But even knowing this, I still had a hard time doing her dares. Eventually the consequences of telling the truth became too risky and I had to start doing them, and slip by slip, it became easier. Or more precisely, harder and harder to stop. But Kori never changed. She never had to. And now, two years later, staring at her notebook in the privacy of my bedroom, I finally had access to all those truths Kori had kept tucked so safely inside.

I reread her Tempting Fate list, remembering how there was nothing Kori wouldn’t do, nothing she put off, nothing she was afraid of or had to think about. Nothing she wanted to leave undone.

And now in my hands, I held a whole list of things.

1. Sing with Bleeder Valve.

2. Get a tattoo.

3. Work things out with Shay.

4. Confront D.

5. Tell Serena.

And she was daring me to do them for her. Things I didn’t even understand.

What did she want to tell me? Who was D.? And why did she need to confront him or her?

Things I couldn’t possibly do—sing with Bleeder Valve? Get a tattoo?

But there was one thing—work things out with Shay.

Maybe there was something I could do about that one. I mean, I wasn’t so sure about dealing with some guy I’d never met, but I did know how to get in touch with him.

I hadn’t turned my PC on since the night of the party, and watching it flicker to life felt both weird and good. When I saw the message that the computer hadn’t been shut down properly, I remembered Kori using it, turning it off as soon as I came in the room. At the time, something about it struck me as odd, like she didn’t want me to know something. Now I was certain it had something to do with Shay, or more precisely: shaym. Obviously he meant more to her than she let on, but why all the secrecy?

I pulled up the chat history log, my heart racing at the sight of the last exchange.

dynamitehackr: i need 2 meet u

dynamitehackr: 2nite

shaym: ru sure?

dynamitehackr: please

dynamitehackr: Golden, The Sleep Inn, 2:00 am

shaym: idk

shaym: Kori. ru still there?

The Sleep Inn? In Golden? Brittney DaSalvo’s words replayed in my head, “I heard she was going to meet someone … some guy who got her pregnant. I heard she went to meet him at a motel to get abortion money …”

Kori had gone to meet someone. It was at a motel. No matter how misguided Brittney’s theories were, she did seem to have an awful lot of facts. Of course, she was the police chief’s daughter.

While Parker might’ve been the last person Kori saw, Shay was the last person she went to see.