“I don’t want to hug it out or anything, so don’t look so excited. And this lying-to-Vera stuff . . . I know how she feels about your family, but—”

But then Peak bursts through the door, the dog rushing in and jumping up on me with damp paws. “Oh. Everything’s okay?” She sounds surprised. I hate that.

I run my hand through Cooper’s fur as he wiggles in my lap. “Yeah, we’re just watching TV. What’d you expect?”

“I . . . don’t know,” she says, looking at Jayla and then back at me.

“All right.” Jayla grabs her phone. “Pizza?”

“Yeah, definitely,” I say. “I’m starving.”

Peak waits for Jayla to go hunt down a menu and then squats in front of me. “You sure you’re good?”

“Great,” I say, kissing her forehead until she all-out grins.

Another lie.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

PEAK: Are you ever going to tell me what Jayla said to you while I was out with Coop?

BATS: No, probably not.

PEAK: Rude.

BATS: I like your friends.

PEAK: I’m jealous. I want to meet yours!

BATS: So, you want to meet yourself?

PEAK: Ha ha. Funny. No, I want to meet your friends back in Seattle.

BATS: Awkward.

PEAK: ?

BATS:

PEAK: You’re so dramatic.

BATS: Yes. But you like it.

PEAK: Only very occasionally.

BATS: I’ll take it!

PEAK: Seriously though, tell me about them?

BATS: There’s not much to tell. I didn’t have a lot of friends before I left here, and I had even fewer in Seattle. I wasn’t ever in the same school long enough. There were kids who used me to get into Geekery events, a few random hookups . . . That’s about it.

PEAK: Wasn’t there anyone important?

BATS: One. But in retrospect, I don’t know if I’d say important. I thought he was at the time, but now . . . ?

PEAK: Oooh, tell me everything.

BATS: Not much to tell. Rich boy with daddy issues. Trying to forget.

PEAK: I meant tell me about the other kid

BATS: So funny, Peak. So funny.

PEAK: What happened?

BATS: Someone is always more into it than the other person.

PEAK: I’m sorry.

BATS: How do you know it wasn’t him!

PEAK: I’ve met you?

BATS:

PEAK: Am I wrong though?

BATS: Not telling.

PEAK: Uh-huh.

BATS: I’m trying to be mysterious. Is it working?

PEAK: Nope.

BATS: Fine, it was me.

PEAK: I know.

BATS: You’re a very rude person, Peak. You’re lucky I like you.

PEAK: I am.

BATS: A rude person? Or lucky I like you.

PEAK: Not telling. I’m trying to be mysterious.

BATS: It’s working.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Ridley