It won't be like last time. I feel better already. "Stop ruining my moment. I've sat like this every summer as it ends," I reminded her with a sigh. "I know." She drummed her nails on her knee. "You say that every fucking year." "And I mean it." Another breeze kissed my cheeks, more cool than salty, and I breathed it in. "Every fucking year." We sat until tiny white stars nestled in a navy-blue blanket overhead. Flicks of moonlight capped the waves. As the activity slowed behind us, the same realization hit us: summer was over. "Last year." Harper sighed with a far-off, almost awestruck gleam in her eyes. "Then we're free. Totally free." "It won't be that bad." I laughed at her melodramatic whisper. "One more football season first, then my normal brother returns." She snorted. "Exactly, because Jake is a model example of normal." "He's on edge more than normal," I admitted with a sigh. "But you know what I mean." Jake had a lot of pressure on his shoulders. While mine wasn't that the school expected a repeat division championship, I was under pressure too. "I guess college applications start first." She gave me a wry smile. "Not that I have a clue what to study, but we can't all be thrown full scholarships like in your family." "That's going to be Jake." Football recruiters eyed him since our sophomore year. Nonetheless, my early applications were sent off to my schools of choice. "That's why I applied for that school… thing." "Don't sell yourself as short as you are, dear Elle. You have a good chance to be valedictorian." Her smile shifted to supportive. Academics were the college entrance leg I stood on. The school's senior program would pad my applications. Given its vague description, 'Incoming seniors can participate in a multi-school opportunity. Upon successful program completion, students shall receive a letter of recommendation from Principal Jans,' I had no idea what it involved. Before I answered Harper, my phone buzzed again. "What the fuck is up with your phone?" She eyed my stomach. "It's been buzzing all night, for someone who has only five contacts. Unless…" Her suggestive voice made me shake my head. "Not what you're thinking." As I pulled my phone out, a small slip of paper fluttered out of my pocket. "Alex and I don't talk this much." "You English Lit people should be better at phone sex," she grumbled. Another buzz in my palm prompted her groan, but my eyes widened at twenty-seven notifications. The phone store person insisted I needed a social media account, and set one while demoing how to install apps as if I was clueless. Who were all these new followers? I didn't recognize a single name. If it was a joke from Jake at the party, then I swore- "Is it dickhead?" Her mouth arched into a scowl. "That would be the fastest his ass got drunk at a party, even if he and Camille did break up." My eyes shot up at that news. "For real this time?" I could count Jake's 'real' girlfriends on one hand, and Camille was the worst. My heart skipped at the idea they were done-done. Jake was miserable, until about two weeks ago. "Not sure if I should be happy about tits-for-brains dumping your brother." Harper sighed as she shut my theory down. "Or feel sorry for you, Elle." "Me? Why?" "If you want to fight off the football groupie sluts this year, be my guest." As usual, she was right. The extent to which girls targeted Jake's attention was ridiculous. I gained false friends, who dropped me as if I carried a contagious disease once they realized he never listened to me. If he valued my opinion, then he would study harder to ensure a backup plan for football. "If he's banging some rebound flavor of the week who thinks she's special in the back of your car, then he's probably done by now. Might wanna Lysol and Febreeze that shit." "Harper." I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to think about Jake like that." She pretended to shudder, her eyes gleaming. "Thinking about your brother in any way drives me to celibacy." For someone who didn't want to think about him, she talked about him a lot. Before I teased her, my phone buzzed again. It had to be updating its barebones state. There was a lot of setup shit with a new phone and I hadn't had a chance to add in much. But my phone buzzed again and again and again. "What the hell?" Thirty-five new followers and I sure as hell didn't know thirty-five people. "Think it's broken?" "Maybe it has a virus?" I chewed my lip and frowned. "How the hell would my phone get a virus?" "That's right, I forgot. You use yours for, what exactly? A coaster? Vibrator?" "Emergencies and transportation," I clarified with a frown. "Nuh-uh." Her head shook, flipping her blonde locks - how were hers not ratty like mine? - over her shoulders. "Transporting Jake's drunk ass isn't an emergency." "Better than him getting into an accident." My eyebrows drew tighter. I recognized none of these contacts. Was it a joke? Had Jake passed my number around at the party? An unsettled feeling crept into my stomach as I picked up the piece of paper. A phone number was scribbled next to a note. How was this in my pocket? "Harper, what do you make of this?" "You sure know how to make an impression," she read with furrowed eyebrows. "With a number. That's weird as fuck. Did you find it on the beach?" "It was in my pocket." I slipped my hands inside, fished around, and came up empty. "You don't think it was one of those Salesian guys, do you?" "Better not be." She tipped her head back and laughed, before giving me a devious smile. It widened when her fingers were on her phone. "Good thing you have my lack of boundaries because there's only one way to find out." The prick of 'this is not a good idea' warnings tingled the skin on the back of my neck. "What are you doing?" My steady pulse increased the more her thumbs worked over her screen. Why did she always act first and think second? "Let's think about this first."