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“I’ve got to pick up Darcy.”
    “Got a date with Darcy?” his father said. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Here.”
    Michael glanced back at his father and saw that he was holding up the car keys. He looked very pleased with himself.
    Michael felt his face flush. What could he say? His father would never believe he’d pass up a chance to drive the car. So in the end Michael simply took the keys, thanked his father, and headed upstairs to change his shirt. He told himself this was just another stone he had to swallow, and a small one by comparison. What was driving without a license compared to killing a man?
    A half hour later he was standing at Darcy’s front door. Darcy looked beautiful. Her thick hair hung almost to her waist in tight little waves. She wore pale peach shorts with a flowered top. Michael blinked in admiration.
    “You’re actually on time,” she said, stepping outside. Then she turned and shouted back through the front door that they were leaving for the party.
    Michael was glad she was ready to go. The last thing he felt like doing was talking to her parents.
    Darcy looked out at the road. “Hey, your dad let you have the car!”
    “Yeah. Well, maybe by the end of the summer I’ll have my own wheels.” He said this because he thought it was expected. He’d been saving for a car for almost a year, and all his friends, including Darcy, knew it.
    They drove toward Steven Chang’s house just as the streetlights came on. The light filtered through the branches, spreading leafy patterns on the sidewalk and street. Darcy reached for his hand, and the gentle pressure of her soft skin hurt him in a way he had never known.
    He wanted to say something to her. He had even rehearsed it in front of the bathroom mirror. He would tell her they were seeing too much of each other, that they should start dating other people. But now, sitting next to Darcy, it sounded so phony. Everyone said that kind of crap when they wanted to break up with somebody. And the truth was, he still cared about her. He just couldn’t be with her right now. He couldn’t be with anyone.
    Steven Chang’s house was only two blocks away. Michael could hear the music even before they turned onto Steven’s street. He was relieved when they made it through the front door without ever exchanging a word. Darcy never even mentionedhow he’d forgotten her the day before. He was sure, after the scene at the pool that afternoon, that she was planning to read him the riot act. But so far she hadn’t said anything.
    Once they were inside, Darcy left him while she went to talk to two of her girlfriends in the kitchen, saying she’d get him something to drink while she was out there. Michael watched her disappear into the other room. He liked to watch her leaving and entering rooms. She had the most graceful body he’d ever seen. She seemed so at home in it.
    The room was wall-to-wall kids. Somebody put on a rap CD and turned the volume up full blast. The furniture had been pushed back so that people could dance.
    The smoke in the room stung Michael’s eyes. The music was already beginning to give him a headache. He scouted around for a place to sit, finally deciding on the stairs leading to the second floor. He sat on the bottom step, back braced against the wall.
    Two girls stepped over him to go upstairs. Michael recognized them, although he did not know them well. Suddenly, unexpectedly, he heard Jenna Ward’s name.
    The taller of the two, a girl with tight cutoffs and straight blond hair, was going on about how sad it was, especially since Jenna Ward was a classmate of her younger sister. “Can you imagine how freaky that would have been?” she said to the other girl. “One minute you’re talking to your father, who’s up on the roof, and the next minute he’s lying at your feet … dead.” Their voices drifted off as they reached the top step and started down the hall.
    Michael pressed his palms against his eyes. Hard.