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heard me.” I’m so angry I’m shaking. “You’re a liar.
    Kim would never steal from you.” I know this for a fact. Kim
would never, ever, ever steal from Paul. She worked so freaking hard at her job. Partly because she loved music, and partly
because she loved him.
    He points his finger in my face. “What do you call letting
people in to see shows for free, huh? When’s the last time you
paid to see a band?”
“You piece-of-shit coward.” I say it loud enough so
that people standing near us turn around. “You fuck your
employees, and when you get caught, you fire them.”
    He snorts like he could give two shits, but I can tell he’s
livid. “All right, kid. You’re out of here.” He throws his tattooed arm up and starts waving to Frank, the bouncer, leaning
against a big amp. Frank comes over, and he looks anything
but happy to throw me out.
    “I hope your wife knows what a dickbag her husband is!”
I’m screaming at the top of my lungs. “I’d be happy to tell her
myself!”
“Come on, Kat,” Frank says, wrapping his arm around me.
    I start flailing and spewing all the curse words I know in
one long stream.
Frank leads me into a back hallway, near the tiny room
where the band hangs out until it’s time for them to go onstage.
I can hear them now, warming up their instruments, laughing
and talking with each other.
“You okay?” Frank says.
I’m fighting the urge to cry, so I punch the wall hard.
“Where’d she go?”
Frank shrugs. “They had a big fight a few weeks ago and
Paul gave her twenty-four hours to pack up her stuff in the
apartment upstairs. She did it in three, and on her way out she
took all the cash out of the safe.”
So Kim did steal from Paul? I guess Frank can see the shock
on my face, because he shakes his head, like I’ve got the wrong
idea. “Think of it more as an inevitable lawsuit settlement.”
“But it’s not like this place makes that much money. What
could it have been? Maybe a thousand dollars, max? That’s not
going to get her far. It’s not like that’s buying her a mansion or
something. She hasn’t talked to her parents in years. She could
be . . . homeless.”
“She’ll be okay,” Frank says again, but this time he’s less sure.
The tears come right then. I can’t stop, and Frank looks
uncomfortable as shit. Wiping my nose with my sleeve, I say,
“If she calls, will you tell her I came looking for her?”
Frank nods, but it’s the kind of nod where we both know
that won’t ever happen. Kim’s gone for good.
I’m crying my eyes out as Frank leads me out of a side door
and into the alleyway. He tells me good-bye and then shuts
the door in my face. I try to call Kim’s cell, but the number’s
disconnected. Of course.
I think of Kim, going through this shit alone. Wonder if
she thought about calling me. Asking me for help. Probably
not. Probably not once. Because I’m a dumb high school kid.
Because the one time she tried to get real with me, all I cared
about was my own life.
I feel like such a turd. To let down the person I thought of
as my bestie when she needed me most. It’s a sucky lesson to
learn, but I make a promise to myself, then and there, to never
be a shit friend like that again.
CHAP
TER FIVE
    Rennie pretends I’m not there during Monday’s
cheer practice. She doesn’t look at me, doesn’t speak to me. Not
a single word. Even when it’s me, her, and Ashlin standing in a
circle, discussing what cheers we should work on next. Rennie
keeps her eyes on Ashlin, only speaks to Ashlin.
It’s like I’m invisible.
I try not to let it get under my skin. Rennie loves giving
the silent treatment. It’s practically her signature move. What
makes me mad is that I didn’t even do anything to deserve it.
    Not that she knows about, anyway.
So even though she’s being a bitch to me, I still talk to her.
I mean, kind of. Like when I tell her, “I think Melanie is coming in late with her second roundoff.” Rennie doesn’t respond
to