I really don’t want to say this next part, but my personal preferences are outweighed by my professional obligation to help this young woman. “I can talk to her,” I offer. “I can try to persuade her to consider a family counseling session. And if that doesn’t work, you should ask for help from your school counselor. If the suggestion of therapy came directly from the school, she’d be compelled to listen.”

“Would you really talk to her?”

“Yes.”

Tegan’s face brightens up in a huge smile. “You’re the best.”

“Easy,” I say. “I haven’t convinced her yet. And you still haven’t told me why you were drinking vodka at school.”

The smile disappears, and Tegan removes her hands from under her thighs only to wring them together in her lap. “Well… there’s this boy…”

Of course there’s a boy involved… I am talking to a teenage girl.

“You like him?” I ask.

A shy nod.

“Is this boy your boyfriend, or…?”

“No, gosh, no, nothing like that. But he just broke up with Celia Buchanan a month ago, and I’ve liked him forever, and I thought he didn’t even know I existed. But then yesterday, I went to eat my lunch in the chemistry lab—I do that sometimes when the canteen feels too crowded and I want a bit of quiet. Anyway, Josh was already there with two of his friends. And one of them—Derek—is dating Mykenna Flanagan, so she was there, too, and she doesn’t go anywhere without her sidekick Sydney.”

“Okay,” I say, trying to wrap my head around the complex teenage society.

“They were already drinking when I got there; Josh had stolen a bottle from his father’s cabinet, and he invited me to join.”

“And you agreed?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“It would’ve been super uncool to say no, so lame. And I know what you’re thinking…”

“Really? What am I thinking?”

“That it was stupid. That I shouldn’t have drunk just to impress a boy or anyone. You’re probably going to tell me that I should give up on Josh, because a guy who drinks stolen vodka in the middle of the school day isn’t boyfriend material.”

“It’s not my job to tell you who to date,” I say carefully. “But I agree that you should never do something you don’t want to do in order to impress someone. But clearly you knew that already, so why did you still agree to drink the vodka?”

“Because I have to go to that school for the next two years, and Mykenna is such a viper. Who knows what rumors she would’ve spread if I’d said no? It was easier to take a sip, no harm done. It’s not like I was drunk.”