There were no words available for me to describe how I felt when I saw my sister's eyes fill with intense hatred for the boy I was sure I'd been in love with for two years. No words.

At first, I just stood there, watching her, but when she moved, approaching us, my brain struggled to come up with something to do or say.

"What the heck is he doing here?" she growled, coming to a stop in front of me, her eyes straying to him and shooting poison.

"He came to see me." I don't know why I said that, but I did.

Kairi wasn't happy to hear that, and I saw her fists tighten. "Tell him to leave," she ordered, and I felt my eyes widen in surprise. "Kimie, I said, tell him to leave," she repeated through gritted teeth after a few seconds passed, but I made no attempt to do as she said.

"What is wrong with you, Kairi?" I looked at her, lowering my voice so, hopefully, only her could hear me, but she wasn't in the mood to be quiet.

"He's my problem," she gestured angrily to Axel, "and you know that. Just tell him to leave."

Kairi let Dray stay. She also let Macy stay. Worst of all, she wanted to talk to Piper before she was killed. So why couldn't she stand Axel? Why was she staring at him with pure hatred? Thinking about it made me mad.

"It's okay," Axel finally said, and I turned to him. "I'll go."

"Axel," I started, but he cut me off with a forced smile.

"It's okay. I'll see you around." He took his phone from me, then glanced at my sister, who folded her arms over her chest and looked away in response, her jaw moving as she gritted her teeth. "Bye."

Neither of us said anything to him, me too annoyed and Kairi too angry, and he walked past us, leaving us in silence. I waited until I was sure he couldn't hear us before turning to her.

"Okay, what was that?" I don't think I'd ever been that annoyed at my sister.

"You're not dating him, are you?" was her quick reply.

"What if I am?! What are you gonna do about it?"

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Kimie."

"I can't believe you sent him away!" I shouted, not able to hold it in anymore. "He came to see me and not you, so what was your problem?"

Kairi stared at me for a while with her chest visibly rising and falling, then, without saying anything, she turned back in the direction of the back door.

I couldn't believe she was going to walk out on me, and I was so mad that I couldn't even think straight, so I rushed to catch up with her, then stopped her by pulling her hand back.

"Look, I'm not talking to you about him, okay?" she said first, stopping my sentence at the back of my tongue. There were tears in her eyes, and normally I'd feel bad, but today, I was overwhelmed by my emotions—so overwhelmed that I didn't care. "You're obviously not going to listen to anything I say right now, so what's the use?"

"Why not him, Kairi?"

She calmed a little. "W—what do you mean?"

"Why haven't you forgiven him?"

A tear escaped her eyes, and she quickly swiped it off her face. She shook her head, her lips parting as she struggled to come up with something to say, and I could tell how uncomfortable she was in the position I'd put her. "I—I can't," she said, walking into the house immediately and leaving me outside.

I don't know what was wrong with me, but I knew I wasn't done with her, and I couldn't just let her go. When I opened the door, I saw her about to leave the kitchen.

"You're such a hypocrite, you know that, don't you?" I said, and she stopped and turned to me, her cheeks flushed. "If you forgive, then you forgive all. What kind of policy do you have?"

"Do you forgive him?"

I drew in a sharp breath at the suddenness of her question, feeling like I woke up to find myself in the spotlight with hundreds of people watching.

"Do you forgive him for what he did to me, Kimie?" she elaborated when nothing came from me.

I still couldn't speak, because honestly I didn't know. And if I was being completely honest with myself, I didn't think so. I couldn't say I forgave Axel out loud and be proud of myself afterwards.

So what was I doing?

"See?" Kairi said. "You don't even know where you stand, so what do you want me to do? No one knows what I went through that night; I'm the only one that can describe what I felt and what I'm still feeling. I don't expect you to understand, really—I'd never force you to—but don't even make an attempt to remind me of what I'm trying so hard to forget. Please. I don't want to see Axel here again."

With that, she walked out of the kitchen, and I saw her clean tears off her face just before she disappeared up the stairs. I stood where I was until I heard her door slam shut, then went to take my seat at the kitchen table.

My stomach was acting weird all of a sudden, tying itself into knots, and I stared through the table as I realized two things: this was the first time my sister was talking about that night with me, and Axel might be guiltier than I thought.

The realization made me sick. Really sick.

I was exhausted by the time I made it back to my room, and I made my way to my bed, falling face first into it and just staying there. I was restless, and the way my stomach was churning said a lot about my suspicion.

But no. It couldn't be.

If my suspicion was correct, Kairi would've said something. She told the police she couldn't see their faces. So, unless she was lying . . .

Do you forgive him for what he did to me?

I knew Axel didn't tell anyone the truth when my sister was accused of purposely trying to get his attention, and I knew that was what triggered everything else, but that was all. What Kairi said downstairs was making this whole thing much more complicated than I thought, and I knew it would be almost impossible for me to sleep tonight.

Before I could think further about it, my phone rang, and, distracted, I picked up the call and placed the phone against my ear without looking at who was calling.

"Hello?"

"Kimie, can you do something for me?"

I quickly sat up when I heard West's voice, then tucked a leg beneath my body to be comfortable. "West?"

"Yeah?"

"Um, what do you want help with?"

"Write this name down, please."

