are going down to the lake. Why don’t you come?”
Zach looked over at Darcy nervously. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“Why?”
Zach hesitated, lowering his voice. “Um, when you say friends, you’re talking about Darcy Madden, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“I’d love to hang out with you. But I’m not looking to get wasted or anything.”
“Who said anything about getting wasted?”
“It’s just, from what I hear—”
“What you hear. Do you judge people based on gossip?”
Zach looked taken aback. “No.”
“Don’t judge her, then. People just say stuff about her because they’re jealous. It’s a pretty night. Come outside with me. Please?”
Bel took Zach’s hand and gave him her sweetest smile. His eyes lit up.
The loudspeakers started making an awful screeching noise, which distracted the chaperones. Darcy and Tessa slipped out the back door, and Bel pulled Zach along, hurrying to keep up. Outside, the night was warm, lit by a fat harvest moon hanging low in the velvety sky. There was a loud sound of crickets chirping, and the smell of mulch and wet leaves, as they headed for the path into the woods. Zach’s hand trembled in hers.
“Are we seriously going to the lake? I’ve never been there at night,” he said.
“I have,” she said. “It’s gorgeous. Come on, hurry.”
Darcy and Tessa had been swallowed by the trees. Bel raced to keep up, flicking on the flashlight on her phone to light the way.
The Odell campus bordered a thousand-acre nature preserve—pristine land made up of dense forest, open fields, hilltops, valleys and babbling streams, all crisscrossed by a network of hiking trails. Lost Lake sat about a mile into the nature preserve from the border of campus. The path that led there was dark and mysterious, but with her friends in front of her and a boy by her side, Bel felt safe. More than safe, she felt happy to be alive. It was a beautiful night, and she was on a crazy adventure, with a slight edge of hysteria, as if she was high already even though she hadn’t smoked anything. That was the effect Darcy’s shenanigans had on her.
Bel stumbled on a root, giggling as Zach caught her.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. Relax, Zach. You’re too uptight,” she said.
They didn’t talk again until they reached the wide meadow that bordered the lake. Zach caught the view across the open water, sparkling in the moonlight, and drew a sharp breath.
“See?” Bel said. “It’s worth it. C’mon.”
They headed for the wooden hikers’ lean-to that faced the lake. It had been the favorite rendezvous point for Odell kids looking to sin since time immemorial. Zach seemed to know that as well as Bel did. Or else he just smelled the pot.
“Uh, no, I can’t,” he said, stopping in his tracks.
“You don’t smoke weed?”
“Not on campus I don’t. Surest way to get caught.”
“This isn’t campus.”
“Not technically. But if you think the faculty doesn’t know about the lean-to, you’re mistaken. They raid it regularly.”
Darcy had never told Bel that, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. “Are you sure?” Bel asked.
“Positive. A bunch of guys from my dorm got caught drinking here last spring. They all got kicked out.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
“Yeah, although, they were nobodies. And two of them were black. I’m not saying the school excessively punishes poor, black kids. It’s the opposite. If you’re somebody important, you get away with stuff that normal kids get punished for. Those friends of yours—I know who they are. They’re connected. Maybe you are, too. But I’m not, so I should probably go.”
Bel felt sorry for Zach. Plus, she hadn’t come this far just to turn around and leave without putting Darcy’s Brandon concerns to rest.
“We don’t have to get high,” Bel said. “Let’s just go in the woods and hook up. You can’t get expelled for that, right?”
He smiled. “I don’t know, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Hold on. I’m just gonna let Darcy know that we’re going someplace more private.”
She did. And they did. Their make-out session, which stopped well short of actual sex and was so forgettable to Bel, was now imprinted on Zach’s brain forever, to the point where he was making her life unbearable. She had to do something to get rid of him.
Rose had promised Mrs. Donovan that she would make up with her sister. But as the days passed, she couldn’t bring herself to fulfill that promise. She was still smarting from that incident in the dining hall on the first day of class, when Bel allowed one of her new best friends to humiliate Rose, and didn’t speak up in her defense. It was on Bel to apologize to Rose for that first, and then Rose would meet her halfway. Okay, Bel had tried to apologize the day after it happened. But that was too early. Anybody could see that. The wound was too fresh; Rose had cut her off and walked away. Now that more time had passed, Bel ought to understand that it was time to apologize again. This time, Rose would graciously accept her apology, and they could make up. But Bel kept her distance, and things between the sisters remained icy.
As angry as Rose was with her twin, she also missed her very much. Odell was a tough place, for all its glory. The pressure was intense, and the competition was crushing enough to pierce Rose’s healthy self-confidence. At Odell, one needed allies, and Rose didn’t make friends easily. Her pleasant rapport with Emma Kim was moving slowly toward friendship, but it would never match the history she shared with her sister. Bel wasn’t a natural soulmate for Rose; they were too different. But she was family, and nothing could change that.
On a chilly evening in early October, Rose walked back to the dorm alone. She’d left dinner early, overwhelmed by the feeling of being alone in a crowd. Emma had disappeared from the dining hall lately because she was rehearsing nonstop for the fall orchestra recital. That left Rose to navigate the Moreland sophomore table on her own. She knew she ought to try harder to make other friends, but she was too proud to put herself out there. So tonight, and too often lately, she’d ended up sitting quietly while conversation swirled around her, feeling left out.
The sharp chill in the air as she walked toward Moreland, the deep shadows cast by the setting sun, the empty paths, pressed on Rose’s heart. When she caught a glimpse of Bel in the distance, climbing the steps to Weston Library, suddenly that incident in the dining hall seemed frivolous. She couldn’t let it destroy her relationship with her only sister. If she and Bel could be friends again, Rose wouldn’t feel so lonely.
