It never took more than a few threatening sentences for Aidy to toss me under the bus. When I caught sight of her in my peripheral vision, she looked as tight-lipped as me.

“We’ll wash it,” I blurted out. Aidy’s solidarity surprised me so much I couldn’t stop myself from redirecting the whole conversation. There was no telling how long I had before she changed her mind and admitted everything.

“You’re not understanding me,” Dad said. “Is anyone hurt?”

Ah. Bloody clothes. Our stubborn resistance. As if another one of our friends had dropped dead, and we’d decided the first go-round was such a mess, it was better to keep it to ourselves this time.

“No,” I said, making hard eye contact, daring him to notice the bruises I’d concealed.

“I hope to God that’s true. You two have your mother convinced you’re actually playing by the rules this time. I’m going to take her out to a nice dinner, and you’re going to take that time to do whatever it takes to make her keep believing that. And then you’re going to tell me exactly what went on today and why there’s a bag of bloody clothes out back.” We didn’t have a chance to speak before he added, “You both know exactly what will happen if you don’t.”

For me, it was Camp Califree. A longer stay there, or an earlier departure date.

For Aidy, whatever it was made her say “We understand” in a low, solemn voice.

“I’m sure you do,” Dad agreed. “Please remember I love you.” He left Aidy and me in the kitchen, the two of us conflicted by the ebb and flow we faced in our every shared breath.

“What do they have on you?” I asked when our parents drove off for their dinner.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Aidy headed over to the house phone. She picked it up and started dialing, leaving me no choice but to go full drama, grabbing the receiver and slamming it back down. “I got caught plagiarizing,” she said, bored with the staginess of our exchange. Before I could even form the necessary shocked response or ask the obvious questions, she kept going. “That’s the short version. It was actually Harrison who was caught, but he was the one writing papers for me.”

I couldn’t hold back my shock.