“Get up or I’m coming in after ya!”

I jumped out of bed. “I’m up, I’m up!” I swung the door open. Nothing like waking up to your ninety-five-year-old babysitter in a T-shirt with a picture of a Bundt cake and the saying I LIKE BIG BUNDTS AND I CANNOT LIE.

“How does some hashy-brownies for breakfast sound?”

“Perfect,” I said with a grin. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me, you little hoodlum, you’re the one who’s gonna be fixin’ ‘em. Now get yourself in the shower and get dressed, we’ve got a big day. Oh, what? You thought you could go around wreaking havoc and you were going to get to sleep in and watch TV all day? Your mom’s got floors that need scrubbing, and those litter boxes of mine don’t clean themselves.”

Note to self: three-day suspension equals three days of Mrs. Patterson’s idea of boot camp.

“I’m going, I’m going,” I said, heading toward the bathroom. I couldn’t help but smile, thinking things were looking up. Well, except for that business about the litter boxes.

Everything I knew had been turned inside out. Kori had died, but in a way she was and always would be with me.

Mrs. Patterson was right; people didn’t leave us. Because no matter how short their time on Earth is, they’ve impacted someone else’s soul. Kori’s fingerprints were all over mine. With every dare she put me through, I’d gotten stronger.

I finally knew why Kori had sought out our friendship and why she kept our bond a secret. And I knew what Kori had meant when she’d told Kieren that I protected her. All this time I’d thought she was protecting me, but now I understood that it also worked the other way around. I was her ace in the hole if her father ever hurt her again.

On the dam when she talked about my needing to trust, she wasn’t talking about fate. She wanted me to trust in myself.

And now that I knew her secret, I knew why. All the crazy dares were just her way of preparing me for the truth. Making sure I wouldn’t need him if that time ever came.

And I didn’t need him. I had Mom, and Cole and Lexi, Marci, Parker, Shay, Anthony, Mrs. Patterson, and at least a hundred cats. Like Doc said—I did live in a forest; problem was, I had been cutting down all of the trees.

But that was all going to change. It was a lot easier to cut a tree down than it was to grow one. I wondered if that was going to be Doc’s next proverb. It should be.

I even made a new list to tempt fate with:

1. Try sushi with Lexi. Without puking.

2. Go to a football game with Cole. And decorate Adrian17’s truck with condoms.