He’s leaning against the railing, eyes inscrutable. “We need to talk.”

My heart thumps, a dull pulsing in my head, which is starting to throb along with my hand. “About what?” I blow on the coffee before taking a sip.

“There’s no easy way to say this.”

No way. He got to Scott already. It’s only been . . . well, it’s nearly one, so I guess it’s been about eight hours.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea if you keep staying here.”

Before I can figure out how to respond, a car pulls into the driveway.

Abby’s Mini Cooper.

She got it for her eighteenth birthday. I helped her dad pick it out. It’s black with red racing stripes, and Abby cried happy tears when her dad handed her the keys. Then we drove it to the Frostee Freeze for ice cream cones and went parking at the lake.

I put the coffee cup down on the porch next to the chair, but I can’t set aside a lifetime of memories with the same ease. I face Scott. “What is going on?”

“Sorry, Fitz.” At least he has the grace to look as uncomfortable as I feel. He won’t meet my eyes.

“Why are you giving me the boot?”

He blinks at me, his hands flexing against the straps of his bag on his shoulders. “You punched Kevin.”

“He deserved it.”

Scott winces, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. “Maybe. But I can’t kick him out. He pays rent.”

“I can pay rent.”

He lets me stay here for free. It’s why I moved in. I actually can’t afford to pay rent, but I also can’t afford to be homeless. I could work something out. Get a job. I push away thoughts of how that might affect my grades, my cross-country scholarship . . .

I can make it work. I have to.

“Kev is my best friend. One of you has to go, and I can’t kick him out. Besides, you probably won’t want to stay here anyway since Abby’s moving in. She was kicked out of the dorms.” Scott shuffles his feet and glances over at Abby’s car, where Kevin is hauling a bag out of the trunk.

I lean forward, elbows on my knees, head in my hands. I understand Scott is in a bind. He hates confrontation and this conversation is probably killing him. But I’m tired and I can’t deal with this. I’ve already missed classes today and I’ve got to keep my grades up.

“So that’s it, huh?”

“You have somewhere to go. Your parents live nearby, right?”

Maybe. It will be weird. Dad’s off work on injury and they’re both stressed to the max. They don’t need my problems or another mouth to feed.

But maybe it’s the best option, even though I haven’t told them yet Abby and I are over. We had decided to hold off informing our parents until we had to.

Now I’ll have no choice.