Mattie stares at the camera with a goofy grin. The trees behind us make a perfect backdrop. If only she knew how to take a selfie. “Don’t you know how to pose?” I tilt my head and press my cheek against hers. Her curls tickle my face. She attempts the tilt, but I can’t help laughing at her ridiculous expression displayed on the screen. “We need a better angle.” I lean way forward, rest one arm on the fence, and snap a picture. The green leaves of the madrones behind us look brilliant in the sunlight. “Okay, one more. Can’t you, like, lean back a little?”

She tries to lean back, angle her head, press her cheek. “Um, is that better?”

“Well, no.” I can’t quite get the right shot of us. And it feels suddenly like the most important thing in the world to get this photo perfect. Like, if we can’t find Frank Gómez, at least we’ll have proof that we tried—together. I lean even farther over the fence that overlooks the pool, stretch my arm. The light is perfect. If I can just—

And then, in what feels like slow motion, my fingers slip. I yelp. I reach. I flail. The phone falls like a shooting star, the shiny case glinting in the sun. It bounces off the rocks and exposed dirt of the steep hillside beyond the fence. Bits of plastic fly in different directions. What is left of my phone then clatters to the pool deck, teeters for a moment on the edge, and then, as if pushed by some magical force, plunges into the blue water below.

Mattie gasps. “Uh-oh.”

We watch the small rectangle sink to the bottom of the pool.

“NO!” I scramble, put one foot into the chain link. Maybe I can climb over the fence. Mattie grabs the back of my sweatshirt. “Get down!”

“Mattie!” I swirl around. “This is all your fault!”

“What?” she hollers back.

“If you weren’t such a dork, you’d know how to take a selfie! I wouldn’t have had to lean out so far. I never would have dropped my phone!”

“You’re the one who dropped it. And if you would have followed the rules like I did, you wouldn’t even have your phone!”

“Exactly!” I’m breathing hard, can hardly catch my words. Mattie backs up like she’s a little afraid of me. “You couldn’t do any of this without me.” I wave my arms at, well, at all of Northern Madrone College. She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me.

“This was our plan, not just yours.” Mattie puts her hands on her hips. “We’re in this together.”