Cipher

anyone to know, actually. I just kind of blurted it out.”

The streetlight came through the windshield, illuminating Troy’s green eyes. He looked at her, the stripe of light shifting to his cheekbone and jaw. “I never could figure out why you were with him.”

“Oh, he wasn’t all bad,” Summer said. “Besides, it’s not like you’re an expert at picking gems, either. Kristen was mean. Like punch-you-in-the-face mean. I had no idea why you were with her. Or most any of the girls you date for that matter.”

“I broke up with Kristen a long time ago.”

“Right. And I broke up with Cody.” Summer tucked her leg under her as she twisted in her seat to face Troy. “Now, promise me you won’t do anything. It’s bad enough, and I just want it to be over. I’m done with guys, relationships—the whole stupid mess. I have enough other stuff going on anyway.”

Troy continued to stare out at the street, his posture still rigid.

“Please leave it alone,” she said. “For me.”

“Fine.”

“This night was exactly what I needed. I got to hear awesome music, got a new CD”—she held up the signed case—“and I made progress with Ashlyn.” She placed her free hand on top of Troy’s bicep. “Thanks for letting me come, and picking me up, and being my friend. All that good stuff.”

Troy’s expression softened as he looked at her. “You call me anytime you need me. Tonight reminded me how much fun we used to have together.”

“I was thinking that, too. And now it’ll be even better because there won’t be other people getting in the way, getting mad anytime we try to do stuff together.” Summer glanced at the house and saw Dad’s outline in his bedroom window. “I better go.”

She lunged across the console and gave Troy a quick hug. “Later.” She climbed out of the vehicle and walked up the sidewalk. As she approached the house, she replayed the night, from dancing with Ashlyn, Unicorn Stench ending their killer show with Obligatory, and being able to spend time outside of school with Troy again. For the first time in a week, she didn’t feel completely crappy.

But then she remembered that, according to the Angel of Death, the girl Summer was starting to really like was going to die.

Chapter Eight

The man holds his phone up to his ear and opens the back door of the cab with the other hand. If he gets in, he’s going to be crushed inside, his last breaths spent on that call. One foot in the car.

Somebody has to stop him.

The other foot in.

Somebody has to tell him.

He sits inside. The door begins to swing shut.

Summer shot up in bed. “Don’t get in the cab! You’re going to die!” She gulped for air, trying to get some of it into her straining lungs. It took a moment for her to realize that she was in her bedroom, that she wasn’t fourteen anymore. It was only a dream.

Of course, her dream had really happened. And now she knew the truth. The man had died that night.

Summer lay back down and put her pillow over her head, but she couldn’t block out the image of that man crushed in a car. That had been the first time it’d happened. If it’d been the last, she could’ve gone through life totally blissful, still thinking the image was what she got for watching too many violent action movies with Dad.

Stupid truth.

What seemed like only a few minutes later, the ringing started. Then stopped. Then immediately started again. Summer opened her eyes and looked at her clock. It can’t seriously be one already. Can it?

At last the ringing finally stopped, leaving the house in blessed silence. Summer got up and decided to head down to the kitchen for breakfast. Or lunch. Either way, she was starving.

She poured herself a bowl of Lucky Charms and sat cross-legged in front of the TV. When the phone rang again, Summer decided she should answer it. Whoever it was, wasn’t giving up. She set her bowl of cereal on the coffee table, walked into the kitchen, and picked up the cordless. “Hello?”

“Where are you?” Kendall sounded mad.

Summer thought it was pretty obvious that she was home. Didn’t answering her home phone clue Kendall in? “I’m hanging out, doing a whole lot of nothing.”

“You were supposed to meet me at the mall this morning, and then we were supposed to have lunch with the girls. You missed it.”

“I completely forgot.” Lunch today was supposed to help smooth over all the lunches Summer had skipped out on during the week.

“What’s up with you lately?”

Summer covered a yawn with her hand. “I stayed out late last night, so I slept in.” Not to mention the fitful, nightmare-filled sleep.

“Well I hate to tell you this, but Lexi said that Brooke said that she saw Jenna and Cody last night, and that they were all over each other. Don’t worry, though, I’ve been brainstorming, and I’ve got the perfect solution. According to Lexi, Grossmont’s quarterback is single now, and if you started dating our rival school’s QB, that would totally show Cody.”

“I don’t really want to show Cody anything. I just want to forget about him. I’m over guys.”

Kendall sighed. “You know you’re no fun when you’re all mopey. I don’t have the energy to keep you happy if you don’t even try.”

“I appreciate all the help,” Summer said. “But I’m not ready for another boyfriend.”

“Ugh, this morning these guys kept following me all around the mall. They were the totally-loser type, too. I could’ve used your help, by the way. Lexi’s no good at picking out accessories. She wears those awful chunky hoops with everything she owns.”

Kendall only wanted someone there to echo her opinion. For some reason the girl wanted input before buying anything, yet if you said you didn’t like what she’d picked, she’d be mad for hours. Sounded like Lexi had the nerve to disagree today, poor girl.

“So, if you come over this afternoon I’ll show you what I bought,” Kendall continued. “You can help me figure out how to mix and match with my wardrobe.”

“I can’t this afternoon. I’m catching a movie with Ashlyn.” Silence followed, and Summer felt obligated to fill in the gap. “We started talking last night, and she’s really cool, so we made plans. I’m, uh, sure she wouldn’t care if you wanted to come with us.”

“No. You go ahead and go to a movie with your new friend. Don’t worry about me.” With that, Kendall disconnected.

Summer knew she should call Kendall back and figure out a way to make it better, but the thought exhausted her. Making Kendall happy would have to wait. Right now, she needed to focus on Ashlyn.

* * *

The first few minutes of the car ride were silent after Summer picked up Ashlyn, but before long they were laughing and talking again, like they had been last night at the end of the Unicorn Stench show.

Ashlyn tugged on her seatbelt, pulling it away to twist in her seat. “So, the Cody thing. I know you guys went out for a long time and that you’re hurting over it still, but you know having sex with him wouldn’t have fixed everything, right? If he cared about you, he would care about your feelings, too, not just his.”

The part of her that’d been wondering if it would’ve made a difference broke. She wanted to cry and smile and hug Ashlyn, all at the same time. “Thanks. I needed to hear that. He and I always had our ups and downs, but there at the end, it started being a lot more downs. I dealt with them because…well, don’t mock me, but I didn’t want to lose him, even when he was being a jerk. I didn’t want to be alone. How sad is that?”