“No, Maggie. It really couldn’t.” She drew up her knees and hugged them to her chest. “I’m not you. I spent the second half of my childhood in foster homes, the first half with a really bad mom and a really mean dad. You don’t think I know how you feel? The difference is how your story unfolds. You’re a familiar character, the protagonist we can all pity and like. You were drinking but not drunk. You fought and left marks. You had sufficient medical proof. And no history of partying or reckless behavior. I bet you didn’t sleep around.” She searched Maggie’s face. Her mouth quirked. “See? A good student, a good girl, a hometown girl. Check, check, check. And afterward, so obviously hurt, so outraged.” She shrugged. “I’m not trying to minimize what happened. It was terrible. And it’s awesome how you tackled it head-on. But for a lot of girls, it’s not like that. It wasn’t for me. A bipolar dropout with an ugly history, an addiction or two, and a record, for good measure? I don’t qualify for justice. You, though…” She breathed a thin laugh. “Shy of those assholes jumping out from behind bushes and wearing ski masks, you painted a convincing picture, a classic picture. Nearly a dictionary example.”

The steering wheel was slick under her hands. “Not for everyone.”

“The cops, you mean?”

“And others. People convinced the whole thing was a lie. Maybe a misunderstanding.”

“Or an accident. ‘Whoops. Didn’t mean to put that there.’” She shook her head, disgusted. “Well, at least the college handled it.” She sighed. After a lull: “No one ever handled anything for me.”

Not true. Every single day Maggie saw people handling Linnie’s problems. “Sam tries.”

“Sam wishes I were someone I’m not, someone like his mom. He wants to save me.”

“What do you expect when you call him for help?”

She conceded with a throaty sound. “But for the record, I only called him after trying Ashlyn, Jess, and Allie.”

“He thinks you want him to save you—that you’re testing him, putting yourself in dangerous situations, then waiting to see if he’ll rescue you.”

She smiled. “My whole life is dangerous.”

“You upset him. That upset Kate.”

Linnie looked away sharply. “I’m sorry about that, but why did he get worked up with Kate standing right there? He could have taken my call in a separate room. He could have just said, ‘Not available. Got to go,’ and hung up instead of lecturing me. I didn’t ask him to rail in front of Kate. He should have known better.”