"Uh . . ." I trailed off, looking down at the notebook in front of me. "Okay, just hold on a sec." I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder, then tore the last page from the notebook and took a pen. "Okay. What name?" I asked him when I was ready.

"Jett Foster."

"Jett Foster," I said slowly as I put the name on paper. "Okay. What else? What about him?"

"We need to find dirt on him."

I froze, letting his sentence digest. "What?"

"I know. It's not part of the plan, but please. I didn't want to call, wanting to do it myself, but . . ."

I was confused, and I didn't say anything even after he trailed off. My silence seemed to bother him, because I heard him sigh.

"You're gonna say no, aren't you?"

"No. I mean, I'm just confused. Who is he?"

West was quiet for a long time, and I had to check my phone to make sure he was still on the line.

"West?"

"You know what, j—just forget it."

"West, wait," I said quickly before he could hang up on me. "What's up with you today?"

"I'm fine."

"You're not." I took a pause, waiting for him to say something, and when he didn't speak, I asked, "Who's Jett?"

"Are you going to help me or not?"

"Not if you don't say something—anything—about who he is."

"Then forget I called."

"Wait—"

I didn't get the chance to complete my sentence because he hung up on me. On an impulse, I called him back, a little worried, but he didn't pick up.

I got extremely frustrated then, because he'd just added something new to my existing pile of things to deal with. I logged onto Facebook immediately I took the phone off my ear, then typed Jett Foster into the search bar. A couple of results came up and I scrolled past a few profiles before realizing I didn't even know what this guy looked like.

Sighing in defeat, I logged out, then fell back and buried my face in my pillow. A few minutes passed before something occurred to me. In the library, there was a shelf at the back that housed some old yearbooks. If Jett went to our school, then he should be in one of them.

I quickly set a reminder for lunchtime tomorrow, then let myself relax.

West was being so awkward about whatever the deal was with this boy—whoever he was—and after the way he left school, I was convinced it was serious. And I couldn't stop worrying about him.

I didn't realize when I fell asleep, but I woke up to Kairi screaming like she was in pain, and when I looked at my digital clock, I saw that it was one in the morning.

I spotted Jamie at a table on the quad just as my phone dinged and displayed the reminder I set. He was busy with the laptop in front of him, typing furiously like his life depended on it. He looked exactly the way he did on Monday—about eighty percent more intimidating, and twenty percent scarier. His glasses were gone for good, I suspected, and I found myself picturing him with them, remembering the last time we had a conversation and how disappointed he looked.

I didn't realize I had stopped walking and was now staring at him until a boy bumped into me from behind, propelling me forward. I stopped for just a second to acknowledge his hasty apology before I was walking again. Telling myself to just walk and not turn around, I filled my lungs with air and forced my brain and legs to work in sync.

I only stopped when I got to where he was sitting, and it took him a while to notice me and look up. When he did, I froze.

Because I'd never gotten the chance to see Jamie without his glasses on up close, and because the effect his eyes gave surprised me. It was almost like his glasses were a kind of mask, shielding the real him from the world.

"Hi," I said to him, pushing nervousness to the depths of my stomach, and he closed his laptop, his eyes not leaving mine.

"Uh . . . can I help you?" was the first thing he asked me.

I gestured hesitantly to the space next to him. "Can I sit?"

The way he was looking at me said a lot, and I braced myself for rejection. Surprisingly, he nodded, then slid over the bench with his laptop to give me more room, and I slowly sat, making sure there was still space between us.

"So," he began, "what brings Kimie Sato here on such a fine day?"

I didn't miss the sarcasm in his voice, but I ignored it and swallowed the lump in my throat. "I came to talk to you."

Jamie gave me a smile that had a chill running down my back with lightning speed. "I think we're done talking, Kimie."

"If we are, then what about the look?"

"What look?" He looked into my eyes as he asked the question.

"The one you gave me last Thursday," I explained, refusing to give up.

"Look, Kimie, I promised to stay out of your way and I'm a hundred percent sure I'm keeping that promise. So what do you want?"

I drew in a breath, then let it out slowly. "I'm sorry about that day, Jamie."

"Had a lot of time to think about it, didn't you?" he murmured, staring at something ahead.

"I'm serious, Jamie."

His eyes moved to mine so quickly that it took my breath away. "Do you think I'm stupid, Kimie?"

I stared at him in confusion, words stolen from my tongue. "What?"

"You think I'm stupid, don't you? You're trying to make a fool out of me."

"No!" I turned to him so I could establish an intimacy that showed that I came with good intentions. "I'm really sorry about the way I acted that day. That's all. I didn't mean to sound rude or insulting, I just had a lot of stuff to deal with."

"Fine!" He threw his hands up in surrender. "I've listened, and I understand. You happy now?" I didn't say anything, giving him the chance to continue. "Kimie, seriously, there's nothing left to say. I don't know why you felt the need to do this."

"I don't like it, okay?" I finally admitted, shutting him up. "You being mad at me. It feels . . . odd. I just want things to go back to normal."

"Look around you, Kimie. Nothing is okay. And going back to normal isn't possible. I've made enough of a fool of myself with you." I opened my mouth to say something, but he beat me to it. "By the way, aren't you supposed to be with that delinquent boyfriend of yours?"

I didn't tell him that West wasn't my boyfriend, or tell him anything at all, this time content with just staring at him and studying the look in his eyes.