The next morning I woke up hoping I only dreamed about what Indy said. I always thought her and Romeo hated each other. Maybe that was just a cover up to keep me from finding out they were hooking up.

They'd been lying to me for who knew how long. Definitely since Indy's party last month. Now I knew why she knew about Romeo's first kiss before I did.

Romeo. Ugh. He said he didn't remember the girl's name. That the kiss meant nothing. You don't kiss your best-non-blood-related-friend's sister for fun. Why wouldn't they have told me?

Hot, angry tears sprang to my eyes. I quickly wiped them away when I heard footsteps in the hall. My door opened a second later. My mom stood there in a pair of silk pajamas and matching bonnet she did a review on for her blog recently. The company was Black-owned and local and my mom couldn't stop recommending them to people.

"What are you still doing in bed?" She asked, her head tilted in concern. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah." Except I had to face Romeo and Indy at some point.

To keep my mom from worrying, I got out of bed. It wasn't like I could sleep, anyway. Not when every time I shut my eyes, I saw Indy and Romeo kissing. Was it a quick peck? A full on make out? Did it stop at kissing? They would've told me if they had sex, right?

My mom retreated to her bedroom after letting me know there were sausage and waffles and eggs in the microwave.

I was eating a fork full of waffles at the counter, ready for school, and staring at my phone.

We need to talk

I'd type out that message for Romeo, but couldn't bring myself to send it. I deleted the words and started again.

Why didn't you tell me about kissing Indy?

Delete.

Can we talk before class?

Delete.

Why, out of everyone, did you kiss my sister?

Delete.

Why not me?

That last one didn't make it into a text. It stayed at the back of my mind, where it'd been all last night. Pestering me and keeping me awake.

Why not me? Why Indy when I was right there? I've always been right there.

I shoved another bite of food into my mouth, then typed out another message.

Andre kissed me last night so now we're even

My finger hovered over the send button. How would he react? What would he say? Nia said he was jealous, would sending the message force him to admit it?

Delete.

I was finishing off my eggs when the doorbell rang. Andre stood on my porch, wearing dark jeans and a hoodie with an alien on it.

"Hey," I said, more surprised than anything. "What are you doing here?"

His dazzling grin was the only good thing about the morning. "I was told you'd need a ride."

"Told by who--" I paused. "Indy?"

Even when she wasn't speaking to me, she was still trying to run my life. Andre was only a pawn in her game. He didn't know about our fight or how she kicked Romeo out of the basketball game. So I fixed my face into a smile. "I'm ready. I just have to put my shoes on."

At the mention of shoes, his gaze flicked to my feet. "Your socks don't match."

I glanced down as well. One sock was black with neon-colored stars. The other was yellow with pink hearts. "They're both shapes."

He chuckled. "So in other words, it's laundry day and you don't have the matches?"

No, I wanted to say. I didn't mate my socks. They were all in a drawer and I'd reach in and grab the first two I touched. That was it.

Instead, I said, "Basically."

"We have to drop off Jazzy at school first."

At the mention of her name, his sister poked her head out the window of the backseat. "Or we can go to the beach. The day is too pretty for school."

She was right. Even at seven in the morning, you could tell the weather was going to be perfect. The sky was a bright blue, not a cloud in sight. The beach would be a hundred percent better than seeing Romeo or Indy.

One thing I learned about Andre's little sister was that she liked to talk. In the short drive to the middle school, I learned all about her friends and the boy from her art class she was crushing on.

"She's a motor-mouth," he said as he pulled into the high school parking lot.

"That was nothing," I told him, as we walked into the school. "You haven't met my mom and her magic mug."

His brow skirted up. "Magic mug?"

"It keeps ice from melting for up to seven days," I said, mimicking my mom's enthusiasm.

"That actually sounds kinda cool," he said, pulling out his phone. "What's it called?"

"No," I groaned, grabbing his hand and forcing it down. "I refuse to talk about that thing ever again."

He laughed, pocketing his phone. Then he took my hand again. I was walking across campus hand-in-hand with Andre Walker. We'd been out in public before; movie night, the basketball game. This felt different, though. Like relationship mile-marker I didn't realize we passed.

"Where do you usually go before first period?" He asked. Apparently, public hand holding wasn't much of a milestone for him.

