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Connor didn’t tell me.”
    “It has to be the same girl,” she said under her breath.
    “What are you talking about?”
    Julia leaned over and began speaking in a low whisper. “Charlotte Brady’s aunt and uncle go to my church. My mom delivered food to their house yesterday.”
    “Connor went to the funeral yesterday morning.”
    “Weird.”
    “What?”
    “It has to be the same girl.” Julia adjusted the straps on her bathing suit. “Her parents are devastated. My mom came home and I had to spend an hour convincing her I wasn’t depressed or on drugs or suicidal.”
    I knew I wasn’t supposed to ask Connor this stuff but I felt like my friends were fair game. “She was on drugs?”
    “I’m really not sure. From what I understand, she was in and out of trouble all the time. She ran away a lot.” Julia looked around to make sure no one was listening, but other than the lifeguard and her boyfriend, there were only kids swimming in the pool and moms with toddlers in the baby area. “I heard this other rumor about her. I don’t know if it’s true or not. At the time I was sure it was fake.”
    Ava sat up – suddenly interested in our conversation. “What rumor?” She asked.
    “Well, it’s just gossip, but apparently she was pretty wild. Promiscuous and stuff. Her parents had no control over her. Like, really boy crazy. One time they even caught her with some older guy in a hotel or some disgusting place,” she shrugged. “Maybe that’s why she went... wherever Connor was last year.”
    Ava turned back to her book. “Sounds like a bunch of gossip to me.”
    Unfazed by Ava’s comment, Julia said, “I’m just telling you what I heard. Obviously, something was wrong in her life. No one gets into that much trouble if things are fine. Or kills herself.”
    From personal experience, I had to agree. Connor and I both had our share of trouble. Connor even more so.
    “What did Connor say?” Ava was looking at me.
    I took a sip of my drink and said, “Nothing. He won’t tell me anything.”
    “Really?” Julia said. Her tone was unmistakable.
    “He felt like he shouldn’t betray her trust. He made a promise not to tell.”
    ‘Hmm…”
    I narrowed my eyes at Julia. “Hmm… what?”
    “Nothing. You trust him.” Her words were not a statement. It sounded like an accusation.
    “Why wouldn’t I trust him? He’s never lied to me.”
    “Not that you know of,” she snorted.
    “Julia! What is your problem?” Ava interjected. “Connor’s great. Why are you being such a bitch?”
    “Look, you know I like Connor. I do, but he has this history you can’t deny. You didn’t know him then. You have no idea if he will slide back in that direction.” Julia paused to flip over from her back to her stomach – more interested in her tan than my feelings. “He was a major burnout before you got here. I know you think his graffiti is ‘art,’ or whatever, but it’s really vandalism.”
    “Julia,” Ava warned. “Knock it off.”
    “Fine. I’ll shut up, but you know I’m just being realistic. You’re aware of his past, and I just told you one reason your boyfriend may have been emo and secretive the last few days because his friend, who committed suicide, may have been a skank. Do you really want your boyfriend to have a friend like that?”
    By the time she finished, I’d halfway gathered my things and was shoving them into my pool bag. How dare she pretend to know anything about Connor? I made my hands useful by rooting around under my chair for my flip-flops and put them on. I’m afraid I would have murdered Julia otherwise.
    “Thanks for the invite, Ava. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Wait! Do you want a ride?”
    “No. I’d rather walk.” I needed to blow off some steam before I punched Julia in the mouth.
    Julia looked up. “You’re leaving? Because I said that?”
    “Yeah, Julia, I am. I’m not really interested to hear how you think my boyfriend, who you barely know, was