"Tell me when you found out," I said.

                I was sitting on Josh's couch, curled up on one end. Josh was sitting on the other end, keeping his distance after I kept glaring at him.

                "I thought he was acting weird around you. I went to the art room to talk to him about it," Josh said, not meeting my eyes. His gaze stayed fixed on the pillow in his lap. "That's when I found out. Wally got mad and told me you'd never believe me about it. I knew he was right. I knew that damn liar would just deny it if I told you."

                "So you knew Five and Wally were just pretending to date," I said.

                Josh nodded. "As soon as it happened I figured he was just covering up his crush on you. But what was I supposed to do? You weren't going to believe me. So I tried to find the signs that they were just pretending and point them out to you." He got a bitter smile on his face. "But, dammit Robin, you trusted them so much."

                I winced and glared down at the floor, hating that he was right. Trusting my friends was what let them pull this off.

                "He wanted us to breakup. He was trying to drive us apart. I told you we could fix it, but Wally kept getting in your head that we couldn't. He didn't want us to fix it," Josh said, angry now.

                I closed my eyes, trying to picture a time when Wally had acted like this. But I just couldn't. He'd never done anything like this, not that I was aware of.

                "He's a snake," Josh said, and when I opened my eyes, he was watching me. "He's got this whole innocent act down, but he's selfish. Five agreed along with his plan. And you think Piers didn't know what was going on?"

                I stood up, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. "I'm leaving."

                Josh got off the couch and came over to me. "Please, don't leave, Robin."

                "This doesn't change the fact that we weren't working as a couple," I said.

                "We could fix things. Without Wally and the others there putting these ideas in your head, we could fix things," he said quietly.

                "Josh, we can't. We're not dating again. I'm sorry." I reached out and took his hand in mine. "We just don't work as a couple."

                "I hate Wally," he said, squeezing my hand. "I hate him."

                "He gave you every reason to." I released Josh's hand and he silently followed me to the front door. I left, neither of us saying anything, the truth coming too late to change anything.

                Josh was right, though. Even if he'd told me, I wouldn't have believed him. It was best that things happened like this. Things between us weren't permanently destroyed. Maybe someday we'd be friends again, at least.

                I got in my car and took off, making my way to Rhys' house. I parked and got out of the car, heading up and knocking on the door.

                Rhys pulled the door opened and frowned. "Hey, what's wrong?"

                I stepped into the house. "Are you free?"

                "Yea, my friend left about ten minutes ago. What happened?" he asked, leading me up to his bedroom, Hyde eagerly running out to greet me and follow us.

                Once we were in his room, he shut the door and we sat on his bed together. Hyde jumped up and curled against Rhys.

                I told Rhys everything that had happened. He listened intently, letting me speak without interruption.

                "I just can't believe they lied to me," I said at last, my voice cracking.

                Rhys put his arm around me. "I'm so sorry, Robin. I'm so sorry they did that to you."

                I rested my head on his shoulder, wiping at my eyes as they watered. "I trusted them."

                "That's why this is so hard," Rhys said, hugging me against his shoulder. "Wally admitted to what he did, but you didn't hear anything from Five and Piers, right? Maybe you should talk to them once you've calmed down and get their sides. See how involved in all of this they were. I know you won't be able to just forgive them for this, but maybe hearing their sides will lighten the blow, even just a little."

                "I know. I know," I said, dreading it.

                Rhys sighed. "Robin, I know you don't want to hear this right now. But some people don't deserve forgiveness. You'll be tempted to forgive them because you've been friends with them for so long, but if they hurt you this badly then maybe they don't deserve that forgiveness. Five and Piers might have just screwed up, but it sounds like Wally knew what he was doing was wrong but did it anyways. Please don't just let his actions go just because he's been your best friend for so long. I'm not saying you should never be friends with him again, but he needs to be willing to own up to what he did and try to make it right."

                "Rhys," I said, looking up at him. "I hope you know you deserve forgiveness for what you did."

                "This isn't about me," he said, shaking his head. "But that doesn't mean I can't give you advice based on my own experiences. You don't have to take it. But I'm putting it out there for you to consider."

                "I mean it," I said. "You're learning from the mistakes you made. You're guilty about them and you're changing yourself so they don't happen again. That deserves some degree of forgiveness."

                He smiled sadly. "You have so much faith in me."

                "You deserve it," I said honestly.

                "Look, no matter what happens with all of this, you can always come to me. If you need to vent or want advice or just want to have a normal conversation to get your mind off of things, I'm here," he promised.