"By the tennis courts." I pointed to the path that lead to the trailers. We headed in that direction, Andre greeting and nodding at just about everyone we passed.

As usual, Keraun, Nia, and Romeo sat on the small curb in front of the fence. The three of them were laughing at something on Nia's phone. Romeo was the first to notice us. I wanted to snatch my hand out of Andre's, but I didn't. I was pinned under Romeo's gaze. His expression was unreadable. Why couldn't I tell what he was thinking?

Andre cleared his throat and I tore my eyes away from Romeo. "I have to return some books to the library, but I'll see you later?"

I nodded. When he leaned down to kiss me, I panicked. My friends were right there. Romeo was watching. Then I remembered that he was kissing my sister behind my back and I stopped caring.

Andre was smiling when he pulled away. My heart hammered in my chest as I smiled back. Kissing him was a rush of tingles. He left and I walked over to my friends, my head still a bit floaty as I claimed my usual spot between Romeo and Nia.

"Someone's having a good morning." Nia's teasing didn't have its usual pep or violence. Normally, she'd grab me, shaking me until I spilled every single detail.

On my other side, Romeo was as stiff as a board. That annoyed me. How could he have a problem with me kissing Andre when he was kissing my sister?

"When did you plan on telling me you kissed Indy?" The words were out of my mouth so fast. Like they couldn't stay bottled up a second longer.

Keraun cursed under his breath.

Nia leaned forward to get a better look at Romeo. "You what?"

"She told you that?"

"Why didn't you?" I shot back.

Behind me, Nia protested as Keraun pulled her up from the curb and lead her away from our drama. Romeo watched them like he wished it were him being dragged away.

"When did it happen?" I prodded, bringing his attention back to me.

He sighed, stretching his legs out in front of him. "What did she tell you?"

"That she was your first kiss."

He scrubbed his brow. "I think you should ask her."

"I'm asking you."

He pulled his knees up again, resting his elbows on them. "It happened on Christmas."

"Indy was with her mom on Christmas."

He looked at me, brows pinched. "She was home. Alone. I saw her at the grocery store buying a frozen pizza. So I invited her for dinner."

That was news to me. I talked to her that night and she told me she was at a Christmas party at one of her mom's friends' houses. I guessed our parents weren't the only people she could weave lies for.

"I don't know how it happened," he said, eyes trained on the black asphalt beneath his feet. "We were sitting in the backyard talking about how nasty the macaroni was and then she kissed me. I backed up and asked her what she was doing. Then she left."

The bell rang. Romeo looked almost relieved to hear the shrill sound. He hopped up from the curb, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. I stood as well.

"I thought she would've told you sooner," he said, adjusting the straps of his backpack. "I didn't say anything because, if I kissed someone and they rejected me, I wouldn't want them telling people about it."

That made perfect sense. Of course, he wasn't the type of person to brag about it. And of course, Indy would be too embarrassed to talk about it. That didn't excuse the way she threw it at me last night. But I understood.

A lot of things clicked into place with the new information I learned about my sister. Her being alone on Christmas explained why she'd been at my house so much lately. Why she wanted to hurt me with their kiss after I basically acting like a toddler screaming MINE! MINE! MINE!

She just didn't want to be alone.

● ● ●

I tried to find Indy between classes and during lunch. She was either really good at avoiding me or she wasn't at school. If I didn't have to be at the Wright's after school, I would've gone straight to her house.

Instead, after Andre graciously dropped me off, I messaged Indy to see if she'd pick me up. After our fight, I thought she'd say no. Or worse: block me. But about thirty minutes before my babysitting shift ended, she messaged back a thumbs up emoji.

When she pulled up, I had barely gotten my feet into the car before she drove off. A few times I had to remind her of the speed limit because she drove like she wanted me out of her car as soon as possible.

She parked in front of my house and when I didn't move to get out, she let out an annoyed sighed. "What, Daya?"

"Why'd you lie to me?"

She turned to me then. "About what?"

"Christmas," I said. "You told me you were with your mom."

"So you talked to Jerome?" She laughed, short and humorless. "Looks like you're not the only one he rejected. Maybe it's something in our DNA?"

"Indy..."

She rubbed her brow. "I really don't want to talk about this."

