“No,” Dakota said. “Really.”

“I’m serious,” Scarlett said, taking a little offense at this. “I’m making a new start.”

To be fair, Dakota had every right to doubt her. She had been a little on message the past few weeks. She had sent her friends accounts of every single exchange (or non-exchange, as the case may be) that she’d had with Eric. She’d made them examine photos and messages. She had asked for analyses of gestures they hadn’t seen and looks she couldn’t re-create. She had sent Eric’s every move to the far corners of the Internet and the world. And she had made promises more than once that she was going to stop.

So that haunted, twitchy look in Dakota’s eye came from bitter experience. But today was different.

“Today is different,” she said.

“Look,” Dakota said. “Think about it this way. You made out with Eric twice. You made out with Josh more than that.”

At this, Josh looked over lazily, sensing his name was being invoked.

“What?” he asked.

“I was just saying that Scarlett made out with you more than she made out with this Eric clown,” Dakota said.

“Oh yeah.” Josh nodded and closed his eyes against the sun.

“It wasn’t the same,” Scarlett said. “Everyone makes out with Josh.”

This was no insult to Josh, and no secret to anyone. Josh was a lovable idiot who was more than happy to let his female friends practice their making-out skills on him whenever they wanted.

“I haven’t,” Dakota said.

“Whenever you want,” Josh said, rolling onto his back.

“I’m just trying to put it in some perspective,” Dakota said, “because, you know, I hate Eric and I am trying to explain why he does not matter in a new way. For example, you spent more time making out with Josh than you did Eric.”

“It’s not the same thing,” Scarlett said. “It’s not just how much time you put into it.”

“When did you guys make out again?” Chloe asked. “I forget.”

“Last winter break,” Scarlett said. “And it was different.”

“It was three times or something,” Josh said.

“Right,” Dakota went on. “And notice how that didn’t make you crazy? That is because Josh is a good guy, and Eric is a cheat and a sneak. He is a bad man. Everyone hates him. You have to get in line to hate Eric Hall.”

“He’s not a cheat,” Scarlett said.

This conversation was a minefield, and with those words, she lifted her foot off a pressure device. Dakota was now set on ticktick-boom.

“Let’s break it down step-by-step,” Dakota said. “Shall we? Eric made out with you while he had a girlfriend. A girlfriend of two years, down in…wherever it is he comes from. South Carolina or whatever…”