I glanced back and noticed Josh right behind her. God, I knew going to his house had sent the wrong message. Ever since I’d “called on him,” he’d been trailing me with starry eyes and hope-filled smiles. Sitting at our round table all week long.

“I don’t believe it,” I muttered, and Cole turned to look.

“I’ll tell you later,” she whispered as she took my hand. I looked back at her, confused. What could she possibly have to tell me—about my crushy stalker boy—later? And that’s when I saw Josh’s sweaty palm on Lexi’s back. It was so quick I convinced myself I’d imagined it.

Cole pulled me through the hall toward the entry of the new auditorium. As we rounded the corner, I lurched to a stop, anchoring my feet and yanking Cole to a halt. Right in front of me was Kori.

A sculptured clay bust of Korianne was more accurate. She looked exactly like the girl in the casket and nothing like the girl I remembered. I swallowed, shrugged off Cole’s clasping fingers.

Alone, I approached the statue, creeping up on it as if it might start talking to me, which could very well happen, given the fragility of my sanity. “Please tell me I’m not seeing what I’m seeing.”

Lexi shuddered and Josh—Josh!—put his arms around her.

“The Kitzlers are dedicating the new auditorium to her memory,” Cole said from behind me. “Regina told me Mrs. Kitzler had an artist do a mold of Kori’s face right before they did her makeup for the funeral.”

I stepped closer, examining the oddly familiar and yet still so foreign eyes of the statue. They had the blank stare I expected from a girl who looked like that. Those damn dead eyes immortalized. Seeing them caused everything inside of me to shatter, falling in on itself like the frozen reservoir does at the start of the spring thaw.

Lexi begged me to breathe. Cole stroked my hair.

I told myself it was just a statue. It wasn’t even anyone I remembered or knew. It was Twilight Zone humor at its finest and cruelest, and I wasn’t about to stand and stare at it, give it credibility.

I dropped into my seat next to Cole’s. I didn’t really want to ask about Lexi and Poor Josh, but I was desperate to distract myself from what I’d just seen.

“So what’s the story with Lex and Josh, anyways? When did that happen?”

“God, Ser, it’s about time you noticed.”

“I noticed,” I snapped. How could I have missed it? Poor Josh got an RL girl. How could anyone not notice? Lexi and Josh. Josh and Lexi. I don’t know why it bothered me—it wasn’t like I wanted to date Josh or anything, but still.