Which was nice of her. For someone who’d just wanted to get rid of Old Man Trouble, I’d sure landed myself in a heap of it anyway.

And, I mean, that’s okay. A liar like me doesn’t deserve friends. A year in social Siberia will teach me a valuable lesson about telling the truth — not just to others, but to myself as well.

And then maybe, after graduation, if I can’t find a convent that will take me, I’ll just head off to college — an all-women’s college, of course — and start over.

So when Jill whizzed past me around two o’clock and said, “Quahog alert,” I was pretty startled. Especially when I looked over and saw Sidney and Dave — with Eric and Morgan behind them — standing at the hostess booth.

“What do you want me to do?” Jill asked worriedly.

“They probably don’t know I’m here,” I said, my heart slamming unsteadily against my rib cage. Because I could not imagine any of them — but most especially Sidney — would want to be seen at the Gull ’n Gulp if they knew I was here, too. “I’ll just go and let them know. They’ll probably leave.”

But when I sidled up to Sidney to ask, “Um, can I help you guys?” she looked at me as if I were an idiot.

“Yes,” she said. “You can get us a table.”

I blinked at her. “Sidney,” I said. “I’m working here today.”

“Funnily enough, I’m not blind,” Sidney said. “I can see that.”

“Well,” I said. “I mean, I just thought…maybe you’d be more comfortable eating somewhere else for a while. Because, you know…I’mhere.”

“That’s why we’re here, Katie,” Dave said. “To show you there’s no hard feelings. Right, Sidney?” He poked Sidney in the back.

Sidney looked annoyed. “Ow,” she said. Then added, “What he said. No hard feelings. I mean, aside from the fact that you ruined the pageant and made a total fool of yourself, you’re still my best friend. And, whatever, because I still won, which is as it should be. What do you think of my tiara?”

I looked at it. “I think you’re only supposed to wear it during the parade, Sidney,” I said.

“What, just because the parade is over, I’m not Quahog Princess anymore? No way. Right, Morgan?” Sidney looked at her second runner-up, who was busy making out with Eric, and didn’t seem to hear her.

“Get a room,” Sidney said, rolling her eyes. Then, taking me by the arm, she leaned over to add, “I called you, like, ten zillion times. I suppose you had your phone off again, as usual. Anyway, I wanted to say, you know…thanks. For not telling them the truth.”

I blinked at her. “Sidney. Idid tell them the truth.”

“Well, not thewhole truth,” Sidney said. “You know, the part about—”

“Right,” I said quickly. “No need to say anything more about it.”

“Well.” Sidney looked uncomfortable. “I just—”

“Really, Sid.” I looked her dead in the eye. “No need.”

“Well. All right. I just wanted to say thanks. So. Changing the subject. Have you heard?” Sidney wanted to know. “About Seth?”

I shook my head. It’s strange, but when I hear his name now, I feel…nothing. Except maybe a twinge of guilt. “No. Well, I mean, I got a message from him on my cell. He wants his jacket back. I assume that means he’s all right.”

“He’s fine. He couldn’t join us this morning because he’s hanging with Jenna Hicks.” She rolled her eyes expressively. “Apparently, the two of them have a lot in common, having the whole depression thing going for them now.”

“Well,” I said, not really very surprised. Mrs. Hicks, I was sure, was thrilled. Her forcing Jenna to take part in the pageant had succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. “That’s good. I guess.”

“Yeah,” Sidney said. “I suppose. Jenna looks good without all that nasty hardware in her face. Sort of. Anyway, there’s some kind of manga convention in the city, so they’re going together.”

“Manga?” I raised my eyebrows. “AndSeth?”

“Well, manga probably works for him. You know how he moves his lips when he reads. So, you know. Less words. What aboutyour hottie? Heard from him?”

I felt my cheeks turning red. “Um, you mean Tommy? No. No, I haven’t. I don’t expect to, either. He’s not my hottie.”

“Why not?” Sidney demanded, looking surprised.

“Sidney.” I love her. I really do. But seriously. “I admitted last night in front of him that I spray-paintedTommy Sullivan is a freak on the wall of our middle school. Do you think he’s really going to be that into me now?”

“Oh, whatever,” Sidney said. “You’re hot. And you’re, like, smart. Like he is. You’d make a nice couple. So can we have our table now, or what? Hey.” Her glance flicked past me. Then her eyes bulged. “Are thosetourists sitting there in the corner booth?”

