We entered the trailhead through the woods near the Ridgeway Institute later that night. It wasn’t an official road, per se. There were tire marks, gravel, and a clear sign that said: No Entry, which was funny since someone had made the effort of hanging lanterns in tree branches on either side of the path. There were even luminescent chalk covered wooden signs all the way to the lake. The 200m sign had a stick figure upside-down on a keg-stand and the 100m sign had two obscure stick figures feeling each other up.

The mirror-silver lake reflected the Ridgeway Institute on top of the hillside woods. Anyone at the school could’ve seen us gathering down here with all the bright fairy lights scattered around the area. It wasn’t a low-key party. Whose ever birthday it was, well, they weren’t worried about getting caught.

Izzy parked Eduardo’s three-seater truck in the makeshift car lot at the old boat launch area. She spoke into a walkie-talkie, “Can everyone hear me?”

“Roger,” Dan confirmed from the heavily modified jeep rumbling beside us.

“You have walkies? Where’s mine?” Eduardo asked, eyes lighting up.

“Traitors don’t get one,” Izzy replied, slapping his hand away from my walkie.

“Because I stepped down as captain?” Eduardo asked.

“Do you think I’m stupid, Ed? There’s only one reason we’re here. You’re sneaking across enemy lines to rendezvous with one of the Ridgeway girls. So, nope, you can’t be trusted with classified communications.” Izzy didn’t give him enough time to process before she spoke into the walkie-talkie, “Kate, give us a signal when enough of the targets are distracted. The rest of you know what to do. Vámonos, Dragons! Make me proud.”

The team jumped out of the purple jeep and followed Izzy into the woods. Their crackled voices communicated every little disturbance; like getting scratched by a branch or slapped in the face by a slimy leaf.

Eduardo stopped me from leaving and asked, “Are they on a manhunt for Dorothy?”

My mouth dropped. “You’re seeing their captain?”

“We hit it off at the carwash, okay? She’s actually cool. She even told me to invite whoever I wanted tonight. I figured it’d be nice for everyone to get along before I said anything about her. Guess that was a dumb idea, huh?” He ran his fingers through his floppy, dark brown hair. “Wait. I’ve got it. You already can’t stand her sister, right? Maybe the team will believe it if you say Dorothy’s a good match for me. She invited me to hang with her friends at the arcade next Saturday. Come see what she’s really like?”

Now so wasn’t the time to tell him his sister organized a revenge scheme against his crush. “I don’t think you get how much Iz hates Dorothy.”

“Which is why I need your stamp of approval.”

“Meddling in twin drama? Hard pass.”

“Hey, I vetted Carter for you.”

“You mean when you and Dan chased him around the haunted house with a chainsaw on Halloween? Thanks for that. He’s traumatized.” I reached for the door handle. “I’m out.”

He caught my wrist, puppy-dog eyes in full force. “Forget Dan. You can sign my cast first.”

My resolve crumbled embarrassingly quick. “Ugh. Fine. I’ll chaperone. If Izzy asks, tell her you asked me when I was wasted.”

He grabbed a sharpie from the glove box. “Deal.”

We played Tic-Tac-Toe on his cast and then skipped rocks off the lake deck while we waited for the party to start. He was better than me, even with his non-dominant arm. I blamed it on the crappy beers we tossed back.

It didn’t take long for Dorothy to saunter around and call out orders through a megaphone. The few Sea Lions at the lake followed their captain’s orders. They set up tables full of beer, thermal carafes, snacks, and insulated food containers, they unfurled lounge chairs, sprinkled glitter everywhere, and hung an enormous banner that said ‘Feliz Cumpleaños!’

Eduardo ditched me when Dorothy laid down the megaphone, leaving me alone with six empty beer cups, only two of which belonged to him. Rosie had to be here somewhere too, right? I scanned the crowd, searching for her. My attention wavered when a group charged into the lake. They pushed in a floatable raft loaded with a bunch of red cups and ping-pong balls. The last person who jumped into the water made me choke on my beer. What was Carter doing here? His idea of a fun night was playing video games until the sun came up. Case in point: the ping-pong he took to the eye sent him hurling back into the water.

