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wasn’t built to fly.”
    The more I looked at her, the more I noticed her weird dog shirt. It was sort of frightening. Like maybe it had rabies.
    “Do you want to watch TV?” I asked.
    She shook her head. “I don’t really watch TV. Do you mind if I give myself a quick tour?”
    “Um,” I said. It seemed weird to request to snoop around my house by herself. But before I could tell her a good reason to stay put, Leslie called me back. “I have to take this call,” I told Angelina.
    “No problemo,” my cousin said cheerily, flashing me a thumbs-up sign.
    “Did you hang up on me?” Leslie asked.
    “I don’t think so,” I told her. I watched Angelina wandering through the living room, pausing in front of our framed family photos. “It was my cousin.”
    “Lane, you totally should have told me you were expecting a cousin. You gave me a serious freak-out.”
    “She’s unexpected,” I said. But then I worried that wasn’t the right thing to say. Because my mom wanted Angelina to appear very expected. And permanent at my school.
    “Okay,” Leslie said. “I gotta jam or I’ll miss my movie. Don’t forget the vegan cookies. Hope your cousin isn’t a drag! Later.”
    I had no idea that Leslie was so spastic. When I walked into the living room to talk to Angelina, she wasn’t there anymore. “Angelina?” I called.
    “I’m checking out the kitchen,” she said.
    I walked into kitchen, but she wasn’t there.
    “Angelina?” I called.
    “Now I’m in the garage!”
    She sure seemed comfortable in my house. As I headed toward the garage, my phone buzzed and I saw that I had a message from Todd. It was so exciting.
    Todd: Is your cousin there yet?
    That was not a very exciting message.
    Me: Yes. In my garage.
    Angelina reentered the house and popped through the doorway to the kitchen. “Who are you texting?”
    I shrugged. She didn’t need to know who I was texting.
    “Do you want me to try to guess?” Angelina asked. Her face lit up with excitement and she sat down at the kitchen table.
    But I didn’t want her to guess. I wanted her to stop being so nosy. “It’s just a friend,” I said.
    My phone buzzed again. I loved seeing Todd’s name light up.
    Todd: Can you send a picture?
    Me: Of what?
    Todd: Her!
    What? No way. Why would he want to see a picture of Angelina?
    Me: No.
    Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
    Todd: I’m at Jagger’s. We want to see what she looks like.
    “What are you and your friend texting about?” Angelina asked.
    Were all people from Alaska this intrusive? Rather than lie or dodge everything, I decided it was easier to answer honestly. “My friend Todd wants me to send him a picture of you.”
    “Ooh,” Angelina said. “Is your friend Todd cute?”
    What? Was my cousin crazy?
    “Um,” I said. “You are asking too many questions.”
    “You’re right,” Angelina said, popping out of the chair. “Okay. My left is my good side. How should I pose?”
    This was so weird. I couldn’t believe that I had to send my secret boyfriend a photo of my Alaskan cousin’s good side while she posed. But I didn’t see a better option. As soon as I had her focused in the frame I realized her dog shirt looked super creepy, and so I chose to take a close-up of just her face.
Click!
    “Okay,” Angelina said. “Now we should send him a picture of both of us.”
    “That’s not really necessary,” I said. Because Todd already knew exactly what I looked like. I was pretty sure he thought I was cute and that was part of why he liked me.
    “It’s totally necessary,” Angelina said, taking my phone and holding it at arm’s length from us. “We will never repeat this moment. It should be recorded.”
Click
.
    “You need to count to three,” I said. “My eyes were closed.”
    Angelina and I both looked at the picture. She had a great smile, and if you cropped out everything below the neck, she looked cute enough to be a model on the cover of a teen magazine. For some reason, in addition to