“You really pissed her off,” he said. “There may be hope for you yet.”

Chapter 6

JAMEER SHUFFLED HIS LOAFERS, kicking aside empty water bottles, gas receipts Mom always insisted I get (“. . . even if you have to walk inside for them because they can’t ever say you stole it if you got your receipt!”), and burger wrappers spotted with dried grease. “I’m going to need new shoes after you drop me off.”

“You know what else would make you need new shoes? Walking.”

“Your anger is misdirected.”

“Tell me how to get you home, Jameer.”

“You know Stafford Woods?”

“Sure.” It was a subdivision on the east side of Green Creek. I’d taken Qwan to see some girls out there before. Five-minute drive at the most. I flicked on my turn signal to make the next right, a straight shot.

Jameer said, “I’m not in a hurry if you aren’t.”

Braking at the stop sign with no traffic behind me, I did not turn. “Will you stop with all your Riddler BS and answer some questions for me?”

“Not about my parents.”

“Why would I care about your parents?” They were religious and weird and not my problem. I said, “Kiera.”

“I can probably shed some light on her current situation.”

I flicked my turn signal off and kept going straight, toward Old Town Green Creek. “Yo, what happened back there? Why’d she get in my face all aggro?”

“She told you. You and Qwan Reid have a certain reputation at school.”

“No. No. No.”

“So it’s not true? You and Qwan Reid don’t go out with different girls almost every weekend?”

“It’s complicated.”

We sailed through the uncrowded, tree-lined streets of Green Creek. The one car ahead of us was nothing but glowing red taillights. The scene in my rearview was ink black. I said, “Am I sunk?”

Jameer answered quickly. “Honestly, I don’t know. She’s in a strange space right now.”

“What really happened with Colossus? Some people saying him and Angie Bell made a sex tape.”

His shrug about shook the car. “That I don’t know. She won’t talk about any of it in detail. It’s like she’s traumatized. I guess he cheated, but between you and me, that wouldn’t be new information. They never broke up over it before.”

I’d heard Colossus got it in with girls at different schools, too. It pissed me off because, as Jameer said, it didn’t ever put a dent in “Kee-Lossus” before. “What should I do here, Jameer? You know I want to holler at her, but it’s like I’m moving in the exact opposite direction of where I want to be. And this Purity Pledge feels like the ultimate mistake. She wants me out of it, and, real talk, I want me out of it, too. I mean, I joined accidentally.”

“You can’t quit, though.”

“Why?”

“God.”

Then he laughed. And I laughed.

When he was done laughing, he said, “Seriously, if you quit, you prove her right. But if you’re hanging in, maybe I can help.”