I nod. “I know it. He couldn’t have cared about Luisa. Please. She told me she thought it’s my fault he died.”

“You spoke to her?”

I nodded again. Wow, it turns out, a lot has happened since I last spoke to Juliet. “Yes. I guess she meant he was so full of guilt over hurting me. And I…” I blush sheepishly. “I didn’t make it easy for him. I highlighted quotes in his Bible.”

“You did?” She gives me a reproachful look. “But that alone wouldn’t make Declan…”

“No, but maybe there were a thousand little things I didn’t know about that all contributed. Luisa would know. She was spending more time with him. And if she’s blaming me, something tells me she’s probably covering for herself. Maybe she pressured him to end things with me.”

“You think?”

“I know the way she pushed Kane. She was relentless. He could only take her in small doses.”

“So you think Declan’s relationship with Luisa was his undoing?”

“She has this subtle way about her. She comes across as all rainbows and sunshine, but she can be lethal.”

Juliet purses her lips. “And where is Luisa now?”

“Terrorizing Kane, once again. She’s got a magnet for him. They made up. They’re together.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

I shrug. “I don’t have any feelings about that. Luisa never lets anything touch her. She comes out of every crisis prettier and shinier than she was going in.”

“You sound bitter.”

“Well, considering I’m still here, a year later…talking to you. I wish I had her resiliency.”

Juliet checks her notes and says, “It concerns me that you don’t have a best friend to lean on anymore. I suppose you still have Kane, and—”

I shake my head. I hadn’t seen him since Friday, but everyone was talking about his broken shoulder. Word on the street was that he was pissed. Baseball is his life, and he’d been waiting all winter for it to start up again. And who knows if it’ll affect his chance at getting into college? He probably wants to kill me.

“No. That’s kind of… No. You see, we… He and I…”

She’s staring at me, and I can’t say it. Talk about going around in circles, banging my head against the wall. “Seems like you have a lot to say to me today,” Juliet comments.

I sigh. “It was a mistake. In the end, Kane chose Luisa over me. And that’s all. Like I said, prettier and shinier. I don’t want to talk about that. I’m okay. Really.”

I push the corners of my lips into a smile to prove it.

“All right,” she says, closing her notebook. “You’re moving on, and that’s important. Are you finding something to hitch your wagon to that isn’t part of the past?”

“Like…?”