It was already quite warm, but Josie could see the dark, soupy rain clouds building on the horizon. She stood frozen in the driveway. Last night he had stood here, in this very spot, and almost seduced her into betrayal. She had known he was trouble, could feel it the first time she met him, and confirmed it last night. She threw her hands to her sides. “Bastard,” she said. So why had she allowed herself to be herded down this predictable path? Like a dumb cow, she thought. “Moo,” she said aloud. “Moo.” She laughed, then sighed.

She had done this, swapped allegiance like a trading card, and now she was angry—angry at herself, but also angry at him. How dare he seduce her at his date’s own party? How dare he? But it was more than his poor form she was angry about. It was the “something more” he had promised. He had tweezed her desire to the surface and made her admit it. But no, she had misunderstood. He was just flirting—a silly courting ritual. But what if he wasn’t? What if he could see all those thoughts that edged their way into her mind at night, creeping their way down into her fingers, inching her hands under the covers? She did want what he offered, just as she had since she was seven, and six, and younger. He saw this, and she hated him for it.

She walked down the driveway. She would call him, or better yet go find him. She could be vicious when she wanted, and sometimes when she didn’t—and now it was justified. She would find him, and he would be sorry he had ever messed with her or Mary. She knew she was thinking like one of Tyler’s Saturday morning cartoon characters, but she didn’t care. She could feel the muscles in her fingers expand, readying for a fight.

His house was only a fifteen-minute walk. She could show up and tell him off, throw things at him, tear his beautiful hair out. She walked quickly down the street, turned left, then right, then right again, and then it began to rain. A summer storm that came down fiercely, making her wet and cold, and she wished she had on more than shorts and a T-shirt, but she was determined, and she hugged her arms around herself and walked down Terrace, over on Walker, and finally to Juniper.