It isn’t a big difference, but Cara’s the girl who stayed up all night trying to help me fix my hair when I decided to cut my own bangs. She’s probably the only reason I passed freshman algebra. She made and sold friendship bracelets and cookies with me when I overheard my mom panicking on the phone about how she was going to pay the dentist’s bill for my first and only cavity, and she’s still the person I run summer cheer clinics with for kids in the area. So yeah, I’ll cling to that tiny difference and pray to her god that I’m never proven wrong.

I certainly can’t confront her. How would I explain why I was at Gutter Kittens to start with? And really, what’s the point? To rub salt into the wound of his death? Yes, Robbie was an asshole, but clearly Cara didn’t feel that way.

Maybe she even loved him.

Which means the only person I can really talk about this with is—

“Hey, you okay?”

I blink up at Jack, who’s sitting patiently in the driver’s seat, watching me stare at my front door without getting out of the car. Now is when we should be having an epic good-night kiss, not sitting in silence while I contemplate what it means that one of my best friends had a secret romance with the guy who tried to ruin my other best friend’s life.

I should keep my mouth shut, probably. Miguel never wanted anyone to know what Robbie was doing, and Cara … But I’m not the one who spilled Cara’s secret to Jack, and if she already knows that half, and she already knows Miguel is gay.…

If I don’t talk to someone, I am going to explode.

“I’m sorry for ruining our date” is what comes out of my mouth, though. “I was having a really good time. I am, I mean. I like sitting here with you.” All of that is so true, it hurts.

“Hey, Cheer Girl.” She takes my hand in her rough one, her calluses lightly scraping my skin and making me shiver in the warm Florida night. “You haven’t ruined anything. I’m just worried about you. You seemed to take that news pretty hard. Were you and Cara, uh—”

“No!” The idea is so ridiculous, I almost laugh in her face. “God, no. Cara comes from a super-religious family that is not down with the rainbow. Honestly, she’s the number one reason I’m not out at school. She’s not even allowed to date boys, which I guess is why Robbie was a secret. Her parents would ground her for life if they knew, or send her to live with her aunt in Winter Springs. Cheerleading would definitely be off the table.”