"We don't have to talk," I said to the side of her face since she wouldn't look at me. "Come in. We can watch tv or something. Because, despite what I said last night, you're always welcome to come over."

She still didn't look at me or say anything. So I continued. "That didn't even have anything to do with you being at the house. I was mad about you sending Romeo home."

"You can do so much better than Jerome." She turned to me then. "He's--He's--"

"He's what?" I urged. "Why don't you like him?"

She shifted in the seat to face me. "Because you came home crying. Remember that?"

Romeo had only ever made me cry once. The day I asked him to the dance. I managed to hold it together for the last few periods of the day and on my walk home from school. But as soon as I stepped into the house, I fell apart.

Back then, my mom and Aunt Brandy were hanging out all the time. That meant Indy was usually there to greet me after school. She saw that I was crying before our parents did and took me to my room before they noticed.

I cried myself to sleep, woke up, and started all over again. Indy laid beside me, patiently waiting for me to tell her what happened. I think she already knew. She always seemed to know everything back then.

"You put yourself out there," she was saying now. "And he shot you down. Now you have this really amazing guy in your life and he's getting between you."

It was clear she felt strongly about that, but she was wrong. Romeo was the least conniving person I knew. "You don't have to worry about him. Are you coming in?"

She shook her head. "I have dance practice."

I checked the time on my phone. "Isn't it a little late for that?"

"It's not an official practice, exactly." She had that look. The up-to-no-good kind of look.

"Indy, what are you planning?"

"You'll see."

● ● ●

My mom was on the couch later that night, dividing her time between her laptop and the tv. Some show with hot guys in firemen's gear was playing. I plopped down next to her with a plate of chicken nuggets.

"What are you reviewing now?" I asked around a mouthful of nugget.

She held out her wrist. There was a dainty gold bracelet around it.

"Cute," I said. "What does it do?"

She snorted. "It's just a piece of jewelry, Daya. They wanted me to review pieces from their upcoming Mother's Day promotion."

"That's, like, two months away." And I still hadn't finished my drawing. In my defense, I've had a lot of distractions.

"Exactly," she said, typing something. "That gives me more than enough time to see if this stuff turns your skin green or fades after long periods of wear."

I ate a few more nuggets while my mom typed away on her laptop and the sexy firemen saved people's lives. Then I asked the question that was really on my mind. "Why'd you stop hanging out with Brandy?"

The question had been in my head since my talk with Indy. Our moms used to be close. Almost like sisters themselves. Then, sometime around our freshman year, they just stopped.

My mom looked up at me. "We talk."

"Yeah, but not like you used to," I pointed out.

She shut her laptop, giving me her full attention. "Where is this coming from? Is there something wrong with Indy?"

"No. I was just curious." I couldn't tell her that I thought Aunt Brandy was leaving Indy to fend for herself.

She pursed her lips, lifting a shoulder in a slight shrug. "Brandy and I are very different people. You girls were the only thing we had in common. As you got older and needed us around less, there was nothing for is to talk about anymore."

I wondered if Aunt Brady took Indy not needing her to monitor her every move as Indy not needing her around at all?

"How do you feel about proof reading, Cookie?" She asked, holding her laptop out to me. She hadn't asked me to read over one of her reviews in so long. Her calling me Cookie meant she was desperate.

I took the laptop, opening it back up to the word document. My mom stood, mumbling something about heading to bed. She had a million windows opened to various sites. The jewelry shop she was reviewing, her blog, Photoshop, her email. How could she work with all that clutter?

I shut down the windows I felt served no purpose. But her email caught my eye. One in particular had the name Lamar Kenwood. Was that the sperm donor? I clicked it.

The email had been read, but not replied to. Sent four days ago. It was definitely Sperm Donor Lamar. According to the email, he'd spent the last six years in jail. Now that he was out, he wanted to right his wrongs. He even attached an address.

Glancing back to make sure my mom hadn't come out of her room, I took a picture of the address with my phone. I asked Indy not to tell me about her looking for the sperm donor, so I didn't know how far along she was.

Was her interest in finding him because of her mom? If Aunt Brandy could leave Indy alone on Christmas, she was probably leaving her alone a lot. And if Indy wanted to track down the sperm donor, hoping to have some sort of relationship with him, I couldn't let her go into it without knowing if he was legit.

I couldn't let my sister get hurt again.