“Answer the question,” I say, tapping my foot on the sidewalk. “How do you know Kelly, Drew?”

“We’re working on an extra-credit research project for one of our professors. She came over to work on it, we were watching TV after we finished, and she fell asleep. That’s it.” He looks at me, his eyes pleading.

“I thought you just met her yesterday. If you were working on an extra-credit project, wouldn’t she be in your class?”

“She’s in a different class, same professor.”

“Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter.” I turn and start to walk away. Frank turns to keep up with me, and Drew’s cameraman turns back toward the house, ready to follow him back inside. But Drew’s not finished, and he continues to follow me.

“What are you getting so upset about, anyway? I’m allowed to hang out with whoever I want. You have a boyfriend, Ally, remember?”

“Oh, please,” I say, losing my battle with the tears. They start flowing down my face, making hot streaks on my cheeks. “Don’t flatter yourself. This isn’t about that, and you know it. It’s about being a good friend and not messing around with someone who would write that kind of article.”

He looks confused. “What article?” he asks.

“The article she wrote about us!” I throw my hands up in the air, amazed at his stupidity. He looks at me blankly. “Don’t even tell me you didn’t know, Drew. That girl pretended to be my friend for months just so she could write a stupid article about the show.”

“Ally,” he says, his voice softening. “I didn’t know. I swear. Now, please, can we just go inside and talk about this?” He moves toward me, and for one awful and amazing second, I think he’s going to put his arms around me. But I push him away.

“No,” I say. “We can’t talk about this. You expect me to believe you had no idea? I would think you’d realize that was the girl who printed all that shit about me, and about Jasmine and Simone! Come on, Drew, it was a pretty big goddamn deal.”

“And when was I supposed to realize that? When you were ignoring me and blowing me off?”

“I wasn’t ignoring you or blowing you off!” I’m sobbing now, and I reach up and wipe my tears away with the back of my hand angrily. “Besides, you said we were cool.”

“Well, maybe we’re not anymore,” he says softly, his eyes meeting mine.

“Really? So you lied? Shocker.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that it seems pretty unlikely that you and psycho girl up there were just hanging out.”

“We weren’t hanging out! We were working on a group project, and she ended up falling asleep in my bed.”