I sprawled on my back, shielding my face with my forearms, hoping he wouldn’t notice me when he reemerged. Telling him the truth about me checking his phone wasn’t on my to-do list tonight, especially not while buzzed. Was the hoodie worth waiting for? I could always grab it at the rematch.

“Kate?”

The sudden voice behind me made me jerk around. Rosie stood at the other end of the platform, wearing a ruffled sleeved white button-front shirt tucked into blue jeans. She clutched my hoodie to her stomach, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else. The feeling was mutual. I turned my back, struggling to keep my composure. My boyfriend waded through the water to the front, and my rival came up behind me, probably to push me in the back toward him. Why did I think coming here was a good idea, again?

“Who are you hiding from?” Rosie stage-whispered, doing a big show of scanning the area.

“Nobody?” I lied, using my palm to cover the right side of my face from Carter’s view.

“I totally believe you. You’re not acting weird at all.” She dumped the hoodie over my face. “Here’s Carter’s hoodie back, the one you wanted so bad that you came all the way out here in the middle of nowhere to crash a party no one invited you to.”

I stretched flat on my back again, hoodie beneath my head, not bothering to correct her. “I’m kind of disappointed. You missed the perfect revenge opportunity by not dumping it into the water. What happened to the girl that makes me bad coffee or blows me up with glitter?”

“Wait, what’s wrong with my coffee?” she asked, crouching on her heels beside me, frowning like she had no idea what I was talking about.

“You know what. I think that’s what drove me over the edge when I hosed you down. It was some sort of caffeine deprived rage mixed with… you know… you making me into a paranoid mess? So, no more crazy cheating theories or my head will explode.” Too bad I couldn’t bail on the party without explaining to Izzy why, so I was stuck here until they carried out the prank. Which meant I couldn’t let Rosie blow my cover with Carter. “In fact, if you want to stay, lay down and avoid anyone that might send you back down that rabbit hole.”

I didn’t actually expect her to take me up on my offer. Lo-and-behold, she made a cozy little pillow with one half of my hoodie, and snuggled up beside me. Instead of turning toward the lake to witness the chaos, or focusing her attention on the starry night, she directed her gaze at me, her big brown eyes full of something; something that wasn’t full of accusations or resentment. No, this was different. It made me too aware of the roughness of the ramp beneath my dancing fingertips.

“You’re avoiding him because he found out about you going through his phone?” she asked.

“I haven’t told him,” I admitted, earning a disbelieving slow blink. “I’m an awful girlfriend. I know. Which is why I’m holing up here. What about you? Who are you hiding from?”

“What gave that away?” she asked, pulling her collar away from her neck.

“The fact that you’re still talking to me. I’m not exactly the life of the party. So, who?”

“My sister, who I wouldn’t be avoiding if it wasn’t for you,” she claimed, making me laugh at the dramatic downward turn of her mouth. “It’s true! I was free to do nothing tonight after weeks convincing her I was happy to binge reruns of Grey’s Anatomy. Someone should be at home with our da—damn cat. She’s a senior. She needs close supervision. And lots of meds. Arthritis.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“And then you happened. Dad gave Dotty the rundown on our ‘hose off,’ so now it’s her mission to throw me the biggest party ever.”

“Wait, it’s your birthday?” I asked.

“Yup.”

“And you’re here talking to me, of all people. This must not be your scene, huh?”

“Nope.”

It made more sense why Dorothy ran the show. “You could’ve said no to her and done your own thing.”

“You don’t know her,” she said. “I said ‘no’ when she asked for my permission to get revenge on Hazel for me.”

“Why would you say no to that?” I asked.

“Dotty goes overboard. She got the worst granny panties she could find, stitched Hazel’s name onto them, smeared it with Nutella, sprinkled them with rotten eggs and then hung them up in the changing room for everyone to see after practice. You should’ve seen what she had planned for you before I talked her out of it.” She avoided my wide eyes. “There’s no point fighting her. She’ll do anything she thinks will protect me. Honestly? It’s easier to let it happen.”

