Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved.

"Shut up, brat, I'm here for Jamie's bed," Joanna said, swatting away Jamie's youngest brother with the green hair.

"Why? He isn't here—"

"Your mom said it was fine," Joanna said, skittering away the second they were up the stairs. The kid chased after her, even when she ducked into Jamie's room and swung the door to the threshold. The kid shot out his foot to stop it. "What?" she seethed.

"I didn't say it was fine."

"I don't even know your f—reaking name," Joanna hissed, getting down to his level. "I eat children your size for breakfast. Go do your homework before I eat you alive, punk."

So it seemed Jamie's siblings were immune to threats of violence. Still, the kid walked off sulking and furious, thrusting his fists down and crying, "I'm not a child!" before groaning and slamming his bedroom door behind him.

She spun around with a huff. She reached up and straightened her baseball hat, flattened the front of her shirt, and shook out her hands as if to rid them off toddler germs. After returning everything in her being back to order, she marched across the room, to the window, and swung them open.

Jamie's bedroom window emerged to a slanted roof, and a maple tree perfect for climbing. Rosalie had enough experience climbing trees due to the one outside of Sami's bedroom window, but unfortunately, this one wasn't immediately next to a claimable fence to help hoist her up. Still, she managed to swing up onto the first branch—much to the annoyance of her already-sore arms—and carried on to the next. She settled above the slanted roof, looking from the gutter to Joanna and back again.

"You have to catch my hand, okay? I have to jump for this—I don't want to break their gutter," she said in a whisper-shout.

"You got this, Killer," Joanna said, stepping one foot out and readying her hands to catch Rosalie.

Rosalie shook out her hands with a shaky sigh before swinging them back and lunging forward. She landed on the paneled roof tiles with light feet, and grabbed for Joanna's wrist. They latched onto one another so Rosalie never got the chance to lose her balance. She flung herself forward, and together, they scrambled in through Jamie's bedroom window.

Thankfully, it was dark out now, and Rosalie's escape into Jamie's room was as inconspicuous as they could manage. And, thankfully, they had the good sense to drop off Rosalie's soccer duffle at her house, so all she had was her backpack. She swung it around and dropped it onto Jamie's bed, grateful that it was at least made and hopefully clean.

Her chest hurt, and it wasn't until she slowed down and stood still that she realized it was her heart beating heavily in her chest. She looked around the room with a sigh before dropping down onto the edge of Jamie's bed and saying, "Well. That was..."

"A success," Joanna said. She flung herself face-first onto the bed before rolling around and wiggling up to the pillows. She kicked her shoes off and collapsed back. "I don't know about you but practice wore me out. I'm gonna sleep."

"But what if Lennie comes?" Rosalie said, but Joanna was flopping her hand in Rosalie's direction and closing her eyes in preparation for a long, dead sleep. She rolled up in Jamie's comforter and disappeared out of sight.

Rosalie turned back around to face the window. She pinched her thumbnail between her teeth, fully aware of the sweat cooling on the back of her neck and turning the fine, curly fringes of her hair stringy. She reached for her duffle and pulled out a spare towel and shampoo.

It felt slightly more normal to shower in Jamie's room the second time around—especially since this time, she took her clothes with her. The moment she was out of the shower, she dressed and swept her hair into a loose top knot. She bent over to do so before popping back up, watching her reflection in the foggy mirror twist a scrunchy around the mess of her wet hair.

She reached down to her duffle and pulled her water bottle from it. In the midst of filling it up in the sink, she heard a door open in Jamie's room and wondered what the chances were that Joanna was rifling through Jamie's closet.

She hurriedly finished up, screwed the cap back on, and swung her duffle over her shoulder. Damp towel in one hand and water bottle in the other, she opened the bathroom door, ready to catch Joanna in the act.

Instead, she found Lennie Pittmen standing over Jamie's bed, preparing to rip the comforter off of Joanna, who was still hidden under the covers.

Lennie looked up to the open bathroom door, only to halt at the sight of Rosalie standing there, staring at him. Her mouth opened for some sort of confession, but Lennie was already there.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he said.

"I don't—" Rosalie started, but she really had no plan.

Lennie looked down at the mound beneath the blankets before tearing the covers off. He revealed a disoriented Joanna, who somehow had been completely unconscious since the moment Rosalie went to take a shower.

