“He offered to help?” Maddie said.

“Not directly. But, still, help in the form of my Pulse rising came, then he took credit for it. I thanked him, and he did it again. Each time my Pulse ticked a bit higher, and I was getting so many new followers and clubs were finally returning my calls, and so, hell, if Ryan wanted to talk to me for forty-five minutes about the girl who dumped him in junior high, it was an okay tradeoff.”

“That’s all he wanted?” Lucy said tentatively. “To talk?”

Emma’s head tilted to the side. “Come on, you’re not that naïve, are you?”

Lucy stared at her. “No, I just—”

“I knew he wanted more the first time his hand trailed across my lower back like that was a normal ‘Hey, how you doing?’”

The hackathon. He’d done the same to Lucy at the hackathon.

“But he was like an oversexed fourteen-year-old. I could handle him. And he made it easy. At first, I really did think, along with the obvious, he actually did have an interest in music, in my music. Maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. But eventually it didn’t matter anymore. He was done talking. And Pulse or not, I wasn’t doing anything more than talking.”

“Did he . . .” Lucy started, knowing how to finish but unable to say the words.

“Nothing happened. He invited me to a show. Gave me a ticket to meet him there.”

“That night at the club in San Francisco. I saw him hand you something.”

“Ticket to Fungus. Fungus. Sold out for months, and this was a front-row seat. But the strings it came with were attached to a spiderweb. I knew what he expected after. My dad was the one who wanted me in ValleyStart, not me. So I left and sold the ticket for enough to buy me a Gibson.” She pointed to the shiny guitar on the other side of the room. “Asshole,” she muttered.

“Yeah,” Lucy said. How had she missed the strings for so long? Was she as arrogant as Gavin? “But I’m afraid he’s much more than that. Which is why we can’t keep quiet.”

“Lucy,” Maddie said. “I thought you didn’t want anyone to know.”

“I didn’t. A lot of me still doesn’t. But I can’t be that selfish, not about this. If I say something, maybe he can’t do it to someone else.”

Lucy held Emma’s gaze until finally Emma sighed. “Fine, yeah, whatever you’re doing, you need me, I’m there. Girl power and all.”

“Empowered,” Lucy said.

*   *   *

“Where have you guys been?” Delia said, her curls springing with twice their usual volume.