C was Chris. Nick sighed. He was already behind with school, but he’d be able to study at Adam’s, right? Michael wouldn’t ask if he didn’t need the help.

The exhaustion that had been clinging to Nick’s back all day doubled in weight. For an instant, he was tempted to say no.

But Michael expected a yes. And Nick always did what his brothers expected.

Nick slid his fingers along the face of the phone.

Sure. I’ll be there.

Quinn spent all day dodging Becca, but her best friend—ahem, former best friend—caught up to her next to her locker after last period.

Quinn didn’t even look at her. Like she needed to see Becca’s straight, shiny dark hair, her perfect little figure, or Chris Merrick’s arm slung over her shoulder.

Well, Chris wasn’t really there, but he might as well have been.

“I can’t talk,” said Quinn. “I need to catch the bus.”

Becca was studying her. Quinn could feel it. But her voice was easy, casual. “Want a ride?”

“Nah.”

“You want to ride the bus? What are you pissed at me about now?”

Quinn slammed her locker shut, making the metal crash echo down the hallway. She flung her trig textbook into her backpack. This was so like Becca. Acting like Quinn was such a drama queen, so let’s laugh off all her problems and treat her like everything is trivial.

And of course all this slamming and flinging was probably driving that point home.

Quinn picked up her bag and started walking.

“Come on,” said Becca, catching up with her. “Would you stop wasting time and tell me what’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong.”

“I thought you were all into doing the double-date thing with Nick and Chris. What happened?”

Nick is gay and you kept secrets.

“Forget it,” said Quinn. “Just go back to your perfect life.”

Becca stopped short. Quinn kept walking, but Becca called after her. “Oh, my perfect life? You mean with my father showing up out of nowhere? Or having the entire school know exactly what I did with Drew McKay? Or—”

Quinn whirled. “Shut up.” The worst part was that she did feel badly about all of those things. She marched back to Becca. “If you’re going to start listing your life difficulties, why don’t you start with the truth?”

Now Becca looked exasperated. “Damn it, Quinn, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“I’m talking about how I learned all your secrets from the Last Airbender last night.”

Becca looked almost incredulous. “A cartoon? What? You—wait—you—”

Quinn watched sudden realization dawn on Becca’s face.

“Nick told you,” Becca whispered.

“No shit he told me. Why didn’t you tell me is what I want to know.”

When Becca didn’t have anything to say to that, Quinn started walking again.