I’d barely slept all night. I’d turned the memory of Declan and Luisa over and over in my head. I tossed and turned, batting that new memory, letting it grow clearer, all the details solidifying in cinematic clarity.

Luisa had blamed me for Declan’s death, not as his friend. She blamed me because she’d been in love with him. Declan was the easiest person to fall in love with. He had such a caring heart. If I hadn’t known them so well, I might have thought they’d slept together to get revenge on Kane and me. But Luisa and Declan weren’t as cold as Kane and I were. They’d cared about each other.

And that was what nearly killed me.

That look in his eyes that I wanted to believe was cold and unfeeling? It wasn’t. It was more like…him giving up on his convictions, deciding that all this time, his rose-colored-glasses view of the world had been a joke.

It was that look that made me decide against a revenge scheme. No matter what he did to me, I was dead set against hurting him again.

And as much as I’d wanted to confront them, I still believed in Declan and me. We’d had more than a year together, a million memories that still managed to warm my heart, even when our relationship had soured. Back then, I was sure that we could turn things around if we both wanted it enough.

I pull myself out of bed and get ready for school. Kane is already outside when I hurry to my Jeep. It’s warmer on this first day of March, and the piles of snow that have been hanging around seem to be liquefying and draining away. There are muddy patches of grass visible in the dingy snow. Without a word, I climb into my Jeep, but before I start the engine, I look at him.

“So they were sleeping together,” I say. “But we didn’t confront them.”

He nods. “You didn’t want to. You seemed convinced that things could go back to the way they were if we chilled. So we did.”

“But they didn’t go back, did they?”

“No,” he says. “They got worse.”

“Worse, how?”

“You and I cut ourselves off from each other. We agreed we’d put our energy into making things right. And we did that, for like two weeks.” He shrugs. “You were so sure that he’d realize it was a mistake. You wanted him to confess and ask to start over.”

“But he never did?”

He shakes his head.

“And then?”

Kane reaches over and starts the ignition. Even though it’s warmer than past days, it’s still cold, something I don’t realize until the heat is pumping full blast at my face. “Come on, Hail.”