The next morning, Rachel dropped me off in town and I made a beeline for the ice cream parlor. It took me a moment to realize that one of the two people standing behind the counter was not supposed to be back there. Lena and Jesse, who looked startlingly identical when they were both wearing the same shade of blue, were engaged in a clearly tense conversation. If it weren't for the small bell tied to the front door, I doubted either of them would've noticed me enter.

Both their heads snapped towards me at the same time.

"Hey guys," I greeted. "Did you coordinate outfits today or something?"

"Waverly!" Lena and Jesse both exclaimed at the same time. I cowered back a little as Lena hurried around the cashier's desk and Jesse launched himself over it. Both of them came thundering at me and Lena grabbed my shoulders.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying not to yawn again.

Eight o'clock in the morning was far too early to start work.

Or be attacked by a pair of freckle-faced twins.

"Do you know anything about what happened between Blake and Alissa last night?" Lena demanded.

"Um," I trailed off. Should I tell her that Alissa had texted Blake and he had gone over to her house? No, probably not. That would just open up for the question why, exactly, I had been hanging out with Blake in the first place. And I really didn't need Lena and Jesse figuring out that Blake was giving me swim lessons at the public pool. So I said, "Nope."

"I told you she wouldn't know," Jesse told Lena.

I narrowed my eyes at the twins. "Know what?"

"Why Alissa sent me a text saying she was taking a personal day," Lena said. "Whatever that means."

"So you think it has something to do with Blake?" I asked the two of them.

Jesse opened his mouth to speak, but Lena beat him to it.

"Of course!" she exclaimed.

"Ethan's at work today and I already asked him if he knew what was going on," Jesse explained. "He said he didn't. And Blake's not at work or answering his phone, so..."

I frowned.

Last night, I had fallen asleep while it was still light outside. I hadn't heard whether or not Blake had returned home at all. He probably hadn't. Just as I started to imagine what could've kept Blake Hamilton over at Alissa's house all night, I heard the soft ding of a bell behind me. Lena immediately put on her best polite smile for the customer. But as she turned towards the door, her smile was replaced by an annoyed frown.

"You!"

I spun around.

My heart stuttered for a beat before coming back to normal—if you consider a heart beating like a bongo drum under the hands of a very enthusiastic drummer to be normal.

Blake stood in the doorway. 

He looked exhausted. His shirt was wrinkled like he'd slept in it. Maybe he wasn't a morning person—or, maybe he'd endured an exhausting night with Alissa.

Just as the last thought entered my mind, Blake's eyes met mine.

I was saved when the twins charged him and began the interrogation.

"Where were you last night?"

Blake's eyes flickered over Lena's shoulder and met mine.

I shook my head.

"Why do you need to know?" Blake asked.

"None of your business," Lena snapped. "So, where were you?"

Blake smirked and shot back, "None of your business."

Lena huffed and turned to her brother. "Deal with this. He's your friend."

Jesse sighed.

"Can you just tell us if you have any clue what's going on with Alissa?" he asked.

Blake's eyebrows furrowed. "What's going on with Alissa?"

"That's what we want to know!" Lena cried, knitting her fingers through her curls and looking about ready to start pulling them out by the handful. "She texted me this morning to say she wanted to take a personal day."

"What's a personal day?" Blake asked, looking between Lena and me.

I guess he thought it was a girl thing.

"Don't ask us," Lena said, putting her hands on her hips, "but it obviously means she's emotionally compromised. What did you do?"

I caught a flicker of guilt in Blake's eyes.

"Why do you think I did something?" he asked.

"Because..." Lena struggled for an answer, "because you're you."

"Well," Blake narrowed his eyes, "I haven't talked to Alissa since the party, so unless seeing me at the beach yesterday gave her a mental breakdown, I have nothing to do with this."

I totally would have believed Blake if I hadn't known for a fact that he was lying through his teeth. He was a good actor. I made a mental note to remember that later on. Then, as if he knew what I was thinking, Blake's eyes flickered back over to me and narrowed into slits. It was a silent warning not to call him out on his bluff, or else.

But of course, I had to take the challenge.

"Didn't you hang out with her last night?" I asked.