                "Thank you." And I meant it. I meant it with every tired piece of me.

                "Hey." He lightly nudged me. "Let's go get ice cream. A walk will help clear your head. I'll pay for you."

                "Thanks, Rhys," I said, getting up.

                So he hooked Hyde's leash on and we walked at a steady pace to the ice cream place. Rhys paid for me and we sat at the same table as last time, falling into casual conversation. I told Rhys about my favorite comic books and he told me stories about the sports teams he was on.

                It helped ease me out of my misery and let me push that shitty situation to the back of my mind. We finished our ice cream and made our way back to Rhys' house, Rhys laughing as I held Hyde's leash and was tugged along by the excited dog.

                "Do you want to stay the night?" he offered once we were heading up his lawn.

                "Do you mind?" I said.

                He shook his head. "Nah, not at all. I'll just tell my folks we're working on a project together."

                We went inside, Rhys' parents moving around the kitchen. Rhys' mom spotted the dog and smiled, kneeling down so he could run over to her.

                "Hi Hyde. Did Rhys take you for a walk?" she said, petting him as he panted in content.

                "Mom, this is Robin. He's going to stay the night so we can finish up a project," Rhys said.

                "Alright. Just keep it down when it gets late," Mrs. Vieno said, taking Hyde's leash off. "Dinner will be ready in an hour, Rhys."

                We went up to Rhys' bedroom and he gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry, my mom's a bit weird about me having people over. I needed some sort of lie so she wouldn't say no."

                He went over to a stack of video games on one of his shelves. "Let's kill some time, yea?"

                So we picked out a game and played until his parents called us down for dinner. His mom kept asking me questions as we ate, wanting to know what my parents did and how Rhys and I met and if I played sports. When we had finished eating, Rhys hurried to get me away from his parents and back to his room, where we played more video games.

                As we teased each other and laughed, I found myself slipping into a good mood. Tomorrow I'd worry about talking to my friends. Today, I just wanted to forget the awful feeling that had been lurking through me since Wally confessed.

                                                                                                ***

                Rhys and I walked into school together, my nerves eating me alive. Rhys offered me a comforting smile, bumping his shoulder against mine.

                "Do you want me there?" he asked.

                I shook my head. "I should talk to them alone."

                "I'll be in the pool room until class starts. If you need me, just come find me," he said.

                "I'll see you at lunch," I said, taking off to find Piers.

                I finally found him at his locker. As I approached, he noticed me and frowned.

                "I know you're mad, but we need to talk," he said.

                "Tell me your side. Don't you dare lie to me," I said.

                "Robin, they didn't tell me the whole story," he said. "Five told me they were pretending to date as a cover-up. It got Five's mom off her back and it hid Wally's crush. Yes, we wanted you to breakup with Josh. But only because you were miserable and we thought it'd be best for you. At least, that's why I was doing it. When it came to Rhys, I had no idea Wally was jealous. I knew he was acting kind of weird, but I never thought he'd tried to manipulate you over it. I swear."

                "So you knew Wally liked me," I said.

                He rubbed the back of his neck. "Not at first. But I noticed the way he was looking at you when you weren't paying attention. I guessed. He hid it really well. He didn't have any of his usual tells when he talked to you. I thought it was harmless for them to fake date. I thought it was more about Five than Wally."

                I shook my head slowly. "Would you have told me even if you knew?"

                "Of course I would've." The fierceness of his voice surprised me. "It's one thing to hide a crush. It's another to sabotage your own best friend's relationships because of it. It was shitty on Wally's part. I would've told you in an instant if I'd known. Like I said, we only tried to get you to end it with Josh because we were worried about you."

                I felt relief creeping up on me. Piers might've lied to me, but he hadn't done it to hurt me. He thought he was doing the right thing.

                "I'm really sorry, Robin. If you're mad, I get it. I should've told you," he said.

                "Don't do it again," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

                "Honesty is the best policy from now on, I swear," he assured.

                "Your deal with Rhys is off. I'm sending the whole swim team and track team after you during lunch," I said.

                He winced and groaned. "I deserve it. I know I deserve it. But that's still harsh." He paused and gave me a concerned look. "Are you okay, though? What Wally did..."

                "I need to go talk to Five," I said. "I'm going to sit with Rhys during lunch, if you want to join us."

                "If you'll let me. I'm pissed at Wally for what he did," he said.

                "Come find us during lunch." I turned and took off in search of Five, feeling a little better.

                Piers made a mistake, but not with mean intent. I could forgive that. Maybe he'd lost some of my trust, but it wasn't irreparable damage.

