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“I bet you’re making that goofy face you make when anyone mentions his name.”
Dammit, Gia said the same thing. What face am I making? I look at myself in the mirror on my desk. “I’mnotmaking a face. There is no face!”
She cackles, probably picturing whatever face I’m not making. “But for real, do you love him? I knew I loved Tyler after our second date. We had gone to this sports bar that had a burger challenge where you had to finish this absolute monster of a burger and a pound of fries in thirty minutes. He challenged me to do it, and I issued that challenge right back.” She laughs, reliving the memory. “By the twenty-five-minute mark, Tyler was struggling to finish, and I was done. As I took my last bite, he was watching me with this huge smile on his face, all giddy and proud, bragging about how I had done it when he couldn’t to all the other patrons. And, I don’t know, I justknew. Maybe it seemed too soon, and I didn’t tell him right then and there, but I knew it in my heart.”
“Wow, that’s beautiful, Nyah. And remind me to never challenge you to a burger-eating competition.”
“Oh, I’d totally kick your ass,” she jokes, then sobers as she asks, “But have you had that moment? Where you looked at Jason andknew?”
I search back to all the time I’ve spent with Jason, all the times he’s made me laugh during hard times by saying something completely unexpected, or the way he opens the window a bit any time I get in his car, or the way he knows when I want to talk versus when I just want to sit in his company. “I don’t know, I’ve never been in love before. But if I was going to be in love with anyone, I’d be stupid to not be in love with Jason.”
Nyah squeals, and I hold the phone away from my ear for a second until she’s done. “Well, now wehaveto go on a double date. I want to see you two lovebirds in action! Like, a non–school setting action.” She sighs wistfully, and her excitement turns mournful as she says,
“I always wanted to go on a double date with Lily, but her parents freaked out if she even mentioned a boy’s name.
She wasn’t allowed to date at all, only go to school and model and do whatever other extracurriculars they forced her to do. They had such high expectations of her, I have no idea how she didn’t have complete meltdowns.”
I remember the way Lily broke down in the huge pool house the night of Warren’s party after Brandon grabbed her. She pulled herself together so perfectly after that, it was impossible to tell she had been crying, and she rejoined the party like nothing had happened. I wonder if she had to do that a lot, have a breakdown but compose herself again so no one would know what was really going on.
Leaning over, I push back my curtain to look outside at my neighbors’ house, atLily’shouse. There are no cars in the driveway, so I don’t think Officer Liu is home. I wonder if he’s out harassing other innocent teenagers or if he’s doing actual police work.
Resettling in my seat, I say, “Maybe she dealt with it by rebelling in her own way, by going to parties and lying to her parents about it. Her dad had no idea she was at a party the night she went missing; he thought she was at a study group.”
A moment of silence falls over us. I know it makes Nyah sad to think about the disappearance of her best friend, especially when no one has any idea at all where she could be or if she’s all right. But I’m working on it.
Quietly, Nyah says, “I hope Lily’s okay, wherever she is.”
I tap Brandon’s phone in front of me to wake it from sleep mode, and the text states I’m still locked out for another twenty-three minutes. I resist the urge to slam it against the desk.
“Me too, Nyah,” I reply, frowning at the phone that may hold the answers to all our questions. “Me too.”
Five
I make a few more failed attempts at unlocking Brandon’s phone after hanging up with Nyah before I decide to have an early night.
Just as I’m changing into my pajamas, my phone rings. This time, it’s Jason. Giddiness flutters through my body, and I remember my conversation about love with Nyah. Before I answer, I do a quick check of myself in the mirror to try to catch the “face” I apparently make. I look like me, maybe just . . . happier.
I quickly press Accept and answer the call. “Hey. Are you done already? Isn’t it early?” I pull the phone away to check the time out of habit, then remember the top part of my screen is black from when I dropped it.
“I didn’t go,” he answers, and from the background noise I can tell he’s driving and calling me via Bluetooth.
“There was a cop car doing a piss-poor job trying to discreetly follow me, and I couldn’t speed to lose them and risk getting pulled over. I also couldn’t lead them right to the Tracks, so I gave up. I’m on my way home.”
I peek out of the curtain again, the slight breeze coming in from my open window chillier now that it’s later and I’m in my skimpy pajamas. There’s still no car in the Lius’ driveway.
“Do you think it was Officer Liu again?” I ask. He hasn’t bothered us since the first ticket, but he didn’t seem like he was going to give up anytime soon, especially since someone was trailing Jason tonight.
“It’s too dark to tell. It might be him, or he got someone who has nothing better to do to follow me around all night.”
So, he lost a night of fun and also a chance to make extra money because of me. I sink onto the bed. “I’m sorry, Jason. It’s my fault he’s harassing you.”
“It’s not your fault,” he replies forcefully. “You can’t control him being obsessed with us.”
“But how long is he going to harass us? Until we find some substantial clues about Lily? What if we never do?
I’ve constantly been trying with Brandon’s phone, and still nothing.”
“We’ll keep trying. I was hoping to talk with a few people tonight who are known for . . . let’s say . . . acquiring phones the not legal way,” Jason says, and I catch his drift. An illegal drag racing operation with an organized betting and gambling system is bound to have some sketchy people in attendance. “They would’ve known how to unlock it, or at least pointed me to someone who could.”
