Ethan’s shoulders slumped. “Look. I think I know what’s bothering you.”

Emma looked away. “It doesn’t matter.” She absolutely wasn’t going to talk about this.

“Sam’s really nice, once you get to know her.”

Emma wanted to throw her Sherlock Holmes pipe at his head. So she was Sam now?

“And I spoke to her about you,” Ethan added. “She’s willing to drop all the shoplifting charges. No juvie, no community service, no permanent record.”

Emma snorted. “Was that the trade-off? You take her to the dance, she lets me walk? How nice of you. How martyrlike.”

Ethan shook his head. “Is this what you’re like when you’re jealous?” A look crossed his face that Emma couldn’t quite decipher. “You’re more like Sutton than you think,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ethan crossed his arms over his chest. “You told me you just wanted to be friends. Is that what you want?”

Inside the gym, the DJ put on a song by the Black Eyed Peas. The music sounded hollow, empty. Emma reached under her blazer and cupped her hand around Sutton’s locket. “I don’t know,” she muttered.

Ethan lowered himself to the pavement until his face was level with hers. His eyes were soft and round. The setting sun cast sharp shadows on his cheekbones. Emma could smell his signature Ethan-ish scent, a mix of deodorant, freshly laundered clothes, and spearmint. She tried hard to keep her face impassive. She didn’t want him to know what she was feeling.

“I thought that was what I wanted,” Emma finally said, taking a deep breath. “It just seemed . . . easier. Safer. But now I’m not sure about anything.”

Ethan stared at the back of his hands.

Say something, anything, Emma silently pleaded, closing her eyes.

“There you are.”

Emma’s eyes flew open. The double doors had swung wide, and a girl in a long, dark wig stood on the sidewalk. Ethan shot away from Emma like a bullet fired from a gun. “Sam,” he said.

“I was looking for you.” Samantha’s gray eyes were cold. Her boobs looked weirdly squished in her corset. When she saw Emma, her scowl turned her pretty features into an ugly mask.

“We were just talking,” Ethan blurted, moving to Samantha and taking her arm. “I was about to come in and look for you.”

Samantha pivoted toward the door. “C’mon. Let’s dance.” She gave Emma an icy wave and pulled Ethan back into the gym. Ethan looked over his shoulder and met Emma’s gaze.

A small squeak escaped Emma’s mouth, but when she tried to say more, nothing came out. When they were gone, she pulled the detective hat off her head and mashed it between her hands.