The line of customers had migrated toward the counter as if Brynna was a crazy person—which was how she was beginning to feel as everyone stared, but no one spoke. Finally, the boy behind the cash register—a guy who looked about Brynna’s age, maybe a few years older, cleared his throat. “I’ve been here all morning and I didn’t see a girl like that come in here,” he said, his voice that sickening, soothing tone that Brynna had grown to loathe. “Maybe she went into the place next door.”
Brynna felt a lump grow in her throat as the hot tears pricked at the back of her eyes. “No,” she swung her head, whispering to the coffeehouse floor. “I know I saw her. She walked in here. I saw her. I know I did.”
Even as she said it, Brynna began to doubt herself.
“Sorry, everyone,” Brynna’s mother said, addressing the crowd. Brynna watched from the corner of her eye as her mother searched through her pocketbook, then dropped a few bills into the tip jar. “I—I—” Her mother started to stammer, and each time she tried to speak was like a stab to Brynna’s heart. “It’s just been a long morning. Come on, honey.”
The car ride to school was unbearably quiet, the miles stretching out in front of them. Finally, Brynna’s mother turned to her. “Honey—”
Brynna shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it, Mom. It was just—a mistake.” But even as she said it, she knew it was a lie.
???
“Hey.”
Brynna started and dropped the books she was picking out of her locker. “Oh god, Teddy, you scared me.” She pressed a hand against her chest, certain her heart would eventually press right through.
“You’re really jumpy.”
Brynna felt herself flush. “Um, yeah, sorry about that.” She concentrated hard on gathering her books and closing her locker, spinning the combination lock. Part of her hoped Teddy would go away and let her be alone, but part of her was pulled into those warm, blue eyes, wanting to see his lopsided grin cross his face.
“You weren’t at the table this morning.”
Brynna waved her pink hall pass. “Appointment. Dentist. No big.”
“So hey,” Teddy started, falling into step with Brynna, “I wanted to ask you—”
“Brynna!” Evan was shooting toward them like a hurricane, kids bending back in his wake. “I’ve been looking for you, like, everywhere. Please tell me you have last night’s trig homework.”
Brynna looked apologetically at Teddy but was glad for the interruption. With Evan, everything was a screaming drama, and his loud theatrics amused Brynna, but more so, his involved stories and perceived personal tragedies stamped out any thought other than Evan.
“Yeah, no problem.” She turned to Teddy. “See you later?”
There was something in his eyes that Brynna hadn’t seen before, but he nodded and silently turned away.
The rest of the school day—only lunch and three more classes—passed uneventfully, and Brynna was happy. Or she would have been if the image of Erica disappearing into the coffeehouse—and then disappearing altogether—wasn’t still etched in her mind. Even as she was being jostled through the crowd of rushing students talking over her, slamming lockers, and the chorus of get-to-class bells, her mind rolled over and over the scene in the coffeehouse and the girl with the long, black ponytail. The second the bell rang, she snatched up her bag and made a beeline for her locker, then dug through a stash of old test papers and Chapstick tubes until she found her cell phone.
Her fingers shook as the phone downloaded her messages and email—a whole slew of messages about nothing in particular, and not a single one from Erica. Brynna’s shoulders ached as if an enormous weight had been taken off them.
“All right, Bryn, it’s homecoming season,” Evan said as he glided up behind her. “What are we going to do about it?”
Brynna blinked and blinked again, forcing her mind into the hallway, forcing herself to look at Evan. “Homecoming?”
Evan rolled his eyes. “That’s what I said.”
She started to smile. “You care about homecoming season?”
“Maybe. Got a problem with that?” Evan crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Uh, no…”
Lauren stomped down the hall, eyes narrowed. “Brynna Chase, I hate you so much right now.”
Brynna’s stomach folded in on itself and she felt her eyes go wide. She knew that, eventually, someone at Hawthorne High would figure out what she did, who she was, but she wasn’t ready for it. Not now.
“What—what did I do?”
Lauren glared. Though Evan swore that they both had the same color hair once, Lauren’s was bright red now, with dipped black ends. They both had pale, fine-boned features, but even side-by-side, one might mistake them for distant cousins—not siblings and definitely not twins.