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haven’t let me out of your sight at all recently.”
    All the heat came rushing back to Em’s body. “What—what do you mean?” she stuttered.
    Zach shrugged, still grinning. “Nothing. Forget it. It’s just . . .”
    He was being playful, that was all. Right? But then, before she could say another word, he held out his hand, a closed fist.
    Em looked at him blankly. “What is—” Before she could finish, he flipped open his hand. In his palm lay one of the silver spiral earrings she was wearing that night. Her hands moved quickly to both ears—sure enough, the right one was missing.
    “I saw it on the rug downstairs. I knew it was yours. You were wearing them last week, at Lauren’s house.”
    Then, just as Em was certain that this
was
the sign she’d been looking for—
holy shit, holy shit, it’s like Mom and Dad and the stupid pom-poms!
—they heard Gabby’s voice.
    “I’m fine,” Gabby was saying in a decidedly unfine manner. There was a loud crash, as though she had bumped into something, followed by a fit of giggles. She appeared in the doorway, swaying on the arm of Fiona Marcus. Her normally glossy, springy blond hair was a mess and her necklace was turned around backward. “Zachie, Em, I’m totally fine.”
    “Aw, babe, you’re wasted,” Zach said, and just like that, all the charged air between him and Em was gone, deflated like a pricked balloon. He slipped an arm around Gabby’s shoulders, gently disengaging her from Fiona. “Need to go home?”
    Em slipped back into best-friend zone, shaking off—with a bit of self-hatred—the last few moments.
    “Where’s your coat, sweetie? Zach’ll take you home.”
    Gabby waved a hand in the general direction of the bed, slurring, “Over there. And whatsamatter, Emmie? You look like the Grim Creeper spooked you.” She giggled.
    “I’ll find the coat,” Em said to Zach over Gabby’s head, ignoring the Grim Creeper comment. It was the name they’d assigned to some guy who used to go to their school. He would walk the halls muttering to himself and staring too long at people. But then he’d dropped out. His name was Colin, or Crow, as some people called him, and Em realizedwith a fresh pang of guilt that he was also one of Drea Feiffer’s friends. Like Sasha. Yet another person they’d all randomly made fun of, just because it was easy. Em shook her head, unable to process it all.
    Zach turned to take Gabby back downstairs. Em went through the pile on the bed twice, looking for Gabby’s signature BCBG coat, black wool and belted, which Gabby had adorned with an enormous rhinestone heart pin. But after searching for a few minutes (including under the bed and in the strangely empty closet), Em couldn’t find it. Gabby must have hidden it somewhere and forgotten about it; she’d probably remember when she sobered up.
    So Gabby went teetering off on Zach’s arm. He had lent her his coat, which practically engulfed her. Watching them disappear into the night together made Em feel as though she had just inhaled a mouthful of sawdust.
    People were shouting drunkenly and trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues as Em and JD made their way to his car a few minutes later. She could see their breath clouding in the air.
    “What a weird night,” JD said as he opened the car door for Em. She just nodded. Her brain felt like it was on fire, there were so many thoughts whirling around in there. Zach. Gabby. Sasha Bowlder. Jesus—Sasha. There was only so much she could freak out about in one night.
    JD made a three-point turn to head back down Ian’s street. They sat in heavy silence; it felt as though the events of the evening had a physical shape and were sitting between them. Em stared out the window at the evergreens and bare branches, which tangled and became one as she stared deeper into the woods. They passed Chase, trudging toward his station wagon.
    “We should ask him if he wants a ride,” Em said, her voice cutting the quiet.