But I missed Declan more. We went on as if life was the same, but there was a subtle shift. Every time Declan blew me off, despite having a good excuse, I worried. In the first weeks of the new year, he was always busy with some school project. This time was worse than when he’d ignored me before. He wasn’t fixing up a new car for me. He said he was busy because he’d missed classes while he was out with the flu, but he definitely didn’t have the senioritis that had hit most Deer Hills seniors.

It was more than that, though. Whenever we kissed, he felt stiff in my arms. I couldn’t help but think he was imagining me kissing Kane. He’d never been much of a talker, but he was quieter than usual. I’d vowed to be extra sweet to him, bringing him an extra boat of french fries for lunch, leaving notes in his locker. He used to call me the best girlfriend ever and pull me into his arms every chance he got. Now he smiled mirthlessly, and we barely touched.

Our whole group of six had fractured, and it was all my fault.

“Where are we going?” I asked Nina, confused. It was after last period, and I’d gathered my books for weekend homework so I could make a quick getaway to the junior parking lot.

She winked at me and showed me three of her dad’s credit cards. “To the mall. My dad was feeling generous last night.”

“I thought we were going to the basketball game.”

The Deer Hills High basketball team had finally gotten into the playoffs, which had never happened before, so the entire student body was having an unusual fit of school spirit. Deer Hills excelled at baseball and football, because of Kane. But we’d sucked at basketball. So everyone was wearing Deer Hills red today, and we’d had a big pep rally after lunch.

I’d noticed the problem then, when I’d seen Nina sitting alone, cheeks red, face scrunched in a snarl. Nina never sat alone. Javier was so attached to her that he might as well have been a wart.

She shook her head. “Not us. You really care about basketball?”

The answer to that was no. But I did care that the six of us would finally be together again. Maybe we could heal some rifts, bonding over our shared school spirit. Mostly, I wanted to heal with Declan. I wanted to make things right, so much so that if I could’ve subtracted years from my life in order to turn back time to before New Year’s, I would have. “Well…”

“Javier and I broke up,” Nina announced grandly.

“You did? Why?”