“I know you wouldn’t. And that’s why I wanted to ask. Because if you go to Danika’s and your sister goes to Todd’s, I might convince your father to take me on a cruise.” She sounded excited even though we both knew that the chances of it actually happening were slim.

  “How are you going to do that? You know Dad doesn’t like to leave his patients, especially during the holidays.”

  “Well, Miss Smarty-Pants,” she started, “I’ve been talking with the pet hospital so that we can work on recommending our patients to one another. A symbiotic partnership that serves us both. If we go on a vacation, our patients can go to the hospital if they have an emergency. Your father is not supposed to be on call twenty-four hours a day. No other vet clinic does that.”

  I knew all of this. It was the one point of contention in my parents’ relationship. The fact that my father worked way too hard and cared way too much. He would forgo anything for himself if it meant that his patients were in good hands—aka his own.

  “I think it’s a good idea. If you need any help convincing Dad, I’m in.”

  “I knew I could count on you. Your sister agreed too. I’ve already started secretly plotting,” she said, whispering again.

  I wondered what she was up to. “What have you been doing?”

  “Telling the patients that if it’s after hours, they should call the hospital instead of your father. That they’re already up and running and equipped to handle any emergency. I even had your sister update the website.”

  “And Dad has no idea?” I asked because once he found out, he was going to be pissed.

  “Not yet, but he is getting suspicious, I think. He keeps complaining about how quiet it’s been at night lately with no phone calls.”

  “Hmm,” I said because my dad was smarter than that. “Careful, Mom. You’re gonna get caught.”

  “Hush. Don’t put that out in the universe. Think about my Mexico cruise instead.”

  Another crash in the background, followed by a howl and incessant barking, let me know what was coming next.

  “Sunny, gotta go.”

  And just like that, the call ended. I laughed, shaking my head to no one but myself as I thought about how crazy my mom was but how much I loved her. I hoped that when my dad found out what she had been doing, he wouldn’t be too upset with her and would understand that she was only looking out for him and the clinic’s best interests. Eventually, he’d have to stop being on call anyway. It wasn’t realistic, long-term.

  Opening the Calendar app in my phone, I set a reminder to myself to call Danika and talk about the possibility of having Thanksgiving together. Obviously, the no boys rule would be thrown out the window, but maybe Mac and I would be in a good enough place that we could go see them together. I felt my cheeks flush at the idea and how badly I wanted it to happen.

  I wanted to head over to the campus bookstore and look at all of their stuff. I’d never ended up checking it out that one time because I ran into Mac when I was trying to avoid him. After a quick shower, I tossed my silver hair into a messy bun and headed out my front door, slamming it way too hard instead of simply closing it like a normal person.

  Rocky instantly appeared in the hallway. “Didn’t your mama ever teach you how to close doors?” she chastised.

  “What if I said no?” I questioned, and she smiled. At least, I thought it was a smile.

  “Where are you off to? Is that hot baseball player still in there?” She gave a nod toward my now-closed door.

  “You think Mac’s hot?” I asked, assuming that someone like Mac wouldn’t even be on someone like Rocky’s hot-boy radar. He didn’t seem like her type.

  “For a jock,” she explained, “but I’m not interested, so don’t worry.”

  Laughing, I finished locking the dead bolt and met her in the middle between our respective apartments. “I’m going to campus. I want some stuff from the bookstore, and they’re having a sale. They have cute clothes sometimes.”

  Her nose crinkled, and I noticed a small stud piercing that I hadn’t seen last night.

  “Cute clothes?”

  “You know, like Fullton State sweatshirts and hoodies. Pens and pencils with the school name on it. Little notebooks and stickers,” I continued explaining, but her face only grew more confused. “I have school spirit, okay?”

  “Uh-huh. Someone has to make sure you don’t buy all the Fullton State Baseball shirts. I’m coming with you,” she informed me, like I didn’t have a choice in the matter, but at least now, I knew she was a student there too. Or at least, I assumed she was.

