Jake

As soon as they let me see Jessica, I rush to the hospital, but her dad stops me in the lobby.

“Jake,” he starts.

“I just want to see Jessica. Please.”

“It’s okay,” he says. “You can see her. I wanted to tell you I’m—I’m sorry for being so hard on you.” He shakes my hand and Mrs. Sanchez offers me a quick hug, and then they tell me her room number.

Up on the third floor, Jessica looks like she’s been to hell and back. Her rescue, and the revelation about Chloe assualting Tegan, played on TV two days ago, and I watched it from home. The rescue footage claws at me each time I close my eyes, because Jessica could have died. The current swept her and Chloe into the Red Triangle into water so deep that rescuers would have needed a submersible to collect her, had she drowned.

It was Grady’s quick call to 911 that made the rescue happen, before hypothermia or something worse killed her.

“Hey,” I say, sitting on a chair by her bed, “next time you go swimming, stay in the shallow end.”

She smiles, but it fades quickly. “I can’t believe it was Chloe, Jake. I’m so confused.”

“Yeah, me too.” Jess looks hollow and pale in the bed, and I resist the urge to touch her.

“Am I blind, Jake? Did I miss something with Chloe? Tegan never liked her; maybe she sensed something I didn’t. I wonder if I’d listened…if I’d chosen Tegan over Chloe…”

I shake my head. “They both have their issues, Jessica.”

“Have they found Chloe yet?”

I rub the skin between my eyes as she blinks back tears. “The Coast Guard is still looking.”

“God, the sharks…”

“Don’t think about it.”

The camera Jessica found had recorded Chloe’s attack on Tegan and her admission to setting up the camera. The police searched her house and phone records, and they found evidence that she killed Shawna. DNA collected from Chloe’s toothbrush matched to the skin collected from beneath Shawna’s fingernails. Also, Chloe’s phone GPS shows that she traveled to Falcon’s Peak and back during the window the coroner set for the time of death, which included the hours before I got there.

It’s anyone’s guess what happened, but there’s no doubt the two girls fought at the top of the cliff before Shawna fell. Then, using Shawna’s cell, Chloe texted me, saying to meet at Falcon’s Peak. She knew that when Shawna’s body was found, I’d be blamed. The way I see it, if the death was an accident, why set me up? But I also wouldn’t describe any of Chloe’s recent behavior as rational or understandable.

The camera also recorded Chloe putting Tegan’s cell in my glove box. That’s how angry Chloe was that I’d cheated on Jess. The police plan to charge her for murder and attempted murder, if they find her alive.

“Chloe was scared,” Jess says from her hospital bed. “I don’t believe she meant to hurt anyone.”

“She covered her tracks and set me up to take the fall,” I retort. “Don’t kid yourself about Chloe, Jess. All she cares about is herself.”

Let me go. That hurts. Tegan must have said that to Chloe while I slept through the whole damn thing. Not my finest moment.

I wipe my palms on my jeans, feeling antsy. Talking with Jess feels too familiar, too comfortable, and I’m not here to go backward. “I’m just glad you’re okay,” I tell her.

She reaches for my hand. “I’m so sorry about the bet and what Tegan did to win. I—I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I pull away from her before my anger can sprout to the surface. “It’s fine; it’s over.” Her amber eyes meet mine, and I hold her gaze because I need to make sure she understands my next words. “We’re over too.”

“I know.” A tear slides down her cheek, and it’s like I can hear her heart splitting in half, because that’s how I felt when she first broke up with me. It sucks, but I can’t help her, not anymore. “I gotta go, Jess. I have an AA meeting in thirty minutes.”

She sniffles, wipes her eyes. “That’s good.”

I study her and she looks different, still beautiful, but different. Maybe it’s because I’m no longer hers and she’s no longer mine. Our connection was like a filter that washed out every flaw. Now she could be anyone’s girl, or no one’s.

I offer a smile. “Guess who DM’d me? Tegan Sheffield. She’s doing okay, except for all the legal trouble she’s in. Says she’s sorry. Can you believe it, a DM apology for what she did to me?” I laugh, but Jess looks appalled. “It’s all right. It’s more than I expected.”

She bolts upright as I start to leave. “Jake, will you apply to college too? Please. For me?”

“Already did,” I tell her. The school counselor convinced me I could squeak into a state college if I brought up my math grade. I didn’t apply for Jessica, though, or for me; I did it for my dad. “Bye, Ms. Sanchez.”

She hiccups silent tears. “Bye, Mr. Healy.” Like lovers returning gifts, we give each other our names back.

I leave feeling better than I thought I would. At home, Cole is waiting for me. We’re going to play soccer and go for ice cream and then watch a movie with Mom tonight. In between all that, I’m hitting the gym with Manny. The fiasco with Tegan and me is over, but I’m still on the hook for beating up Brendon. The charges were reduced and my record will be expunged. Being a minor isn’t always a bad thing.

There’s one question still unanswered: Which of Tegan’s friends spiked her drink? Who double-crossed her? Maybe we’ll never know.