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nobody’s business, but apparently nice had slipped the list. Summer liked to think of herself as nice. While she hadn’t gone out of her way to be mean to anyone, she supposed that lately, she hadn’t been all that nice either. “Do you know names? Anything else about them?”
    “Um, the twins are in my math class.” Lexi flung out her hands. “Huge nerds. They even skipped a grade because they’re so super smart. The other guy is some weird kid who films everything, and I think the girl’s name is Ashley something. She was in my lit class last semester.”
    “Ashlyn Moore?” Cold filled Summer as she said the name. With all her own drama, she’d pushed that problem back. Maybe even pretended it didn’t exist. After all, she had so much weird in her life, she simply couldn’t handle another issue.
    “I think so.” Lexi narrowed her eyes. “You need a tutor or something?”
    I’ve got to go meet her. With Troy there, at least I’ll have an in. Maybe that Gabriella lady had been some crazy hallucination and nothing more, but all her instincts screamed at her to go. Just as Summer started in their direction, Kendall cut in front of her, erasing her view of the—as Lexi had so nicely put it—Reject Group.
    “So, I thought of a new move. We go…” Kendall started a series of arm movements, “and jump, two, three, four. Add these arm movements…” She performed another eight count. “Then the round starts in five, six, seven, eight.” She ended her demonstration and raised her eyebrows. “What do you think? It’s genius, isn’t it? And it fixes the gap we had in our routine.”
    “It’s totally genius,” Lexi said. “And then we can add the kick line afterwards.”
    “Yeah,” Summer said. “I think that’ll work. I’ll talk with you more about it in a second.”
    Kendall frowned, sticking out her lower lip. “You’ve been distracted all night.”
    “I know. I just have to go say hi to someone real fast, and then I’ll come back and we can talk dance moves, handbags—whatever you want.” Summer stepped around Kendall, determined to go meet Ashlyn.
    But the spot where the group had been a moment ago was now empty.
    All the energy flowing through her faded, and confusion filled her. Time slowed to a crawl, and it felt as if the earth had fallen off its axis, nothing quite making sense anymore.
    Cody walked up, put his arm around her, and kissed her cheek. “Come on, baby. Let’s go sit by the fire.”
    “But I…” Summer glanced around once more before giving in. How could they all disappear so fast? Was she seeing things now? No, Troy was there. Lexi saw them, too. She allowed Cody to lead her away. A sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, growing worse with every step she took away.
    Jack thrust a bottle in Summer’s face when she and Cody neared the circle of remaining people. “Beer?”
    Summer waved it away. “No thanks.”
    Jack extended it to Cody.
    “Yeah, I’ll take one,” Cody said, wrapping his hand around it. “I’m going to need it since Summer wants me to be celibate forever.”
    Summer pulled away from him, mouth hanging open. “I can’t believe you said that.”
    “It was just a joke. You know, like the jokes you’re always telling? Besides, Kendall tells Jack everything anyway, so it’s not like it’s news to him.”
    All she could for a moment do was stare. When did things get like this? I never used to take this kind of crap. This whole night kept showing her how passive she’d become. How she’d simply started fitting in and going with the flow, even if it headed a way she didn’t especially want to go.
    “You made me the brunt of the joke,” she said through gritted teeth. “Am I just supposed to hang on your arm, bat my eyes, and tell you how amazing you are, even though you’re being an ass to me?”
    “It was supposed to be funny. I don’t know why you’re getting all moody.” Cody reached for her, and she pulled