  “Do you even go there?” I questioned, feeling a little stupid for asking, but the truth was that she could go to one of the other schools nearby.

  Fullton State wasn’t the only university in the vicinity, and so far, I hadn’t seen her leaving her apartment once to head in the same direction as me.

  “Does it matter?”

  Her response caught me off guard.

  “I guess not.”

  “What if I said no?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  She tossed me a look over her shoulder. “I go to school there. I’ll be right back.”

  As she disappeared behind her own door, I stood and waited for all of ten seconds before she reappeared.

  “I’m ready. Just needed to turn off the TV.”

  “Aren’t you going to lock your door?” I asked, freaking out that she would just leave it unlocked without a second thought. What if someone comes in while we’re gone?

  “No.”

  “Do you live alone?”

  “What do you think?” she asked, her tone almost comical.

  I took stock of her demeanor as we walked toward the parking lot. “Yesss?” I said, dragging out the word because I had no idea if she lived alone or not, and how was I supposed to know just by looking at her?

  “Yes. It’s easier.”

  “What is?”

  “Living by yourself. Keep up, Sunshine.”

  “How is it easier?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t bite my head off.

  Rocky was a little aggressive. Or maybe it was the fact that her edges seemed more than a little rough.

  “No one gets mad if you leave dishes in the sink. Or don’t take out the trash. Or for doing whatever the hell you want to do,” she said as I pointed at my car door and unlocked it with the remote. Rocky pulled the passenger door open. “You don’t have to take anyone else’s opinion into consideration for how you choose to live.”

  I listened as I walked to the driver’s side of my car, but I couldn’t really relate. It hadn’t been like that with Danika and me when we lived together. It had been easy but probably because we had similar ways of living. I might have felt differently if all we’d done was argue and fight over things, like Rocky had talked about.

  “Baseball player sit here?” Rocky asked as she fumbled around with the seat to raise it. I hadn’t even noticed how far back Mac had reclined. “Why do guys always put the seat back as far as it will go? I’ve never understood that.”

  “You’re weird,” was my only response.

  “Thanks. You are too,” she said, and I smiled.

  “Taking that as a compliment,” I tossed toward her and started driving.

  “I meant it as one.”

  Rocky switched the radio station from the pop channel it was on to an alternative one and then turned the volume up without asking. I glanced at her, but she was expressionless. Most people wouldn’t touch someone’s radio without asking permission, but I was quickly learning that Rocky wasn’t most people.

  “I like your hair, by the way,” I said, and she pulled at the short strands, twisting a bright green one between two fingers.

  “Thanks. I’m getting tired of it though. It’s been this color for too long. I was thinking blue next,” she said.

  I wondered how people could color their hair like that and not have it fall out. I had been scared to death to try the silver.

  “Do you color it yourself?”

  “Yep,” she said, popping the P. “I like your new hair too. It’s way better than the blonde.”

  “Thanks,” I said as we pulled into the short-term parking lot nearest the bookstore, and I searched for an open spot. “It’s a madhouse,” I breathed out. “Why is it so crowded on a Sunday? I’ll never find a space.”

  “We should have walked,” Rocky said, and I choked on a laugh.

  “You don’t really seem like the walking type.” I motioned toward the unlaced combat boots on her feet.

  “I walk. And they can be tied, you know.”

  “Well, we should have walked then.”

  “Nah,” she disagreed before pointing a finger straight ahead. “Look.”

  I watched as brake lights appeared, followed by the white reverse lights, and the car started to back up. Stepping on the gas, I threw both of our bodies into our seats with the force. No one was going to beat me to that spot.

  Putting on my blinker, I waited patiently for the car to shift out of reverse and move forward before I started ahead. Before they could get out of my way completely, a white BMW sped in front of them from the opposite direction, cutting them off, and pulled into the empty space. They’d almost caused an accident. And they had taken my damn space.