“So, you’re stuck miserable at your own party?”

“I’m not miserable.”

“Sure,” I said, standing up, hoodie tucked under my arm. “Anyway, all I’m hearing is, you’re here for me.”

“Because of you,” she corrected.

“And unfortunately for you, I got what I came for. Happy birthday, Torres.”

She called me back after only two steps away. I was about to ask what she wanted when my gaze landed on a scene that made my stomach churn.

There, Carter sat in the middle of a beer pong raft in the lake, while Hazel tugged on his feet, pulling him toward her. They both disappeared beneath the water, only to resurface with slicked-back hair, their wet bodies pressed together, kissing the daylights out of each other.

The gentle ripples of the surrounding water mocked the chaos unfolding inside my brain. It’d taken a month for me to agree to date him because one thing was certain in life: nothing lasted. Everyone left eventually. I’d always figured our expiration date would be at the end of summer. It was something I’d prepared for. This? Not so much.

My fists clenched, and one question raged within my mind. Why?

Rosie stood, surveying the train wreck by my side. “You were right. He’s cheating on you,”

“Yes,” I said.

“With my ex.”

“Yes.”

“Who also cheated on me.”

“Yes.”

“Probably with him.”

Not even a single part of me enjoyed being proven right. “Don’t tell me you think we’re part of some cheater hater club now.”

“Unofficially, maybe,” she said, offering a sympathetic pat to the shoulder.

How would my friends react if that was my rival’s response? Dan would probably threaten to beat Carter up or offer me a joint. Eduardo’s go-to ice-cream therapy didn’t sound bad, but a captain-styled motivational speech would send me over the edge. Izzy would be even more determined to make me open up about my feelings. What a nightmare.

“Yeah, no, that’s not happening,” I said.

I stormed toward Eduardo’s truck, wanting to blast Miles Davis so loud it’d drown out the loud thumping in my chest. When the passenger door handle didn’t budge, I marched into the woods, onto the hiking trail. Carter’s face blurred into the dark green and brown of the trees, sweeping away the stinging sensation of my nails digging into my palms. His stupid, dopey smile and stupid, oblivious eyes. Those Flamingos’ coffees he always plied me with. All the damn quizzes. How much of it was an act?

Twigs snapped under my combat boots, masking the footsteps behind me until a hand seized my wrist, pulling me short.

“Hold up, Kate,” Rosie said.

“I got what I needed. I’m going home.”

“Do you even have a ride?”

My ride was still attempting to trail Eduardo and Dorothy. “I’ll walk.”

“Ten miles?”

“Hitch-hike, then. Why do you care?”

“Because you’re a girl walking through the woods in the dark. Alone.” When I raised an unfazed eyebrow, she huffed. “Fine. Run away. I don’t care.”

The death-grip on my wrist said otherwise. “What do you want me to do? Them knowing we caught them red-handed won’t change anything. I’m done with him either way. And she’s your ex. It’s not like you can break up all over again.”

Her lips opened and closed before she dropped my wrist. “Forget it.”

“No. You chased me for a reason. Tell me.”

“I don’t want to give Hazel another opportunity to make someone else feel like I did, okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“I knew something was up with her for weeks. The classic signs were there. She didn’t have good excuses to bail on me. She was ‘busy’ but couldn’t tell me why. She kept her phone always faced away from me. We felt off. She kept telling me it was all in my head, that I felt guilty for being so busy all the time. I ended up believing her for a while. I felt bad that I accused her of anything when she was right. I was always the busy one. She made me doubt myself so much—my instincts—my feelings.” She halted for a second, shoulders rising and falling. “And when I found out the truth…I wish she’d never gotten to see how much she hurt me; you know? Like she shouldn’t have got to see my pain or how much I cared. It’s too late for me to change that now. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t be like me. Don’t show him how much you care.”

She curled in on herself, arms drawn tight around her middle; small, yet ready to go back to her party with or without me. That took guts.

We weren’t friends or anything, but we had a common enemy waiting for us.