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“Bullshit,” he practically shouted, effectively achieving neither. Okay, round two. He mentally scolded his tongue and tried again. “I mean, he’d totally say yes.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because everyone else is too scared of the Winstons to date them. And besides, you’re a girl; that’s definitely more than enough for Roy.”

“You sure know how to charm a girl,” Greer said, forcing an immediate blood rush to Jack’s cheeks. He’d pivoted too far in the opposite direction and now those hazel eyes looked at him with scorn. Why did no one ever warn him love was hard?

The other boys had nodded along with Jack in agreement, but Jules rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be such a buttmunch,” Jules snapped. “Greer, Roy’s gonna totally flip his lid over you. You’re too cool for him but he’s too dumb to notice.”

“That’s what I was trying to say!” Jack said, but all this got was another eye roll.

“They’re all a little dumb, I think,” Jules added to Greer in an exaggerated stage whisper. Greer couldn’t help but leak a giggle at this.

“Ugh, fine,” she relented. “Just because I’m sick of those assholes bullying everyone and acting like they run this town. But I’m not wearing some tacky formal dress.”

“Deal,” said Jack.

• • •

Greer’s dress was sequined along the bodice and featured a short but garish train. When her mom found out she was actually going to a high school event instead of sulking in her room or plotting in the forest with children, she insisted on a shopping spree that nearly ended in an emergency family therapy session. Jack and the others swung by just in time to see her wiggle awkwardly down the stairs looking like a particularly peevish clown fish. The only accessory she wore was a frown. Her sandy hair was pulled forward, side-swept bangs covering her left eye, and her shoes were the combat boots she’d all but superglued to her feet the day she’d brought them home. Jack had never seen anyone look so beautiful.

It took a moment of blatant gaping to collect himself, at which point he forced his brain on to the task at hand. “So,” he said, then cleared his throat and pushed his voice down an octave. “So, we’ll need you to keep the Winstons busy for at least an hour. There’s some big stuff in that garage. At least two computers that I know of. It’ll take a while to clear it all out.”

“How the hell am I supposed to keep them busy that long?” Greer said, a hint of something frantic in her voice. “Jack, I’m not kissing Roy.”

“Good,” said Jack, matching her urgency with his own at the mental image. “Definitely don’t do that. Just, I don’t know, talk to him.”

“About what? The proper angle to pull a wedgie?”

“Maybe,” said Jack. “Probably not, though. You’ll think of something.”

“You’ve got one hour,” said Greer, adjusting her dress so it sat higher on her chest. “Then I’m getting the hell out of there.”

They shook on it, and Jack wore Greer’s candy apple body spray for the rest of the night.

Breaking into the Winstons’ garage was a relatively straightforward affair. As Jack had suspected, the adults of the household had taken advantage of their boys being out on a Friday night, and the two-story sandstone was vacant as a result. Eli and Carter had brought wagons from home and Dale stood watch while the others loaded up. Jack had spent much of the previous day’s recess creating an inventory from all the kids at his school who’d had something taken from them by the Winstons, and Jules perched herself on a stack of winter tires and read off items as they went to ensure the group only took back what had actually been stolen.

Half an hour in, Carter’s wagon was fully loaded with loot and Eli’s held no fewer than three in-box Tamagotchis and a thirteen-inch TV. It hadn’t been easy, digging through the rusty car parts and boxes of tools and miscellany in the garage, but Jules had already checked off two-thirds of the list.

Eli’s jeans started blaring Blink-182. Everyone froze. Their breathing, the shifting of cardboard on cement, and Jules’s steady roll call of items had been the only sounds in the garage since they’d arrived. They all turned to Eli, who quickly dug through his pocket and excavated his cell phone. Well, technically it was Greer’s phone, but since she was the only one in the group who had one, and since she’d be somewhere with access to a pay phone, Eli got the coveted technology privileges for the night.

“Yo,” he said down the line. “Shit. When? Shit.”

He hung up, everyone’s eyes still on him.

“Greer?” Jack asked breathlessly.

“Yeah. Apparently Roy got handsy, so she kicked him in the nuts.”

“Buttmunch,” said Jules.

“Totally,” said Carter.

“I’ll kill him dead,” said Jack.

“Me first,” said Eli.