I wasn't sure what drove me to say that. It was none of my business anyway, but for some reason, I hated Blake for being so secretive. What had he and Alissa done last night? And why did it matter so much to me if the two of them were back together? Maybe it was because I thought he was becoming my friend, but for some reason, the thought of Blake spending a passionate night with Alissa, his cheating ex, made my blood boil.

Lena and Jesse looked between us.

"Nope," Blake said, his jaw a little stiff.

"But I thought I saw you leave your house," I pressed.

A cruel smirk pulled up the corner of his lips.

Blake tilted his head to the side and asked, "Weren't you over at the public pool last night?"

My heart dropped.

He wouldn't.

He couldn't. If Blake told Lena and Jesse I couldn't swim, they'd laugh in my face and tell me they never wanted to speak to me again because I was a loser. I didn't want that to happen because I liked Jesse and Lena. I really, really liked them. And I couldn't let Blake jeopardize my blossoming friendships with them. I let out a frustrated groan under my breath as I realized that both Blake and I had secrets to hide, which meant that I needed to back down before Blake could let my secret slip first.

"Nope, wasn't me. I guess we were both mistaken," I ground out.

Blake nodded.

I reluctantly nodded back.

Lena and Jesse both looked thoroughly confused by this nonverbal transaction.

"What's going—"

"Hey Jesse, let's go hit some waves!" Blake interrupted, reaching out and grabbing Jesse's freckled arm. I watched the boys until they disappeared over the hump of the sand dunes, then turned back to Lena.

I wished I hadn't.

She was staring at me intently, her eyes narrowed in accusation.

"So..." I began.

"Waverly," Lena snapped. "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

Lena folded her arms across her chest and opened her mouth, probably ready to call me out on my bad acting, but was interrupted as the bell tied to the front door of the ice cream parlor rang once again.

Would you look at that.

Saved by the bell.

"Lena?"

Alissa stood in the doorway. She was a complete mess. Her long, shiny black hair was matted and tangled and she wasn't wearing a smudge of makeup. I nearly gasped when I saw that she was wearing a sweatshirt.

Alissa was wearing a sweatshirt. 

"Liss! Oh my god." Lena raced forward and threw her arms around the emotional wreck that was Alissa Hastings. "What happened to you?"

Alissa sniffled. "Blake."

"I knew it! Tell me everything."

"Well, I texted him last night and asked him to come over. I told him that I was sorry for cheating on him. It was stupid, really. Blake is obviously such a better guy than Ethan—"

Then why had she cheated?

"So you chose?" Lena urged. "You chose Blake over Ethan?"

Alissa nodded.

"What was the problem then?" I piped up, too curious to keep quiet.

Alissa looked up and blinked her dark, olive green eyes at me as if she had only just noticed my presence. She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her sweatshirt and took a deep breath. I felt a little bad for Alissa when I saw her shoulders begin to shake, a few tears streaming down her face and dripping off her pointy little chin.

"He said he didn't want to get back together," she sobbed.

"Oh, honey," Lena said.

"That's not even the worst part!" Alissa shook her head, then added in a voice so tearful it was difficult to understand her, "He said he didn't want to because there was another girl! Can you believe him?"

My stomach lurched.

Another girl. Blake already had a rebound girl. Who was she?

Lena sighed and told Alissa, "Maybe you should just try being single for a bit."

"Fuck that. I'm calling Ethan!"

"Lissa—"

"Don't try and stop me!" Alissa raced out of the parlor, tripping over her own flip-flops as she raced down the street and simultaneously tried to yank her phone out of the confines of her skin-tight shorts. The chick was nuts. Absolutely, certifiably, fucking nuts. Lena looked over at me, her eyes a little wide in shock.

"Go on," I told her. "Go stop her from making a really bad decision."

"You sure?" Lena frowned.

I nodded. "Don't worry, I'll protect the ice cream until Jesse gets back."

Lena thanked me and raced out after her friend. I leaned back against the cashier's desk and slapped my hands over my eyes, suddenly feeling like I was on some cheesy, scripted, overdramatic reality television show. I peeked up through my fingers at the clock mounted on the wall across the ice cream parlor.

Sweet Jesus.

It was only nine o'clock in the morning, and I was already exhausted.