swinging her long blond hair as she guzzles.

“Want some?” she says, turning to me, her eyes wide and shiny, her mouth wet and open.

But I just shake my head and look away, cringing as my overloaded backpack carves a long, deep groove into the top of my shoulder.

“Your friend’s a real blast,” Tom says, tossing his bottle toward the silver metal trash can, not bothering to get up and retrieve it when it ricochets off the side and rolls across the grass.

Then just as I’m about to tell him to go pound sand (or something much worse), Jason flicks his lit cigarette right at him and goes, “Shut the fuck up.” Then his eyes move over to me, embarking on an unhurried cruise along my skinny, undeveloped body, until finally coming to rest upon mine. “I knew your sister,” he says, reaching for another beer, flipping the top, and nodding. Smiling as he pulls Teresa close, pressing her hard against him, and sliding his hand down her back until he reaches her butt and squeezes. His eyes never once wavering from mine.

I watch as Teresa gazes up at him and giggles, then i turn and walk away. Feeling angry with her for dragging me here, but even angrier with myself for staying.

“Echo, wait! Shit. You guys, I’ll be right back,” Teresa says, running to catch up with me. “Where the hell are you going?” she whispers, tugging on my jacket, as I pick up the pace, doing my best to ignore her. “Echo, jeez, don’t be mad.”

I shake my head and walk even faster, ’til I’m just short of running. I hate when people do that. I hate when they put you in a really bad position and then tell you how you should feel about it.

“Seriously, slow down, please? Just give me a sec to explain,” she pleads.

I swing around and face her, making no attempt to hide my anger.

“Listen, I know Tom’s kind of an asshole, and I probably should’ve warned you. I’m sorry, okay?”

“Kind of an asshole?” I look at her and shake my head. “Oh my God, you weren’t trying to set me up with him, were you?” My eyes go wide, having just now thought of that totally disgusting possibility.

But she just rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I know you’re all into Parker, and I would never try to mess with that. It’s just that I really, really, really like Jason. I mean I really like him. Don’t you think he’s cute?” she asks, moving right past me and back to her. Going from apology to confession in zero to five seconds.

“Honestly? I think he’s creepy. Not to mention old” I say, far too mad to even care what she thinks.

“But that’s why I like him.” She shrugs. “He’s got a car, money, and ten times the maturity of all the guys at school put together.”

“Teresa, he’s a drug dealer” I say, not entirely sure of this, but still convinced that it’s true. “He’s bad news. Trust me, you don? want to get involved with him.”

But she just sucks on her cigarette and squints at me, and it’s clear she’s chosen not to listen. “You don’t even know him. You just met him like, ten minutes ago.”

I watch as she shakes her head and rolls her eyes, even though everything she just said is wrong. I mean, even though I haven’t actually “met” him until now, that doesn’t mean I don’t know about him. But it’s not like I’m gonna explain that to her, since it’s not like she’d even listen if I tried. The only thing I want to do is just get the heck out of here. Now.

“Listen,” I finally say. “You’re right. It probably is none of my business. But maybe you should ask yourself why some twenty-five-year-old guy is hanging out with and supplying beer and drugs to a fifteen-year-old girl. I mean, come on, Teresa.” But when I look at her, her eyes are blazing. And instead of persuading her, I’ve just made her mad.

“Okay, first of all, he’s twenty-four, not twenty-five. And second, you only saw him give me a light and a beer. That’s all. So you better not go telling people anything other than that. In fact, you better not go telling them anything at all. You also shouldn’t be so judgmental. I mean, he was friends with your sister.”

I look at her, standing before me, feeling so righteous even though she couldn’t be more wrong. “He knew my sister, but he was never her friend,” I say, glaring at her. “Believe me, there’s a difference.”

But she just rolls her eyes and flicks her ash to the ground, the gray and black particles hovering briefly before clinging to her feet. “Listen,” she says, grabbing my arm just as I start to walk away. “No need to mention any of this at school, okay? I mean, it’s not like it’s anybody’s business, and I don’t want Sean to get all upset and get the wrong idea. All right?” She looks at me, her face showing fear for the first time today.

But I just release myself from her grip and head toward home. “Don’t worry,” I say without looking back. “I won’t say a word.”

