I want to say something witty to sting her back. I want to tell her she can’t treat Piper like a castoff and me like a leper. But with everyone’s eyes on me, my words dry up in my throat.

Without thinking, I grab the tickets off the couch and run from the room. I don’t stop until I’m out the front door, down the gravel driveway, and slamming the door behind me in the back seat of Asad’s car.

“Go, go, go!” I shout, hitting the back of his seat.

Asad hits the gas as Kenzie barrels out of the house, red-faced.

“What did you do?” Piper stares at me from the front seat.

I hold up the tickets.

“Something wicked.”

My heart races for at least ten blocks, slowing only when the McMansions give way to carports. Piper’s laugh fills the car and wafts out the window with the night air.

“Ava! Who knew you had such big cajones hidden under those compression garments,” she says.

Asad grimaces. “That’s a visual I could live without.”

Piper’s hand floats outside her window, soaring like the girl in her “Phoenix in a Flame” anthem, which she cranks to max volume, the synthesized piano beat filling the car.

We stop for Froyo rather than go home and explain to our parents why our big night out ended at nine-thirty. I unload the wheelchair from the trunk and hold it steady while Asad scoops Piper from the front seat, placing her in the wheelchair so tenderly that I want to tell him to stop. Stop being so nice. Stop being so cute. Stop being so cluelessly endearing with your dorky dance moves.

Stop making me feel.

Inside Froyo Heaven, Asad fills a half dozen tiny paper cups with yogurt samples while Piper loads up on nothing but gummy worms. Adrenaline still pumps through my veins, making my skin buzz with energy instead of itch.

A woman taps me on the shoulder.

“Excuse me?” She yanks a redheaded boy up next to her by his arm. “I’m sorry to put you on the spot, but my son has an unhealthy fondness of playing with matches, and we’ve tried everything we can think of to teach him how dangerous it is.”

The boy twists his arm, trying to free his wrist from his mother’s grip. She holds tight.

“Maybe you can get through to him.”

Piper pushes me out of the way, a half-masticated gummy worm hanging from her mouth.

“Are you for real, lady?”

The woman looks down at Piper in surprise.

“Well, I just thought—”

“You just thought my friend was a walking public service announcement to help your dumb pyro kid?”

I put my hand on Piper’s shoulder.

“It’s okay.” I squat down slightly so I’m face to face with the boy, my second wicked idea tonight coalescing in my head. “Do you see these scars?”