Lennie jumped with a start, cursing under his breath as Joanna rolled onto her back and squinted up at him. "What the fuck is going on—" Lennie said, hand to his head.

"I'm sleeping, that's what's going on," Joanna said.

"This isn't your house—where's Jamie-Lee?" he said.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Joanna said. She grabbed the blankets back from Lennie and proceeded to burrow underneath them.

Lennie's eye twitched, jaw ticking, and he turned his sharp eyes onto Rosalie. She let out an involuntary squeak. She set her duffle and towel on the windowsill, aware that Lennie was stalking around the foot of the bed to follow her. When she turned around, he was there, a tight, fake smile on his face.

"Rosalie," he started, voice low. She swallowed hard and hoped the trail of water down her temple wasn't sweat—so much for taking a shower. "Where. Is Jamie-Lee."

"I... don't know," she said, voice pitched high. It was true, though—she didn't know where Blake Miles lived—but even this wasn't enough to make her voice confident. She cleared her throat and schooled her expression. "We were all gonna study for French, but he said he had an errand to run. So Joanna and I have just been hanging out here since practice."

"And... how did the three of you get here, exactly?" Lennie said. He put his hands on his hips and raised his eyebrows at her, and then looked back at Joanna with a point of his finger. "Because she is the only one who drives, and a vespa can't hold more than two."

"Jamie's mom drove him," Rosalie said, crossing her arms with a shrug. "She was in the area."

"Stop covering for him. Miss Berry has never picked Jamie up," Lennie shouted. Rosalie jumped, but before Lennie could badger her again, she slid around him.

She ran for the bed, shouting, "Joanna!" She leapt onto the comforter, but Lennie caught her by the ankle, saying, "Why did Jamie talk to you this morning!"

Joanna groaned under the blankets as Rosalie slapped at her legs, trying to grab hold, but Lennie dragged her off of the bed. She flopped onto the ground with a thud. Joanna threw the blankets down with a few colorful words.

"He's on a date, asshat," she said to Lennie, who stood over Rosalie with every intent of shaking the answer out of her.

Lennie stared at Joanna a while before squinting at her and saying, "With who? It can't be Alyssa—he'd tell me if it was her."

Rosalie sat up and glared at Joanna over the comforter. Did she really have to be the only one backing Jamie up here? And he had specifically assigned this task to Joanna, and there she was, rolling her eyes and saying, "It's pretty fucking obvious. They danced all of Homecoming."

Lennie pointed to Rosalie, who shook her head.

He straightened and stared into the distance, hands back to his hips. Rosalie took that opportunity to stand and skirt around the bed away from him and closer to the door. It was only a matter of seconds before—

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Lennie seethed, a sneer on his lips. He started for the door, but Rosalie was already running for it. He raced her to it, but she swung it shut, locked it, and stood in its way.

"Lennie—don't do this," Rosalie said.

"Why are you on his side? This is Adams we're talking about," Lennie insisted. He slammed a hand to the wall beside Rosalie's head.

"Rivalry doesn't mean anything to them like it does to you," she said. "And Jamie really likes Blake. Are you really going to force him to give that up?"

Lennie scowled at Rosalie, a threat on the tip of his tongue. He bit it back with a glimpse in Joanna's direction. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching them.

He pushed Rosalie by the shoulder, shoving her away from the door. She staggered to the side, a sick feeling settling in her stomach when she heard him undo the lock. Joanna eased to her feet, and the moment Lennie opened the door, Joanna was running.

Rosalie felt the wind of Joanna passing her by before the devil let out a battle cry and lunged onto Lennie's back in the intersection of Jamie's siblings' rooms. Lennie cursed, pitching forward, and it was then that Joanna kicked her foot into the side of his ankle. He tripped over his feet and fell into the carpet.

Rosalie slapped a hand over her mouth as she watched Joanna grapple for Lennie's hands. She pinned them against his lower back and shoved his face into the rug with her other hand. He squeezed his eyes shut and swore, trying to wriggle out of her hold.

Joanna shook her hair to the side and leant over to hiss in his ear, "Get this through your thick-ass skull, Pittmen. We both want to win the conference, but if you ruin Jamie's chances with Blake, he'll never go to Regionals with you. You might still be friends, but Jamie will hold this over your fucking head until you both go off to college, and take that chance to cut you off."