Fourteen

Monday at lunch Teresa’s sitting next to Sean, acting all cuddly and cute, like yesterday never happened. I line up my food, spreading it out before me, gazing from my orange to my cookie to my sandwich, wondering which to eat first.

“I can’t believe your mom still packs a lunch for you,” Teresa says, eyeballing my pastrami on rye. “I think that is so sweet.”

I decide to skip the healthy stuff and just start with the chocolate chip cookie, wondering if by “sweet” what she really means is “juvenile.”

“My mom would never take the time to do that,” she continues, popping a tiny powdered donut into her mouth before washing it down with a slug of Diet Coke.

I chew my cookie, trying to think of a good response. I’m the baby so she likes to take care of me? No, too babyish. I’m all she has left? Jeez, way too morbid. So finally I just say, “Yeah, well, that’s just her.” But then I remember how that was never really her, at least not until the happy pills moved in.

“Hey, what happened yesterday? Your cell was off, and your mom said you were out,” Parker says, kissing the top of my head and squeezing in beside me.

“Oh, yeah, I—” I start to give an excuse, but then Teresa butts in, deciding to provide one for me.

“I needed a little help with my homework, and Echo totally saved my life. Did you know she’s like a mathematical genius?” She gives me a quick warning glance, one that nobody notices but me, then she smiles and rubs her shoulder lightly against Sean’s.

“Wow, cute, nice, and good at math too?” Parker says, winking as he steals the rest of my cookie.

I just gaze at Teresa and shrug. “So she says.”

After school I meet Abby at her locker. Only this time, Jenay’s not there.

“She had a pep club meeting,” Abby says, slamming her locker a little harder than necessary and looking at me. “I mean, pep club!Can you even believe it?”

I shrug my shoulders and walk beside her as we make our way off campus. “So how was your weekend, you know, the whole family thing?” I ask, not wanting to talk about Jenay behind her back, yet feeling like I have to at least keep up the appearance of believing Abby’s excuse for not going to the dance.

But she just peers at me from the corner of her eye and sighs. “Okay, I think we both know there was no family thing,” she says, shaking her head and looking away. “So go ahead, tell me everything. Was it awesome?”

“It was okay,” I say, nervously shifting my backpack, not wanting to make her feel any worse by yammering on and on about it.

“Just okay?” She raises her eyebrows and waits.

“Yeah, I mean, it was fun.” I nod, wishing we could move away from this subject too.

“Well, I gotta tell ya, Jenay makes it sound a lot more exciting than you. I mean, you did go to the same dance, right?” She laughs.

“Even shared a limo.” I shrug.

“Well, you should hear her version. She dropped by yesterday, and went on and on and on. By the time she left, I felt like / was the one dating Chess. Seriously, I’m officially a Chess Williams expert now. I know everything about him, and I can even prove it. Like, did you know that his favorite sandwich is chicken salad? Fascinating, right? And how about this little known fact — he actually loves basketball more than baseball! Which is so highly unusual, wouldn’t you agree?” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “I’m sorry, I know I sound awful, but it’s like, all she can talk about! Chess this, Chess that.” She sighs. “Anyway, what’s up with you and Teresa?” she asks, looking at me all sideways again. “You guys dating?”

“What do you mean?” I gaze at the busy street, noticing how almost all of the cars are driven by Bella Vista seniors, taking the long way home.

“Well, Jenay said you guys practically spent more time with each other than your dates. And then yesterday we tried to call you to ask you to come over, but your phone was off. I guess that’s because you were helping her study. Or at least that’s what I overheard you say at lunch. Are you guys like, good friends now?”

She’s staring straight ahead, acting like it’s perfectly okay with her that Jenay’s ditched us for pep club and Chess, and that I’m supposedly best friends with Teresa. But I can tell it’s really bothering her. And part of me wants

to tell her about yesterday so she’ll know there’s nothing to worry about, that she and Jenay are still my best friends, and they won’t be replaced. But the other part just wants to forget it ever happened. And in the end, that’s the part that wins. “She sucks at math, so I helped her.” I shrug.

“And Parker? Are you guys like, a couple now?” she asks, finally looking directly at me, her face a mix of worry and hope.