Suddenly, I felt guilty about my feelings or hormones or whatever I was experiencing around Neil. I shouldn’t have been lusting after someone who not only had a boyfriend, but was kind enough to tutor me in Italian. Things like this don’t work out when they’re secret or forbidden. Exhibit A: Jackson.

Neil ended our lesson with some helpful phrases like “come si dice” (how do you say . . .) and “vorrei” (I would like . . .), phrases I could use to get around Rome, and he asked if this time next Sunday worked for our next lesson. I realized he had assumed that I was really staying in Italy. I needed to figure that out.

I hesitated. “Um, sure.” It also occurred to me we had never discussed payment, which seemed especially stupid on my part considering I was on a limited budget. “How much do I owe you for the lesson?”

“No, no. Please,” Neil scoffed. “I’m not charging you.”

“What? Come on. Please.” I started to pull euros out of my front pocket, but Neil shoved my hand back.

“You’re a friend,” Neil insisted. He held my wrist and looked me straight in the eyes. I nearly had a heart attack. “Don’t worry about it.”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

Neil walked me to the door and gave me directions for getting back to Trastevere, even though I told him I had Jahan’s address saved on my phone. I thanked him one more time for the lesson and said “arrivederci.” Neil corrected me.

“‘Arrivederci’ is more formal. You should use ‘ciao,’ or ‘a dopo.’”

“What does ‘a dopo’ mean?”

“See you later,” Neil said. “Or ‘a presto.’ That means ‘see you soon.’”

I considered my options. “A presto.”

“A presto.”

Interrogation Room 38

Soraya

THE DAY AFTER I talked to Jake at the mall, I met with Jackson Preacher at Starbucks. He was wearing a polo shirt and khaki shorts, with brown flip-flops. He was cracking his knuckles.

How did I get there? Mom, don’t act so surprised. You drove me. Sort of. You dropped me off at the movie theater next door. I said I was seeing the new Mamma Mia movie with Madison. There is no new Mamma Mia movie. Besides, even if there were, you know Madison’s mom doesn’t let her watch PG-13 movies. I’m sorry I lied.

Jackson was super friendly. He bought me a pastry. Though he seemed nervous, too. When I messaged him on Instagram the day before, he messaged back right away, like, less than a minute later. He asked if we had heard from Amir. I thought that was kind of weird. Either this guy murdered my brother or Amir actually had a friend at school.

We started talking, and it was obvious we were both being careful with our words. I didn’t want to out Amir, in case Jackson didn’t know, so I said things like “I feel like he’s hiding something” and “I wish I could know the real Amir.”