He ruffled my hair and walked off, one of the guys joining him. The other girl in our little group, Jess, watched them go for all of three seconds before saying, “So, are you guys dating, or…?”

“What?” I snorted. “No way! Are you for real?”

She shrugged. “You two just look pretty cozy.”

I laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding. He’s my friend. Not in a million years would we ever be—you know, dating.”

“Nothing wrong with being friends first,” one of the guys whose name I couldn’t remember said. “It’s like the start of any great rom-com.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not me and Lee. Trust me.”

I wasn’t used to people asking about me and Lee. Everyone at school knew we’d always been practically joined at the hip, that we came as a package deal. I’d never really thought how it looked to an outsider.

I was still laughing about it when Lee came back.

Chapter 12

It was late, and a few people had started to leave the party. The alcohol supply had mostly run out, and the buzz it had given people seemed to be fading.

“Okay,” Kory announced, heaving himself up from where he lay on the ground. He shook the sand out of his hair with one hand. “This is starting to get boring. Come on.”

So we did. We all got up and followed him from the clusters of partygoers to a small, dying campfire a little farther off, where we sat around on some logs.

After dumping a little more driftwood onto the fire, a guy called Miles said, “Truth or dare?”

“Sure,” everyone said, nodding. I wriggled into a more comfortable spot on the log and hooked my arm through Lee’s, feeling the chill of the night air now, glad he’d reminded me to bring a hoodie.

“I’ll go first!” Jess chirped. “Um…Maria! Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Your most embarrassing moment. And don’t spare us any details.”

Maria’s olive cheeks turned pink. “Right. Okay. Ugh, I hate you for this. Right. So in my sophomore year of high school, some kid tripped me up in the canteen and I, um, I spilled my lunch all over the head cheerleader.”

“It doesn’t stop there.” Jess giggled. “Go on.”

Maria shot her a glare, but smiled a little. “My pants ripped when I fell.”

There was a moment of silence. Then we all burst out laughing.

“Oh my gosh,” I gasped. “Are you serious?”

“Honestly, girl, I wish I wasn’t. My turn,” Maria said. “But, Jess, I am going to get you back for that one later. Hmm, who should I…Miles.”

“Yep.”

“Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“I dare you…to…Oh, God, I’m terrible at dares! Someone else think of one.”