Jill, returning to the hostess stand from showing a couple to their table, looked over her shoulder at the corner booth and answered Sidney’s question for her.

“Oh,” she said. “Those are the McCallisters. From Minnesota. Nice people.”

“What aretourists doing at the Quahog table?” Sidney demanded.

“Oh, that’s not the Quahog table anymore,” Jill explained breezily. “New restaurant policy. We voted. And we all decided that Katie is right, and it’s wrong to give special privileges to any one bunch of people.” She smiled beatifically at Dave. “Sorry.”

“No problem,” Dave, the smoother-over, said.

“But…” Sidney blinked a few times. “What arewe supposed to do?”

“Make a reservation next time,” Jill said, handing Sidney a beeper. “It’ll go off when a table is ready. Who’s next?”

Sidney looked down at the oversized beeper in her hand. Then she looked incredulously up at me.

“Is she kidding?” Sidney wanted to know.

“Um,” I said. “No. Sorry. But the turnover’s pretty fast this morning. Give it half an hour. I gotta get back to my tables. See you guys later.”

I hurried off to wait on my customers, unable to keep an enormous smile from my face. I couldn’t believe it. Sidney didn’t hate me! I actually still have a friend left at school!

That’s one person, anyway…and a person who’s pretty important to me.

Too bad there was zero chance of that happening with the person Imost wanted not to hate me.

But seriously. There was no way Tommy Sullivan was going to forgive me for what I’d done. I’d seen the look of total shock on his face when he’d learned the truth.

That hadn’t been the look of a man who was ready to forgive anytime soon, that was for sure.

Which was fine. I mean, I just got out of a long-term relationship. I’m not getting into a new one in a hurry.

Even one with a boy I’m totally positive is the right guy for me. Because I can’t stop thinking about him. And his lips.

But that’s wrong! Because clearly, I have some growing up to do, romance-wise.

Still. I wouldn’t have minded being just friends with Tommy.

If you can be just friends with a guy whose tongue has been in your mouth.

But I was pretty sure I was never going to get the chance to find out. I was willing to bet Tommy was all the way back in the city by now, leaving Eastport — and me — in his dust.

So it was a complete shock when, at the end of my shift, I walked out of the restaurant and saw him leaning against the bike rack behind the emergency generator, looking as if a fried quahog wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

Twenty-One

“What…what are you doing here?” I stammered, stopping dead in my tracks.

“Your mom said this is where you were,” Tommy said, straightening up. “And that you’d be getting off work about now.”

As usual, he looked incredibly good — casual in board shorts and a slim tee. The afternoon sun, which was behind him, brought out the red highlights in his hair. I couldn’t see what color his eyes were, though, because he was wearing his Ray-Bans.

He wasn’t smiling. For which I didn’t blame him.

“Look, Tommy,” I said, my heart slowing down to something more like a normal rhythm. It had practically leaped out of my chest at the sight of him.

But I was trying to wean myself off boys. Boys had been, after all, the root of all my troubles. Well, besides my inability to express my real opinion on things for fear of public censure.

Still, if I could just cut boys from my life permanently, maybe I’d be all right.

Although that wasn’t going to be easy with Tommy Sullivan around, looking so incredibly good.

“I’m really, truly sorry for what I did,” I said. I had suspected that I might see Tommy again — just not quite this soon. So I had been up most of the night, rehearsing what I was going to say to him. “I was stupid. I don’t know why I—”

“You didn’t,” Tommy said flatly.

I stared at him. This was not how I had rehearsed him responding. “What?”

“You didn’t spray-paint that wall, Katie,” he said in the same flat voice. “I know it wasn’t you.”

Wait.What? This wasso not how I’d rehearsed this going.

“Of course it was me,” I said, laughing incredulously. “Why would I have stood up in front of all those people last night and told them it was me, if it wasn’t?”

“Because you felt guilty,” Tommy said. “For not trying to stop Sidney and Seth and whoever else was involved in it.”

My jaw sagged.How had he known?

But I had been neglecting to tell the truth for so long about so many things, I couldn’t help responding with another lie.

“That’s…that’s ridiculous,” I stammered.

Tommy just looked bored.

“I know you werethere, Katie,” he said. “But I also know what really went down.”