Nobody said anything else about swim team or the night at Dennis Martin’s house. They debated which island pizza place was the best and talked about how much money you could make babysitting for summer families, and then Kayla asked about a guy Elisa liked at Beach Buzz.

Annabelle got a jolt of extra energy, as if she’d finished the entire bottle of Dr. Pepper Elisa had set out and not just one cup’s worth.

If the conversation was turning to crushes, maybe they’d ask her if there was anybody she was into. Maybe they’d specifically ask her about Connor, even. Maybe there would be a good time to bring up going to the bonfire.

“We’ve been texting a little,” Elisa said, and Kayla set down the piece of pizza she was eating as if this conversation required her full attention.

“Who usually texts first, you or him?” she asked. “And how often?”

Elisa laughed. “Um, him mostly I guess? And most days we end up texting. But I text with you most days, too. It might not mean anything.”

“Yeah, but it’s different when it’s a guy, right?” Annabelle asked, and Kayla and Elisa both looked at her.

Maybe that had been a little too quick, the way she’d jumped in there. Maybe she’d sounded a little too desperate for them to agree.

“I don’t know,” Elisa said slowly. “I have guy friends I text a lot with, too. This feels different, but it’s hard to be sure. He’s not a super-flirty guy, though, I don’t think. So that makes it seem like it could be more.”

She shrugged and helped herself to another piece of the weird pizza. And then she and Kayla locked eyes for way too long.

“Well, that’s good,” Kayla said, but her voice was stiff, as if she were reciting lines she’d memorized for a play. “There are some people who are so super flirtatious that it’s hard to tell what it means when they pay lots of attention to you.”

“Yeah,” Elisa agreed. “My friend Lucy’s like that. She’s really affectionate, and she’s definitely confused people before.” She paused and picked up a banana pepper that had fallen off her slice of pizza. “Connor’s like that, too.”

And now Elisa and Kayla were both watching Annabelle. That jolt she’d felt moments before tipped from excited to panicked. What was happening here?

Kayla nodded. “Right. He’s cute and all, obviously. But such a flirt.”

The windows a few feet away from Elisa’s kitchen table were open, letting in the cool ocean air, but Annabelle’s skin burned so hot that she pushed up her sleeves and fanned her face with her hand.

Why were they saying this? Yes, Connor put his arm around lots of people and chatted with everybody. But he wasn’t just flirting with her. Was he?

“We . . . noticed he’s been paying a lot of attention to you,” Elisa said to Annabelle, and for a second Annabelle was happy, just as she had been when Mitch had noticed the same thing. But then Elisa added, “And Kayla told me a little about the night you got hurt. And . . . he’s a lot older than you are, you know?”