“I don’t know. What if he is innocent and we could’ve done something about it, like we promised Anna.”

“How about this. We still help look. For all we know, Luke really did it. All the evidence points to him, anyway. But because we care about Anna and want to help her, we can keep looking. If we find evidence that he really didn’t do it, then we’ll figure out what to do when we get there. You might not even be here by then. But if we happen to find something before everyone else, then we can decide what we want to do.”

I don’t answer Aiden right away because I can’t even begin to consider not helping my friend, but what he’s saying holds some weight.

“I’m not saying we condemn an innocent man,” he continues. “I’m saying let’s find out everything we can and take it from there.”

He’s putting a lot of faith in Luke being guilty and us not finding anything to free him. But if we do find something, could we really not tell our friends? Could we really put my fear of Tony and need to stay with Aiden over everything else?

“Did you forget everything I said to you earlier? I am not going to lose you. I watched one man almost shoot you. I’m not going to stand around and let Luke invite another man to come and do the same. Understand?” Aiden wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his strong embrace, and I’m lost for words. We’re technically not doing anything wrong. We might not even find anything. And if we do, we’ll do the right thing.

Probably.

Wrapped in the safety of Aiden’s embrace, I let my mind drift to all the things I need to do before I can live a normal, boring life: find evidence of Luke’s innocence before everyone else, keep Luke from contacting Tony, tell Mason about his dad’s affair with my mom, take down Aiden’s dad, get Kaitlyn and Ryan off my back, and pass calculus.

Simple.

17

By the time we get to Charlotte’s house, it’s pitch-black outside and the party is in full swing. The music is loud and plays throughout the house, and various Solo cups and empty beer bottles cover every table in sight. A couple of people are playing beer pong on a gray folding table in the hallway, with others around them cheering them on. There are a bunch of people I’ve never seen before all over the place, and I decide I don’t mind. As far as I can tell, any fights or drama happening tonight will not involve me or my friends.

Following Aiden through the house, I greet random people as we pass. Everyone seems friendly, and older, since Jake is in college.

“Aiden! We were wondering when you were going to get here!” Charlotte exclaims. “Where’s Amelia?”

I step around Aiden and watch Charlotte do a double take. “Ohmygod.”

She gets unnecessarily close to me, picks up a strand of my hair, and holds it an inch away from her face. “Your hair! It’s so pretty.”