Under normal circumstances, Amari was pretty chill, but, once she felt like someone wronged her—watch out. The girl had no problem unfollowing, unsubbing, and deleting someone from her list of contacts for good. She hadn't removed me from her social media accounts yet, but I knew I was a click of a button away from becoming a stranger to her. It rattled my nerves.

A day later, Zac and I went to have a chat with Mr. Tilton. Then, the next day, I ambushed Nat after sixth period. I suspected she would be easier to win over than Amari, so I wanted to present my case to her first. If I could convince Nat to listen and let me back into her good graces, then maybe we could go after Amari together.

"Hey, Nat," I said.

"Hi, Cate," she mumbled with making eye contact.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

Her blue eyes grew wide. Her pale skin flushed. She turned away from me.

"Sorry, but I, uh... gotta get going."

In a pleading voice, I tried again, "Please don't go. This will only take a minute. I want to apologize. And I came with a peace offering."

Nat paused midstep. Her forehead puckered anxiously. I could tell her will was wavering.

"I'm sorry for being such a shitty friend, Nat, especially over these past couple of weeks. Zac and I told Mr. Tilton that we didn't want the half-credit points from his part of the project anymore. That means... I'll be out of the running for valedictorian. It's gonna be you, Nat."

Nat's mouth parted into the shape of a perfect O. Disbelief was plastered all over her face. "You're shitting me, Cate."

I winced. "I'm not, though. I wish I was."

Nat gave me a measured look. "It's killing you, isn't it?"

I didn't want to admit it, but Nat had seen right through me. "Honestly? The thought makes me want to vomit."

Nat offered me a small half-smile. She looked happy. "That's big of you, Cate. I wasn't expecting this at all."

I smiled back, though, uncertainty clouded my features. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Was it a big enough gesture to convince you to talk to me? Ten minutes. That's all I ask."

"Fine," Nat agreed in clipped tones. "I'm going to the library right now. Did you want to come along?"

"Hell, yes."

As we walked together towards the campus library, Nat glanced over to me timidly.

"You didn't have to ask Tilton to retract those points, you know. I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but I'd much rather get to the top on my own accord rather than stepping onto a platform that you chose to vacate."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm still butthurt about not being valedictorian, but that kind of shit isn't as important to me as it used to be. Like you said, I can probably get into Stanford either way."

Shock flashed across Nat's face. "What kind of sorcery is this? Who the hell are you and what have you done with Cate Donati?"

"Shut up, bish," I grunted testily. "I'm trying to evolve into a better person, and it's hard as hell. Amari was right when she said that I was using you for your brains. I owe a huge chunk of my success to you, Nat. Without your help during all of those late night cram fests, I never would've aced Dr. Williams' Pre-Chem class last year or Algebra II with Mr. Barrett in freshman year."

Nat blushed. "I don't think I helped that much, Cate. You're pretty frickin' smart on your own."

"I know I'm smart, Nat, but I'm a far cry from your level. You can run with the Mensa crowd."

She laughed harshly. "What do you really want, Cate? I doubt you came here today just to kiss my ass."

"I'm here because I want another chance. I wanna be a better friend to you."

Nat's lower lip started to tremble. "Did you know that Kev and I broke up?"

My face fell. "Oh, shit. I'm so sorry, Nat. I had no idea."

"Exactly," Nat said softly. There was no hint of malice in her voice. Just sadness. "How could you know? You stopped asking. You stopped caring. You stopped showing up. You pretty much ghosted Amari and me for the past few weeks. It was like we didn't even matter to you anymore. We had to find out about all your shit through Lily's Instagram post. I don't really care about what's going on between you and your dad and your finances at home, but I can't believe you didn't tell us about Zac! We're supposed to be your best friends, but you totally left us out of the loop the moment you landed your first boyfriend. It's a really horrible feeling to be kicked to the curb like that, Cate. We've been through so much together."

My eyes began to water. I clenched my jaw to hold back my tears. "I'm so sorry, Nat. I get it. I understand exactly where you're coming from. I fucked up big time. You guys deserve better."

"Amari and I just wanted to know what was going on with you. And for you to care about what was going on in our lives. We missed you, Cate."

Tears began to flow. I sniffled. "I miss you guys so much."

Nat's face froze. Her eyes began to water as well. "Oh, God, please don't cry, Cate! You're gonna make me cry!"

She rushed over with her arms outstretched. In the next moment, we were hugging each other like long-lost sisters. When we finally pulled apart, I started spilling as much as I could to her. The truth about my eighteenth birthday, how Zac and I ended up dating, and that I was currently using the ghost of Tariq to get back at Lily.

I wanted to open up completely to my friend, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither could I bring myself to lower all of my defenses in a day. Yet, the only details I withheld were the ones that might incriminate my man—like how Zac hacked into Sassy and planned to break into Mr. Sinclair's office—but this was mostly to protect Zac. And Nat as well. She was terrible at keeping a poker face, and the thought of breaking a single school rule, let alone an actual law, would probably give her hives.

"Are we good now?" I asked timidly.

"Yeah," Nat replied, "I think so."

"What made you change your mind about me?"

Nat paused. Then, she smiled. "When you cried just now. In all our years of friendship, I've never seen you shed a tear over anything. I figured you probably really cared if you were willing to cry over me."

"I do care," I promised. "Even more than I thought I did, in fact. I love you, bish. I'm so glad to have you back."

Nat grinned at me. "Now, we just have to persuade Amari that you have properly seen to the error of your ways and suffer from deep remorse. Are you ready to grovel, Cate?"

I grimaced. "I'll do whatever it takes."

"I'll put in a good word for you," she offered with a wink.

"Thanks, Nat. I appreciate it."

I went home that afternoon feeling lighter than I had in days. I was hopeful that Amari would eventually forgive me, too.

Then, I got a text from the other redhead in my life.

i know it's you. get ready, bitch. i'm going to rain hellfire down on your ass.

With a sigh, I set my phoneaside. At least, my life was never boring.