"He wouldn't—" Lennie said, muffled by the carpet. Rosalie caught a hitch in his voice, and clenched her hand over her mouth.

"A real friend would realize that Blake Miles isn't in this to hurt Jamie. Maybe if you were one, Jamie wouldn't have sent us to camp out in his room in case you came by," she said. With that, she gave his head one last shove before pushing up to her feet.

Joanna brushed her hands off on her pants and headed for Jamie's room. She caught Rosalie's eye then. Rosalie lowered her hand from her mouth and looked from Joanna to Lennie, who was on his knees at the head of the stairs.

__________

ROSALIE: Lennie caught us D: Hope everything's good with Blake

LENNIE: So you and Blake huh?
I'm sorry for being such an ass

You should've been able to tell me
I just want you to know that I'm okay with it

__________

Lennie sat at Jamie-Lee's desk while Rosalie and Joanna swapped notecards and wrote questions and answers down on them using colored Sharpies. Rosalie brought her entire pack with, and so every white card was decorated in red to blue handwriting. She picked up a stack of Joanna's papers with a frown. She inspected the handwriting and wondered why she ever expected Joanna to have decent handwriting.

"You don't write on the baseline," Rosalie said, pointing to the crooked lines.

"Not all of us are artists," Joanna muttered. She reached over and snatched it back. "Besides, I heard somewhere that people with shit handwriting tend to be smarter."

"Bullshit. Where'd you hear that?" Rosalie said.

Joanna offered a shrug before capping her Sharpie and setting it in the pile. "Alrighty, Killer, I'm set. Hurry up."

"Okay! Okay, I'm going," Rosalie said, and promptly put her Sharpie back to the paper until her stack of cards was filled with questions. She straightened the stack and put her Sharpies away.

She glanced over at Jamie's desk. Lennie had his legs kicked up on the edge of it, crossed at the ankles. He was concentrating—on what? Rosalie wasn't sure—and his expression led Rosalie to believe that something foreboding was on his mind. She knew Jamie would forgive Lennie, and that Lennie knew this, so it couldn't be that.

As if sensing Rosalie's eyes on him, Lennie spoke up.

"I think Harper's going to break up with me."

Rosalie startled, blinking rapidly as if to clear her vision of the idea that Lennie and Harper wouldn't be A Thing in the future. She shook her head and choked out, "What? Why? What happened?"

Lennie pursed his lips and laced his fingers together beneath his chin. "She... canceled date night tonight."

"Well, maybe she had something going—"

"I think she's cheating on me."

At this, Joanna threw down her Sharpie and held up her hands. "Whoa, dude, presumptuous much?" she said, and when Lennie turned a sharp glare onto her, Joanna went on. "Okay, if she is cheating on you, what's she looking for? I hate to say it, but what is she looking for that you don't have."

"Joanna," Rosalie hissed. Making Lennie feel responsible made her own heart shrivel up and die in her chest. Harper and Lennie were supposed to be The Couple. To her, Harper and Lennie would always be Homecoming King and Queen.

"I don't want to talk about it—but I know what it is," Lennie said, clearing his throat. He tipped his head back into Jamie's chair and stared at the ceiling. "She's probably with him right now. I wonder who it is. Can't be someone from my team."

"You'd be surprised, buddy," Joanna said. Rosalie stared at her in shock. "Is it sex? It's probably sex."

Another deadly glare from Lennie.

"Small dick," Joanna said disdainfully. Rosalie slapped a hand to her forehead.

"More like small sex drive," Lennie said. He twisted his mouth into a grimace only to groan and slap his hand over his face. "Ugh, sorry, you probably don't want to hear about this."

"It's interesting how everyone just assumes that guys have high libidos," Joanna said. Lennie peaked out from behind his hand, and Rosalie stared at the comforter, wishing she could plug her ears. Joanna weighed the facts in her head with her eyes on the ceiling. She came to her conclusion. "And that... women have low libidos. Not all women are indifferent to sex. It's also weird how addicting sex is. If Harper has a high libido, you shouldn't penalize yourself for it. But if she is cheating, then she is penalizing you for it. And that just won't fly. There's more to a relationship than sex and she's starting to call bullshit."

