I looked over at Diane. “It’s okay,” I reassured her, because she looked almost as worried as when Nadia died. “You know what they say: Closure is healthy.”

After fleeing from Ketzler and saying good-bye to Diane, I endured the rest of my classes. I’d just reached my car when I heard panting behind me. Ian jogged toward me, his backpack over one shoulder and his tanned cheeks ruddy. “I feel like I’m making a habit of running after you,” he called out.

I tossed my backpack into my front seat, and then kept the car door between us like a shield. “I’m not that hard to catch.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized how bad they sounded. “I mean—”

He laughed. “I know what you meant. But yeah, you are.” He’d stopped running, but his cheeks were still ruddy, and now the red was creeping toward his neck. He bowed his head. “I just wanted to … um.”

“Are you all right?”

He nodded. “Are you?”

I frowned. “Sure. I mean, I’m sad like everyone else.” And overwhelmed and wrecked and worried and feeling like the weight of the world is crushing me.

“No, I mean—about Malachi?”

“Oh.” My throat tightened.

“So I guess you guys aren’t together.”

“I’d only known him a few days. It’s not like it was a big deal.” Every word was a lie.

Ian nodded. “But it seemed like you liked each other. A lot.”

I let out a humph. “Yeah. Well. That craziness is over.”

“And what about that blond guy you were with last Friday? I saw him in the cafeteria earlier.” He gave me a cautious look. “He seemed kind of into Tegan.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I’m good. I just want things to get back to normal.”

He tilted his head to the side. “Normal?”

“What—I’m normal. Sort of.” Boy, I was full of lies today.

His mouth curled at one corner, like he was biting the inside of his cheek, but then he said, “You’ve been at this school for over a year and haven’t gone out with a single guy. Not even once. Is that the normal you’re referring to?”

“I go out,” I protested. Not really. I had followed Nadia to parties and driven her home.

He raised his hands in surrender. “Okay. I didn’t mean to give you a hard time about it. I was just—thought maybe you might want to hang out sometime?”

All the blood in my head drained to my feet. Ian Moseley, jock extraordinaire, wanted to hang out. I looked up at him, and his lips twisted up into this rueful half smile. Only one dimple showing.