Every single time I’d take her out, I’d pay for the bill with her daddy’s allowance. I won’t be getting any money of my own before I play college football, and when I do, who knows where Daria will be? We’ve never talked about it. I’ll go wherever I’m offered a full scholarship.

The world is wide-open for her. She can go to the East Coast, or Midwest, or fucking Europe.

My world, however, is narrow-pathed and dingy. I don’t believe in fairy tales. I think Shakespeare got it right. When two people try to go against the grain, they get fucked up. End of story.

“Skull Eyes,” I whisper. She links her arms around my neck and rises on her toes to kiss me.

“I felt so lonely without it,” she whispers into my mouth.

“It felt so lonely without you,” I admit.

“Are we still talking about the necklace?”

We both laugh, but it dies down quickly. Our lips find each other as if they were programmed to do so. We kiss for so long my lips burn and crack at the edges. There’s a desperation in that kiss that wasn’t there before. It feels like goodbye, and I don’t like how it tastes. I pull away, wanting a redo. I also want to tell her to stop seeing Prichard. That it’s time to cut all the background noise. I still don’t know what to do with Adriana, or with Daria’s parents, or with my fucking life, but I’ve always been good at figuring shit out as I go along.

The minute I open my mouth, a scream of horror explodes from my right. Both Daria and I whip our heads, and it’s Via, standing in front of us, cupping her mouth.

My twin sister pivots on her heel and runs away, and I go after her. It’s an instinct more than anything because last time she did it, Rhett stopped me.

This time, nothing will.

I tackle Via to the grass by the pool, and we both slide on the damp blades. She squirms underneath me, yelping. Me, wet, freshly cut grass, and Friday night lights are where I thrive. I rise from her, pulling at her arm to stand and holding her elbow as I drag her all the way into the house. She protests between sobs, and I have a feeling she is too deranged to think clearly right now.

Once I enter the empty house—that’s in an advanced stage of trashed—I direct her to her room downstairs. I’m momentarily disoriented by all the pink Melody put in there. Someone needs to sit her ass down and tell her not everything feminine and teenager-y needs to look like a pussy. I throw Via over a beanbag and square my shoulders.

“Look,” I say with a calm I don’t feel. “It is what it is.”

Even I acknowledge the lameness of the explanation. Not that it makes it any less true. If she is freaked out about Daria and me exchanging juices, she’s about to get a whole lot more uncomfortable.

“Are you dating her?” Her eyes are sparkling red. Her whole face is a mess.

I knead my forehead, giving it some genuine thought. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“What about Adriana and the baby?”

“They have nothing to do with this.” I pause. “Wait, how do you know about Harper?”

I guess it makes sense that she does, but I’m still mad she found out like this. I’m mad that we didn’t get the chance to discuss it. That we’re not who we’re supposed to be to one another.

She looks down, pouting. Then it hits me. She wrote to Addy. She kept in touch with Addy. This shit is unreal. I knew Via was mad at me, whether she admits it or not, but then something dawns on me. Something that gives my tin man, half-functioning heart a reason to break.

She didn’t come back for me.

“Does Adriana know?” she asks between sniffs.

My story with Addy goes back to age five. We grew up in the same neighborhood. Via and I used to sneak into her house every time the smell of her mom’s pozole and Spanish rice was too much for us. We begged for food, and Addy’s mother took mercy on us. And I returned it with a very unwelcome favor in the form of knocking Adriana up. At least, that’s the version I’m sticking to.

“She knows,” I drawl. After what happened at Lenny’s, Adriana started asking questions. She’s used to my messing around with other chicks, but it was never serious and never got to a point where anyone has threatened her place.

Needless to say, Adriana was not pleased. I think a part of her is hoping that I’ll take her and Harper with me wherever I go for college. But I’ve only ever promised to provide for them, not to stick around.

Via flings herself over the bed and presses her arm to her eyes. She is crying again.

“I can’t believe you fell for her, Penn.”

This is the third time this evening I’m being poked about my feelings toward Skull Eyes. No wall in this mansion is safe from my fist.

“You can’t see her anymore.” Via wipes at her tears.

I stare at her pitifully. “It’s not for you to decide.”

“No.” She shakes her head frantically, standing up. “You don’t understand. You can’t. I will never forgive the betrayal.”

“What betrayal?”

“The letter of acceptance you both destroyed.”

Sonofabitch. How does she know?

“That’s right.” She tilts her chin up. “Daria decided to throw it in my face tonight. She thought it’d be fun to see me agonized over it. Penn, how could you like someone like that? I know she is pretty, but she is horrible. She did awful things to me and other people. She tore us apart.”

I suck in my teeth as the world tilts sideways. I’m losing grip of my shit. Sometimes I wish I’d been born an eagle or a wolf or a fucking wombat. Anything not to deal with people.

“Break up with her.”

“Via,” I warn. I don’t take orders from anyone. Not even Coach.

“It’s an ultimatum.” Her voice turns steady and metallic.

“That’s a big word for someone who currently means so little to me.” It’s my turn to cut deep. Her face twists in agony to my confession.

“Oh.” I cock an eyebrow. “You thought I was still the same asshole you left behind?”

She is quivering like a leaf now. She rushes over to me and grabs my shoulders. I don’t know why I hate it even more than I’ve hated everything about her ever since she came back. The original Via was a lot of things, but she wasn’t tacky. She was real. Real petty. Real vindictive. Real hungry. But real all the same.

“You don’t understand!” She stomps. “It’s either her or me.”

“I don’t do ultimatums,” I announce emotionlessly. “Make me choose, and you won’t like the results.”

“If you don’t break up with her, I am moving back with Dad. It’s been horrible there, but at least I feel like I have some sort of family. They mean well, even if their way of life is all wrong. I can’t be here, among strangers, with a brother who is in love with my archenemy, the girl who ruined my future. Why should I stick around for a guy who helped Daria Followhill get rid of my acceptance letter to the Royal Academy? That’s why I left, Penn. Now watch as I hitchhike back to Mississippi. Just pray I won’t be raped and beaten to death this time around. And before you ask if I mean it—please remember, I did it four years ago, when I was much younger and even more helpless.”