                I found Five and went up to her. She faced me, guilt screaming in her eyes.

                "Go on." I nodded at her to speak.

                "I...I lied to you and I feel awful about it. But here's what happened." She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "I doubt it surprises anyone that I'm a lesbian. But you know how religious my mom is, and she kept asking me questions. I think she was finally starting to catch on and I was afraid. So when Wally called me and told me what he'd said to you about liking me, I was sympathetic to him. He came up with the idea to fake date once I told him about my mom. Solve all of our problems, he said. You wouldn't know he had a crush on you and my mom wouldn't know I was into girls. So ta-da, we pretended to date. And it did work. You were none the wiser and my mom was beyond relieved that I was with a boy."

                She dropped her gaze for a moment before meeting my eyes again. I gestured at her to keep speaking. We were running out of time before first period and I wanted to hear everything now.

                "I was worried about you with Josh and I thought Wally genuinely was, too. That's why we kept telling you to breakup with him. I wasn't doing that to help Wally. I was doing it because I was concerned about you. When you broke up with Josh, I was a little concerned about how close to Rhys you were getting so fast. I was worried you'd use him as a rebound and I still didn't trust the guy. But then I noticed how Wally was acting. He was jealous and he was saying things that made me think maybe his intentions weren't so pure."

                She twisted her braid around her finger nervously. "He texted me, told me he was mad about you and Rhys getting so close. Said he didn't understand how Rhys could just waltz in and win you over when Wally had been your friend for years. I told him to calm down, that maybe you and Wally were better off friends. Wally got even madder and I kept trying to tell him that just because he had a crush on you, it didn't mean he got to date you. If you were getting a crush on Rhys, Wally would just have to live with it."

                "I don't have a crush on Rhys," I said.

                "That's what I said. I said it seemed like you two were more of friends than lovers. Wally wasn't having it though. And then he texted me and said he kicked the bandana under his bed because he was sick of seeing you wear it. I told him that was childish and he needed to cut it out. He told me what he said to you, asked me if I thought it would be enough to stop you guys from dating. That's when I lost it, Robin. I told him I wasn't here to sabotage your life. I told him what he was doing was shitty and immature and I was going to tell you if he kept it up."

                "You should've told me as soon as it started," I said angrily.

                "I know that. You think I don't know that? But I was being selfish. If I told you, Wally wouldn't keep the façade up anymore. He got in my head, too. He reminded me how close my mom had come to finding out I liked girls. I was scared, Robin. But I wasn't so scared that I was going to keep it up if Wally kept manipulating you," she said.

                "I can't believe Wally of all people is capable of this," I whispered, running a hand through my hair.

                "He's a good storyteller," Five said bitterly. "He's good at finding the right words to get the reaction he wants. God only knows how long he's been doing this without any of us ever catching on to it."

                "You lost a hell a lot of my trust," I said.

                "I know. I hope you don't forgive me easily," she said, features strong despite the still lingering guilt. "You forgive people too easily. We hurt you, Robin. We don't deserve to have you just overlook that."

                "I'm not going to overlook it," I said flatly.

                "I'm sorry. I really am sorry. But sorry doesn't fix everything," she said.

                "I'm going to talk to Wally afterschool. Rhys and I are sitting together during lunch. You can sit with us if you want, but don't expect things to go back to normal so easily," I said.

                "Don't be too hard on Piers. He had the least to do with all of this. He thought it was mostly about me hiding my sexuality about my mom," she said.

                "I already talked to him," I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. I hesitated before pulling a hand out of my pocket and placing it on her shoulder. "Your mom won't find out. We'll help you."

                "I don't deserve you," she said, pulling me into her arms and hugging me tightly.

                "I wish you knew how long I thought the same thing about all of you," I mumbled, pulling away from her. "Things will never be the same."

                "I know that. But if I didn't want things to change, I shouldn't have lied to you," she said.

                "No, you shouldn't have." I walked away from her, off to the pool room. I wasn't ready to talk to Wally about any of this yet. Afterschool would be the best time to do it, somewhere that we could be alone in case I got angry.

                I went to the pool room and over to Rhys. He dismissed himself from his friends, turning his full attention on me.

                "Well? How did it go?" he asked.

                I shrugged. "Piers and Five might sit with us during lunch."

                The bell rang and the two of us left the pool room, heading to class together. I was nervous about talking to Wally afterschool. But more than anything, I was struggling to comprehend that my bright-smiled best friend was actually jealous and manipulative. I could never go back to seeing Wally the way I had our whole lives, and I didn't know what would happen to us now.