She’d really missed everything, hadn’t she? “Yeah. Terminated.”
Ashley put her hand over her mouth. “Did Finn reject you?”
I straightened my shoulders. “I rejectedhim, actually.”
Ashley frowned, like that idea was really doubtful.
“Is that so hard to believe?” I said, my throat feeling tight.
“No, I—just thought it was going so well.”
“Itwas. And then it wasn’t. And then everything fell apart.” At those words, my eyes filled with tears, and Ashley steered me by the shoulders outside to the deck.
“JoJo,” Ashley said, “what is going on?”
I shook my head, but the tears spilled over.
“Talk to me!” Ashley said. “Why won’t you talk to me?”
Iwantedto talk to her. Ashley was my number-one person for processing anything. But that was before the confounding variable of her, ya know, merging her life with Brody. Finally, I sighed. “If I tell you—you have to promise me you won’t tell Brody, okay?”
She shook her head like she couldn’t fathom why that would be a condition.
“Because this is very personal,” I said, “and very private. And it’s the kind of information you share with your beloved sister—but it’s not exactly something you’d share with a guy you dumped in high school who’s still irritated about it.”
“You guys are going to have to get past this,” Ashley said, like we were both equally at fault.
“I agree,” I said. “And I’m sure we will. But we’re not there yet. So if you could just keep all this to yourself, that’d be perfect.”
Ashley sighed and said, “Okay.”
But then, with the coast clear to share, I wasn’t sure how to begin. I let out a long breath and then said, “The thing with Finn is off because it turns out he wasn’t my first kiss after all.”
Ashley’s eyes went wide. “The playground kiss wasn’t Finn?”
I shook my head.
“Who was it?”
“It was Cooper.”
“Cooper!” Ashley shouted.
“Shhh!”
She shifted to a whisper. “The person you imprinted on wasCooper?”
“Apparently.”
“How did you find this out?”
“Cooper told me.”
“But Finn was supposed to do it!” Ashley said.
“He ditched me. And then Cooper came to find me and explain—but I guess then he felt sorry for me, and so he took Finn’s place instead.”
Ashley took it in. “All along… it was Cooper.”
