She flicks her eyes at me over her books. She’s still glaring.
“Maybe you feel the need to go through this whole song and dance,” she says. “But I really, really don’t. Just talk to yourself and pretend I’m still listening if that’s what you need to do.”
She starts walking down the hall. I follow her.
“Wait!”
She waves me off with the back of one hand. “It’s fine, Ivy. Go have your little happily-ever-after moment with Cam.”
I stop just short of her. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw you on a date,” Sunny says. “At the music concourse yesterday? You two were dancing.”
“That wasn’t a— We were just— Hang on, why were you evenatthe music concourse?”
“Researching!” Sunny’s voice cracks. She swallows and glances around furtively. “We all split up images on the map,right? I was looking for matches in Golden Gate Park after school. But, honestly, screw all of that. I’m over this stupid treasure hunt.”
She jabs her index finger into my chest. “You used us as placeholders, Ivy. You really had us convinced Cam was the bad guy in your story. But that was a total front. You just made him out to be the bad guy because that was easier than admitting you liked him. All this time, I bet you were wishing he would come running back to you and replace us. God, I feel like such an idiot!”
The guilt engulfs the humiliation from earlier, extinguishing it completely. Feeling hurt and betrayed is awful. But seeing yourself hurt someone else, the way I can see I’ve hurt Sunny, is excruciating. I’m not used to playing this part in the story. I don’t want to be someone else’s bad guy.
“You’re not placeholders,” I croak. Sunny rolls her eyes and takes off down the hall. I’m scrambling to keep up. “Sunny, you arenota placeholder!”
My mind races over what I could possibly say to convince her. I definitely cannot mention the kiss—or the fight—between me and Cam. But before that, Sunny already saw us at the music concourse. Now is my chance to share everything we found with the others. Yearbook crew and I can finish this thing together, just like we started it.
I can still fix this.
“Let me prove it to you,” I say.
Sunny slows down on her next stride. “How?”
“The meeting.” I’m already out of breath, mostly fromdesperation. “Please, come to the meeting today. I’ll bring what I have to the Bat Cave after school. Just us. No Cam.”
Sunny shakes her head. “I don’t know.”
“You do, though,” I say. “I know you care about this. And not because of me. Screw me. I’m awful—I’m not worth anyone’s time. But this huntis, Sunny. All of you have put so much into this. You deserve to know.”
Sunny startles a little. She betrays herself and looks right at me.
“You know where the treasure is?”
I nod. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure I do.”
I’m early to the meeting but am still the last one down into the basement lab. Gabriel, Sunny, and Julia are already in their chairs, facing the projector screen, which is currently blank and dark.
Sunny nods slightly as I make the final step in. “She’s here. Okay, let’s see what you’ve got.”
Gabriel and Julia look up from their phones. I have no idea what Sunny’s told them. She might’ve spilled everything she saw regarding me and Cam. Or she might’ve kept it to herself.
I go in playing naïve.
“I’m first to share?” I ask semicasually.
Sunny narrows her eyes at me. “None of us found anything. And you know where the treasure is, so—”
“WHAT?!” Gabriel pops out of his chair. His phoneclatters onto the desk behind him. He turns and gives Sunny a look. “You didn’t say she knew where it was.”
“I said she had something to show us.” Sunny leans back and crosses her arms.