  “Are you kidding me?” I honked my horn and then laid on it like a madwoman, half-convinced I might never stop honking. I was pissed.

  Everyone, except the driver, piled out of the car, acting like nothing had happened, like they hadn’t just stolen the spot I had been patiently waiting for and like I wasn’t blaring my car horn at them. Moving behind their car and blocking them in, I put my own vehicle in park before opening the door and hopping out, ready to confront the driver.

  “Hey. I was waiting for that spot.”

  The driver’s door opened, and out stepped Hayley, Mac’s ex-girlfriend, looking unaffected and bored.

  “Figures it would be you.” I tried to sound tough as I stopped myself from clawing out her extensions and shoving them down her throat.

  She looked down her nose at me, like I was nothing, before pushing her sunglasses back up on her face. “Why are you talking to me?”

  “I was waiting for that spot, and you know it,” I said, losing what little cool I had left. “Now, get back in your car and move out of my way.”

  Hayley huffed out a laugh. “Parking for peasants is around the corner somewhere.” She wagged a finger in the air.

  “Where’s the parking for bitches then? That’s where you should be,” Rocky said, suddenly standing by my side, empowering me even more.

  “Nice hair. Your mom color it for you with a crayon?” Hayley bit back, and her group of cronies giggled.

  “Nice tits. Your mom buy them for you at the discount store?” Rocky cocked her head to the side, studying them. “I think they’re uneven.”

  Hayley looked down at her chest, her mouth agape, and I let out a loud laugh as her friends gasped and immediately went to work, reassuring Hayley that her boobs weren’t lopsided.

  Hayley’s face reddened, but before she could formulate a response, I stepped toward her, feeling insanely justified in my anger. “Move. Your. Car.”

  “Or what?”

  That was the million-dollar question. What the heck am I going to do if she doesn’t move it?

  “Do I look stable to you?” Rocky asked, her eyes narrowing.

  Hayley actually looked uncomfortable for a millisecond before regaining her composure.

  “Why don’t you call off your girlfriend, sweetie?” Hayley said in my direction. “Or should I call Mac and tell him to come fetch his pet?” she asked, holding her cell phone in the air, and my stomach dropped at the mention of his name.

  “Like he’d answer your calls. He hates you.”

  Her perfectly made-up lips curled into a smile as she lifted her sunglasses on top of her head. “Oh, honey. The last thing Mac feels for me is hate, and we both know it. He chased after you last night because he felt sorry for you. But he’s been chasing me for the past three years because he’s in love with me. He’s not going to stop until he gets me back. You never really get over your first love, don’t you agree?”

  My insides twisted with every foul word that spilled from her mouth. I didn’t want to believe them, but I wasn’t that secure in whatever the hell Mac and I had started. Her venom had done its job. It injected itself inside of my bloodstream and floated around in there, making me question everything. Maybe Mac really wasn’t over her regardless of what he’d said to me. Maybe he never would be.

  “The guy I saw last night definitely wasn’t in love with you or even thinking about you,” Rocky said. This girl was quickly becoming my new favorite person.

  “I don’t expect you, of all people, to understand. Nice to see you found someone more your type to play with,” Hayley bit back.

  I looked at Rocky, wondering what she meant. Do they know each other?

  “I’ll tell you later,” Rocky all but whispered.

  “Tell her now, sister,” Hayley said.

  I almost lost my balance as I looked between the two of them, horrified. They looked nothing alike, but neither did me and my sister. No one knew that we were related until we told them. And even then, they still questioned it.

  “You’re not my sister,” Rocky snarled.

  “Not anymore,” Hayley said as she palmed her phone and pressed a button before holding it up to her ear. “Heyyyy, babe,” she cooed, and I knew it could only mean one thing—she’d called Mac, and he’d actually answered. “Your little friend from last night is here, giving me a hard time. Put her in her place, love, or I’ll do it for the both of us.”

