eighth grade of you.”

“I’m still a little mad at you,” she admits. “You could’ve just told me the truth.” She pushes my shoulder playfully, but I can tell she means it and that I really did hurt her by keeping this from her.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t want to mess things up just as we were figuring things out between us again. I guess I figured it wouldn’t do any harm if I didn’t tell you.”

“But it did. It made me wonder if I could even trust you.”

“Then why did you stand up for me?”

“Well, just because you didn’t tell me it was you giving advice doesn’t mean it wasn’t good advice.”

“I want you to feel like you can trust me,” I tell her. I don’t know how to say it out loud, but hearing that she stood up for me so fiercely makes me want to be an even better friend.