"How would you know, exactly?" Lennie said.

"Happened to me," she said. She gestured towards the window. "Back in Germany. It involved half the team."

"Fuck. I'm sorry," Lennie said.

"Yeah. Let's just hope Harper isn't sleeping with the entire team," Joanna said. "It's humiliating. Realizing that people you trusted were exacerbating the issue."

Lennie stared at Joanna even as she lifted the first notecard and read it aloud to a disoriented and very distracted Rosalie. She floundered to answer, trying to shake the situation out of her head by picking up her own notecard. It was mechanic, reading it aloud, because while she appeared normal on the outside, she couldn't stop thinking about anyone cheating on Joanna.

Rosalie always considered herself to be monogamous, and the thought of cheating on someone made her sick to her stomach. Even breaking up with someone just to jump into another relationship immediately after felt like a lie just as terrible as cheating. She wondered if her views had anything to do with her religion—the assurance that she would maintain romantic relationships for years rather than months at a time as that was the proper way of doing it. She was fully aware of how other people functioned with or without relationships, so she tried not to judge Harper.

She just didn't understand.

"I think I know who it is," Lennie said.

"Count of three we say his name," Joanna said, casually setting her notebook aside.

Lennie counted down and they both said, "Jace Clemons." Joanna clapped her hands with a thrilled laugh and jabbed a finger in Rosalie's direction with an aggressive, "Knew it. The second I punched his face in."

Lennie put his head in his hands and let out a gradually louder groan that ended with him swinging his legs off the desk and throwing his hands up. "What the fuck—I can't even tell how long it's been going on," he said.

"You want me to pound his face in again?" Joanna said, punching her fist into her hand.

Rosalie jumped then, saying, "No. You can't—you'll be kicked from the team."

"And expelled," Lennie said.

Joanna snapped her fingers and muttered, "Foiled again."

"We don't know if it's Jace for sure," Rosalie insisted.

Lennie checked his phone, which was lying face-down on the desk. There weren't any notifications, but it was at that exact moment that they heard a voice from the kitchen yelling, "I'm home!" The three of them turned to the half-open bedroom door before looking at one another with a mix of excitement and terror. Lennie hadn't thought to panic until then, and Rosalie didn't consider being there when Jamie and Lennie had to face one another again.

"Shit," Lennie said, lunging from the chair.

"Do you need backup? I feel like you need backup," Rosalie said, already sliding off the bed.

"No, I got this—" Lennie said, about to head for the door, but Jamie was already up the stairs and swinging into the room with a triumphant, "Honey, I'm ho-ome!"

Jamie kicked his leg out and straight into Lennie's kneecap.

Lennie went down fast with a curse, and Jamie jumped, not expecting to kick someone. "Oh, shit, oh my God," Jamie snorted, smiling despite himself. Joanna clapped her hands on her knees and burst into laughter.

Lennie put a hand to the wall and in the process of holding his knee, Jamie ducked down to see. "Dude, are you okay?" Jamie asked. Lennie said something incomprehensible, so Jamie leant in, and got a fist to the stomach instead.

Jamie swore, staggering, hands over his abdomen. Lennie laughed and said, "You idiot. You coulda taken out my knee!"

Jamie grunted, let out a breathy curse as he tried to straighten. Rosalie held her hands out to catch him if he fell, but instead, Lennie grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him into a hug. Rosalie watched as Jamie blinked in surprise, chin tucked against Lennie's shoulder. He dropped his arms around Lennie's torso.

"I can't believe you," Lennie said, mouth pressed to the hood of Jamie's jacket. He pushed away, clapped Jamie on the shoulders, and looked him straight in the eyes. Jamie jostled under the attention, eyebrows up to his hairline. "How was it?"

"How... was what?" Jamie said, shaky.

Lennie squinted at him, and then over at Rosalie, who stared between them before settling her gaze on Jamie. She said, "Wait—did you get our texts?"

"What? No, I... wasn't really paying attention to it," Jamie confessed, looking to the ground with a sheepish smile. He reached up and curled his fingers through the hairs on the back of his neck. Lennie dropped his hands from Jamie's shoulders.

"Well that's just brilliant," Joanna said from the bed.

Rosalie shot her an annoyed glare. Lennie