"What do you know about Logan's dad?" Emma asked.

She was sitting in the middle of the cafeteria with Abby, watching as her best friend picked idly at the spaghetti she'd gotten a few minutes ago from the kitchen.

Emma had been thinking about Logan pretty much nonstop since the accident yesterday. And thinking about Logan always led to her thinking about Homecoming, which, in turn, led to thinking about his dad and how weird he'd been.

Ever since she'd seen the man, Emma hadn't quite known what to make of him. He wasn't exactly hostile, but he sure didn't seem like the warm and fuzzy type either. Not to mention the fact that Logan had seemed just a little bit on edge around him. Usually, he was so loud, so boisterous that seeing him as quiet as he had been was kind of... weird. Emma was almost positive that his dad standing there had been the reason for Logan's sudden personality change. She was also willing to bet that it was why he had invited her to Homecoming in the first place. But she still didn't understand why, and it had been slowly eating away at her for the better part of a week. She just hadn't realized it until yesterday's accident.

"Logan's dad?" Abby asked. "How would I know anything about him? I've never met the guy."

"Yeah, I know... but you always seem to know these kinds of things."

Abby had been the first person at school to know when the captain of the football team broke up with his girlfriend – and who he'd been secretly dating slightly before it had happened – which chess club member was also getting ready to fail their junior year, and the fact that it was Mr. Hall's pending custody battle that had left him too distracted to give out those tear-inducing tests he'd been known for in years past. So why wouldn't she know all about Logan and his dad?

"Are you calling me a gossip?" Abby gasped, putting a hand dramatically to her heart.

"No! I mean... I wouldn't say that..." Emma said, unable to resist.

"Hey!" Abby exclaimed, widening her eyes in a show of mock hurt. Then, she let up – they both knew it was true, and the accusation had never particularly bothered Abby.

"What can I say?" she shrugged. "It's not my fault that people tell me things."

"Why do they tell you things? Especially these kinds of things?" Emma wondered. "I mean, I know why I tell you things. But you're not everyone else's best friend."

"Aren't I?" Abby asked, raising her eyebrows and grinning wickedly.

"No." Emma said flatly.

"Then it must be my amazing ability to keep a secret."

Emma snorted loudly, sending the soda she'd been drinking right up her nose. Abby was great at many things – dancing, drawing, even math. But one thing she definitely was not good at was keeping secrets. So what was all this? A thought occurred to Emma.

"Abby? Are you stalling?"

"Me?" Abby asked, her eyes widening and her voice rising an octave. So smooth. Emma rolled her eyes.

"What is it?" she asked her friend.

Abby hesitated, looking around the room. Emma sighed, figuring her best friend was just being overly dramatic. Maybe she figured that if the stakes were high enough, Emma would drop the whole thing. Fat chance. Finally, Abby leaned across the table, an incredibly serious look on her face.

"If I tell you something, you have to promise you won't tell anybody."

"Who would I tell?" Emma asked. Abby shrugged, deciding not to push the issue.

"He hasn't really been close to his dad since the divorce." Abby said quietly. She quickly looked at the table next to them, but they were busy joking amongst themselves, completely oblivious to Abby's apparently sensational news.

Emma just stared for what must have been a full minute, waiting for Abby to elaborate. She didn't.

"Wait – really? That's the big secret you've been keeping? Abby, your parents are divorced." she added incredulously. She felt somewhere between confused and disappointed. This wasn't exactly an earth-shattering announcement.

"Of course not." Abby rolled her eyes. "But his parents didn't exactly have the greatest relationship before they finally split either... Let's just say it was... contentious."

"Oh."

"And his dad's as tough on his kids as he was on his wife."

"He is?" Well, Emma guessed she could see why Abby wouldn't be excited to spread that kind of information around the school. Emma started going over Logan's behavior all over again from the day she'd met him. Suddenly, she was feeling just a little bad about how harshly she'd judged him.

"Do you know how hard he pushed for Logan to join the football team?" Abby asked, seemingly unaware of the turn Emma's thoughts had taken. "He was actually disappointed when Logan 'only' tried out for the basketball team."

"But he made varsity. And as a sophomore too." Even Emma knew that – not only did she follow their team as close as anybody, but he'd made the local paper at the time.

"Not good enough." Abby shrugged.

"Even though basketball's bigger here?" Their football team was mediocre even on their best days; nobody would seriously wish for their son to be on it instead of the basketball team.

"Like I said – his dad has a very specific idea of the kinds of people his family should be."

And clearly, Logan didn't quite measure up to whatever that idea was. Suddenly, Emma could see why he'd been so nervous about asking her to Homecoming – and about her potential rejection. She was so glad she'd said yes that day. Not only that, but she was now, for the first time, seriously rethinking her plans to back out of going with him. What if his dad found out? Judging by what Abby had said, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who'd take the news all that well. How could Emma do that to Logan now, knowing what she did?

"How do you know all of this anyway?" Emma asked. And, more importantly, why hadn't she bothered to mention any of it before? It was almost enough to make Emma feel guilty about her constant remarks about the guy.

"His little sister was in my Spanish class last year. Well – she's in it this year too, but she told me about it last year."

"Oh..."

Emma had never known that he even had a little sister, much less that she talked to Abby. Even though Logan had been in Emma's class for years, she realized that she knew next to nothing about his home life – or about him, really. For the first time since the eighth grade, she was forced to consider the possibility that Logan Harris might be more than just a selfish, inconsiderate jerk.