  Ending the call, she stared directly at me, and I wondered if she’d faked the whole thing. Maybe she hadn’t called Mac at all. Maybe he hadn’t really answered. I was just thinking how I wouldn’t put it past her to lie when my phone vibrated in my back pocket. Pulling it out and looking at the screen, I noticed one unread text from Mac.

  Pressing on the notification, it read, Why are you with Hayley? Get away from her, Sunny. I mean it.

  The blood drained from my face. He’s defending her? After everything he told me that happened between them, he’s telling me to get away from her?

  “Good luck with that parking spot, peasant,” Hayley said with an evil grin as she locked arms with her group of heathens and walked away without another word.

  “How do you know her?” I asked Rocky the second they were out of earshot.

  “We used to be in the same sorority,” Rocky begrudgingly admitted.

  I swore my eyes bugged out of my head. “You were not in a sorority.”

  Rocky didn’t seem like the kind of girl to join anything, let alone the most feminine girl club on a college campus.

  “It didn’t last long. I moved here, not knowing anyone, and stupidly thought joining a girl gang would be fun,” she explained, and I hung on every word. “Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.”

  “Not to be a bitch, but,” I started, and she focused her dark eyes on me, her black eyeliner winged to perfection, “you don’t seem like their type.”

  I knew that most sororities were known for certain things on campus, and they tended to recruit girls who fit their agenda, whether it was being one of the hottest or smartest girls at school or coming from a rich family.

  Reaching both hands into her hair, she shook it around. “Is it the hair?”

  Laughing, I made a face. “Among other things,” I said, looking down at her still-untied combat boots and baggy, oversize cargo pants.

  “I looked a little different as a freshman. I hadn’t started coloring my hair yet. But you’re right; I definitely did not check all the boxes on their checklist. But joining made my mom happy.”

  “So, what made you leave?”

  “I overheard Hayley one day saying that I was a freak but that they needed me for my GPA. The rest of the girls agreed, calling me unstable and shit. So, I went out and dyed my hair black and purple that afternoon, hoping it might give Hayley a heart attack the next time she saw me.”

  “Obviously, that didn’t work”—I made a face—“ ’cause she’s still alive and all.”

  “Yeah, but boy, was she pissed. It was worth it.”

  A car horn honked, and I’d forgotten all about the fact that I was blocking not only Hayley’s car in her space, but someone else’s as well.

  “Are you leaving?” I asked the person honking, and he nodded. “If anyone tries to take that spot, I’m going to war.”

  Rocky saluted me. “I’ll stand guard.”

  After nabbing that space, I got out and locked the doors, my wheels still spinning about learning that Rocky had been in a sorority with Hayley and the fact that Mac had texted me, clearly taking Hayley’s side. “Can I ask you something?”

  “No,” she said, and I let out an uncomfortable laugh. “I’m joking. Ask away.”

  “Were you around when Hayley started dating Mac?”

  Rocky’s eyes pinched together. “Not when they were together, no. But I remember her talking about him.”

  “Talking about him how?” My curiosity was through the proverbial roof. I wanted to know every single thing about this topic. I didn’t trust Hayley, and if I was going to be with Mac, I needed to know what my enemy was capable of.

  “Hayley always has her eye on someone. She plots when it comes to guys. Makes lists. Mac was on that list. She has a reason for everything she does, Sunny. She’s calculating and calculated.”

  I swallowed hard around that tidbit of knowledge. “Good to know,” I said, but I wasn’t sure I meant it. I wasn’t sure at all.

  The Baseball Gods Hate Me

  Mac

  I’d fallen into a dark hole after my talk with Coach Carter this morning. I got like that sometimes, where I just wanted to be left the fuck alone so I could think. I didn’t want to talk it out, analyze my feelings, or break down what Coach had said into bite-sized pieces so I could digest it and work through it all.