Sawyer watched Ryan as he gingerly settled Chloe into his car. Chloe gave a slight wave when he pulled away from the curb, and the gash on her eye caught the light from the streetlamp. Sawyer shivered and hugged her arms.
“Here,” Cooper said, pulling off his zippered hoodie and settling it over her shoulders. “Better?”
Sawyer nodded. The sweater would have helped if the chill hadn’t been bone deep.
“Can we get going now?”
Cooper nodded. “Yeah, of course.” He dug in his pocket for his keys and Sawyer touched his wrist gently, her fingers cold on his warm skin. “Are you okay to drive?”
He smiled. “Only had half a beer and that was”—he squinted at the clock—“over an hour ago.”
“Didn’t seem that long ago.”
“Well, there was the thing with Chloe, and before that—” Cooper bit his bottom lip in a way that shot fire crackers through Sawyer’s system. “The thing with us.”
Heat—and guilt—pulsed through Sawyer. She had been making out with a guy—a guy who was not Kevin—while someone was trying to murder her best friend.
What kind of girl are you? Her insides roiled.
“Ready?”
Sawyer nodded, and when Cooper rested his arm across her shoulders, she slid out of the half embrace. She hoped to make it seem as nonchalant or as innocent as possible, but the hurt look in Cooper’s eyes was unmistakable.
They drove in awkward silence until Cooper’s car hit the freeway.
“I’m really sorry about your friend.”
“Chloe,” Sawyer offered.
“Chloe. Have you guys known each other long?”
Sawyer smiled, remembering. “Remember when I said I was friends with Maggie?”
“I remember, but I still don’t believe it.” Cooper grinned in the darkened car, but his eyes sparkled sweetly. Sawyer punched down the warmth that rose inside of her.
“It was the three of us. Best friends. We were five—Maggie didn’t know how to be evil yet.”
“Ah, there’s the missing piece.”
Sawyer started to feel more comfortable, letting her shoulders sag forward as she sunk into the car seat. “We met at dance class. Nothing special, but we used to do everything together. Everything. The three of us.”
“So when was the huge falling out?”
Sawyer frowned. “I don’t really know what started it. We were in junior high and Maggie started to get popular. Chloe ended up having to quit dance class, and Maggie just kept nagging at her to tell everyone why. It was like she wanted to prove to everyone how cool she was by throwing Chloe—our best friend—to the wolves.”
Cooper flipped on his blinker when Sawyer showed him where to exit. “So what was Chloe’s big secret? Or is that still privileged information?”
Sawyer smiled at Cooper; she couldn’t help herself. “Chloe’s parents—I think it was still her parents, maybe a stepdad already—just couldn’t afford it.”
Cooper furrowed his brow. “That’s it? Not like every time she danced a puppy died?”
“No!” Sawyer laughed.
“Parents not being able to afford dance lessons doesn’t seem all that tragic.”
“Well, when you’re eleven, whatever makes you not the same as all the other girls is tragic. I told Chloe I didn’t care, but she was so terrified someone would find out. They moved into this crappy trailer park, sold their car. Maggie found out from her gossipy mom or something, and she pounced. Chloe’s new status went viral overnight. People made fun of her, called her trailer trash or ghetto girl.” Sawyer shook her head, remembering. “She was crushed.”
“But you stood by your friend.”
“Of course.” Sawyer smiled faintly. “She’s my best friend.”
“So that was, what? Five, six years ago?”
Sawyer nodded. “Something like that.”
“And you haven’t spoken to Maggie since?”
Sawyer gritted her teeth. “Nothing nice.”
Sawyer remembered the day the news broke that she and Kevin had begun dating. Maggie was Kevin’s ex-girlfriend; they had been apart for a little over two months, but from Maggie’s bulldog expression, one would think Kevin had walked out on the one for the other. “I don’t think Maggie’s really the making-up type, regardless.”
Cooper nodded. “You’re pretty tough, Sawyer Dodd.”
Sawyer turned in her seat. “Why would you say that?”
“Standing up to a bully? Even at eleven years old, that’s pretty brave.”
In her mind, an image flashed of Sawyer cowering in a corner while Kevin stood over her, spitting mad. Humiliation washed over her, and she looked away. “I’m not that brave.”
“Chloe’s lucky to have a friend like you.”
“It’s not like that. She’s got my back too. When I told her my parents were splitting, she came over every day with vanilla ice cream and a two liter of root beer.”
Cooper guided the car through the gates of Blackwood. “Vanilla ice cream and root beer? No chocolate? No marshmallows? Sounds kind of dull.”
“Not when you tunnel down the center of the carton and fill the void with root beer. It’s the ultimate root beer float.”