I shrugged. He’d been largely insulated from Luisa, because even though the six of us would always go out, she’d usually only talk to Nina, me, or Kane. Declan really only talked to the boys or me. Luisa’s interactions with Declan had been limited.

“You don’t know her. She can be a little…much. And she’ll probably want to sneak in your window to see Kane.”

“I know a little, from what I see when Kane brings her home. She seems nice,” he said, casually. “Pretty.”

I stared at him. It was an understatement, because Luisa was gorgeous. But what surprised me was that he’d noticed. He’d never, ever given me a reason to think he’d looked at other girls. Now I was more than annoyed. “What?”

“Relax. It’s not like I want to do her,” he said. No, he didn’t want to do anyone, clearly. “I’m human, so I notice these things. Kane treats her like garbage.”

“And yet she still keeps going back for more. So whose fault is that?” I asked, dismissing it. I looked at the message that lit up my screen and suddenly felt guilty. My father had a heart attack, and my mom and brother are spending the night at the hospital with him. I hate being all alone.

Come over, I typed in, showing the message to Declan. He didn’t say anything, but I felt like the bad guy. Kane treated her like garbage, and I can’t say I did anything to stop it. No, I encouraged it. But that was what we did, and Luisa didn’t ever seem to put up a fight about it. She kept going back for more punishment. “I hope she bangs on your window at two in the morning, wanting to see Kane. I can’t play nurse to her. I have to write a ten-page report by Tuesday, and I haven’t even read twenty pages of this thing.”

“Gatsby’s good stuff. You’ll like it.” He shrugged. “Just send her over. He’s home.”

I was surprised. It wasn’t like Kane to be home on a Saturday night. “Doing what?”

He reached into the back seat and pulled out Gatsby, which now had a bent cover. “What do you think? Trying to finish up his summer homework. You guys are like two peas, you know that?”

I frowned. I may have grown up with Kane, and while I may have loved him, all that made Kane Kane—laziness, ego, sarcasm, aloofness—weren’t particularly nice traits. I’d have much rather been in that nice, sweet, caring pod with Declan.

But I had to admit, as much as I didn’t want to believe it, that he probably had me pegged right.

Tuesday, February 26

I never thought I’d see the day Kane went to church.