“She is.” That was the problem with my problems. My parents were both nice. It would’ve been so much easier to tell them off if they were mean.

“Remember that day you ran into me and I dropped all the papers and you saw your name on one?” he asked.

“Yes.” That was the day he told me I was too persistent. How could I forget?

“That’s what it was about—the award you were winning. Coach had started writing notes about what he was going to include in his speech. Talking about how you never gave up on the butterfly was one of those notes. Sorry I couldn’t tell you.”

Oh. That made sense. No wonder it seemed like he had been trying to hide something. That made me feel a lot better. “It’s okay. You working today?”

“Work makes it sound like I get paid.”

“You don’t get paid?”

“You didn’t know that?”

“I didn’t. So why are you always here?”

“I help out the coaches. I want to study sports medicine. I figure it will look good on my graduate application if I have some experience.”

“I’m sure it will. So then you’re not-working tonight?”

“Yes, getting things ready for track finals tomorrow.” He ran a hand through his curls.

“You not-work too much.”

“I like to keep busy. The only one that misses me at home is my dog.”

“You have a dog?”

“I do.”

“Cute. I always wanted a dog, but my mom says they’re way too much work.”

He nodded. “They are.”

A random thought came into my mind. “Do you talk to yours?”

“My dog?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t read his expression.

“Doesn’t everybody?”

I was being stupid. DJ was definitely not Heath Hall. He wasn’t even in high school. “Do you know what time it is?”

“After six.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. It was late. I’d told my mom I’d be home for dinner.

“You lost track of time again?”

I smiled. “What makes you think that?”

He pointed to my phone sitting on the cement. “You should do a timed playlist. When it’s over, you’ll know it’s time to get out.”

“You, DJ, are the smartest man in the world.”

His dark skin darkened with a blush, and he messed with his glasses.

I pushed myself out of the pool. When he jumped back, I realized he didn’t want to get wet. Being a swimmer, I’d seen that evasion move a lot. I was tempted to hug him, like I was tempted to do with everyone who reacted that way. I stopped myself, though. He and Amelia were . . . something. Instead, I shook my head and sent a spray of water at him.

“Hey!” He laughed and pulled his sweater away from his chest with two fingers.

The dollar bill now sat on the cement between us and we both stared at it.

“I can’t take that,” he said.

“It’ll bring someone luck.” I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me.

“I thought that was a penny.”

“Then a dollar should be one hundred times luckier, right?” I said.

“It’s hard for me to leave money on the ground. I feel like it’s me telling the universe that I don’t need any more.”

I smiled, and as I walked away said, “Then you better pick it up. Maybe you’ll get lucky.” Did I really just say that to the guy Amelia liked? I hadn’t meant for it to sound so flirty. Maybe it hadn’t. I needed to stop.

Five minutes before the bell rang the next morning, I walked into class to find Jackson sitting at my desk. “You have information,” he said when I stood beside him, waiting for him to move. “And I need it.”

“You need my notes for algebra? I have horrible handwriting, but they’re yours if you want them.”

“No, I don’t need your notes for algebra. What do I look like, a slacker?”

I tilted my head and evaluated him. He had on a red polo shirt and his hair was combed for once . . . or at least the curls were a bit more tamed. He actually looked like he was ready to deliver a speech.

“Fine. I already know you think I’m a slacker, but that’s not the information I need.”

“Well, spit it out, Holt. The bell is about to ring, and Mr. Kingston does not like your style of humor.”

“He belongs to your Jack-haters club?”

“Membership information is confidential.”

His eyes twinkled with a smile that didn’t reach his lips. “Cider. Where did you get it?”

I laughed under my breath. “That’s the information you want? Well, you’re out of luck. That’s a secret I’m taking to the grave. Now out of my chair.” For some reason, I didn’t want to tell him about the seedy shop just outside of town. It was like I had some sort of leverage over him and I was hanging on to that.

He stood, then kind of whined the words, “Why? You don’t even like cider.”

“Because now I own you.”

It had been a joke, but the way he raised his eyebrows made me blush.

I shoved him and said, “Oh, stop. If you can joke around, so can I.”

“People expect it from me. Things like that from you sound like an invitation.”

I blushed even more.

“See?” he said. “I can deliver a joke.” He leaned close, then said, “You will tell me where to find that cider eventually.”

When he left, I looked around and realized practically everybody was in their seats and staring at me. I quickly sat down. Kendra, the girl who sat next to me said, “When did you two get together?”

“We’re not together.”

“That was a lot of flirting.”

“Jackson is like that with everyone.”

“I wasn’t talking about Jackson.”

Right. She was talking about my behavior, not his. That shut me up.

Twenty-Four

Amelia sat at our normal lunch table with a stack of papers.

“Are you doing homework?”

“Our homework, yes.”

“We have homework?”

“Don’t we? Don’t you still want to know who Heath Hall is? We haven’t talked about it in a while.”

“Did you learn something new?” I still wanted to know. Probably even more so since I’d been talking to him online. I did not want to be blindsided by his identity, caught off guard. But she was right. We hadn’t been working on finding out who he was lately.

“I thought we should sit down and compile a list of the evidence we’ve collected so we can narrow this down.”

I glanced around the crowded courtyard. “Should we really talk about it here?”

“Why not? Everybody seems to have theories about who he is. We should just stand up and ask everybody right now if they are Heath Hall.” She stood like she was actually going to yell that question across the cafeteria. I pulled on her arm, forcing her to sit back down.

“Evidence,” I reminded her.

“Right. Evidence. I’ve made lists of all the people at both events, cross-checked it with his followers online. I think I’ve narrowed it down to two suspects.”