The kiss was nothing. That foolishness was a wisp of nostalgia that I’d already brushed away. I didn’t want to be with Chad. I just wanted this summer, and both my best friends. The kiss was nothing, but our friendship was everything. It was years of togetherness, of having each other’s backs. We’d shared so much. We’d shared each other. Penny would understand, wouldn’t she? This was Penny. My best friend.

But when she looked at me, there was no sign of the girl who I had spent my life with. The girl whose Easy-Bake Oven I’d learned my love of baking from, the girl who let me cry until snot bubbles burst when Elodie left, the girl who used to leave Post-it doodles in my school textbooks to encourage me before a test.

“You kissed my boyfriend.” Penny’s voice wobbled. She pressed a fist to her mouth, then pulled it away. “My boyfriend and my best friend.”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” I whispered. “I wanted to—”

“This is unbelievable.” Penny’s voice was undone, shrill and hysterical. “Seriously? You … do you have any idea…” She pulled her hands from Chad before rearing back. Her palm arced through the air, making contact with his cheek.

His face swung to the side, redder than before.

She looked as shocked as I felt. I didn’t think she meant to do it.

“There’s nothing between us,” I said. The sound of her flesh meeting his echoed in the room, the slap sounding about ten times louder. “I swear to you, Pen.”

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Penny shot to her feet. “This is my fault. I … I invited you to everything. I wanted to make sure that you never felt left out, especially after Elodie left. But you … you just took advantage of that, didn’t you? You took advantage of me.”

My chest felt stretched tighter than a rubber band. Any second, I expected myself to snap and fly off. “I didn’t.” I gestured toward Chad. My breathing was shallow and my breath caught. “We didn’t.”

“Vince said it was weird, the three of us always being together. That sooner or later, you and he…” She pointed to Chad. “That you couldn’t just be friends,” she said with a sneer.

“Why the hell are you listening to what Vince says?” I asked, remembering the goon who had stuffed my cookies into his face.

Penny, voice growing louder, kept talking like I hadn’t said anything. “He wasn’t the only one who thought I was making a mistake. But I said you weren’t like that. I stood up for you.”