“She takes the activity bus,” I mumbled.

He tilted his head in confusion. “Her friend Fiona has to ride the bus, so she does, too. It’s a solidarity thing,” I explained. I didn’t want him to think I was a complete monster.

“Wow. Riding the activity bus when you don’t have to,” Jude said, impressed. “She should win some kind of friendship award for that.”

“Mmm,” I said, still stewing. If Josie was such a great friend, why was she being such a shitface to me lately? I mean, we’d never been the super-close-best-friend type of sisters. Since we started going to different dance schools years ago, it was like our lives had steadily drifted apart, each of us pursuing our own interests. But things had gotten undeniably worse after my injury. I knew I hadn’t been the most pleasant person to be around, but she was impossible sometimes.

I sped up, needing to be out of here. We were almost at the doors to the parking lot, but then Jude spun around. “Josie Keeler!” he yelled through cupped hands. “I salute you for your epic display of bus loyalty!”

Josie and her friends broke into giggles, shooting Jude glances and whispering among themselves.

“Hey, there’s a seat left on the activity bus if you want to join them,” I snapped, pushing open the door.

“Coming,” he said with an infuriating grin.

CHAPTER NINE

A COLD DRIZZLE HIT US on the way to the car. I picked up the pace, trying to ignore the slight limp in my gait. My leg got so much stiffer on cold, damp days. It made me even grumpier than I already was.

As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot, Jude fiddled with the buttons until he found the Broadway channel on satellite radio.

“Oh my God,” I said, glancing at him in disbelief. “We just spent two hours singing musical music. Aren’t you sick of it?”

“It’s musical season, Alina. You gotta lean into it.” A new song started and Jude sang along to the bouncy rhythm. He looked at me. “You do know what this song is, right?”

“No.”

“It’s Cabaret! It’s Liza!” He threw his hands in the air.

“You’re going to have a frustrating ride home if you expect me to know any of these songs,” I said as I looked over my shoulder to switch lanes.

“Huh. Interesting.” He squinted at me. “Veeeery interesting.”

I rolled my eyes when he didn’t elaborate. “What?”

“You shamed me for not caring enough about getting the lead in the musical, and yet you seem completely indifferent—almost hostile—to musicals.”

I shrugged. “Because the musical is your thing. You should care about your role in it. The musical is not my thing. And yeah, I know I’m in it, but still, it’s just not.”