The Last Song

Steve tried to stifle his smile. “It’s good.”

“It’s tofu! It’s disgusting!”

Ro

He seemed to be trying to decide if this was some kind of trick question. “With chocolate milk?”

Ro

“There’s plenty in the fridge,” he said.

She poured him a glass and set it on the table. Jonah didn’t move. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“This isn’t normal,” he said. “Someone should be mad. Someone’s always mad in the mornings.”

“Are you talking about me?” Ro

“Yeah, right,” he said. He squinted at her. “Are you sure the turtles are okay? ’Cause the two of you are acting like they died.”

“They’re fine. I promise,” Ro

“I’m going to check.”

“Go ahead.”

He studied her. “After breakfast,” he added.

Steve smiled and glanced over at her. “So what’s on your agenda today?” he asked. “After your nap?”

Jonah reached for his milk. “You never take naps.”

“I do when I’m tired.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “This isn’t right.” He put the milk back down. “Something weird is going on and I’m not leaving here until I find out what it is.”

After she’d finished eating-and once Jonah had been placated-Ro

It was possible, of course, that he’d ground her later, after he talked to the officer or her mom. Or maybe he’d been telling the truth-maybe he’d believed her when she’d said she was i

Wouldn’t that be something?

Either way, she had to talk to Blaze, and she spent the next couple of hours searching for her. She checked Blaze’s mom’s house and the diner, and though she didn’t go inside, she peeked through the windows of the music shop, heart thumping, making sure the manager had his back turned. Blaze wasn’t there, either.

Standing on the pier, she sca

She was just about ready to give up and go home when she spotted Blaze emerging from between the dunes a little ways down the beach. She raced back to the steps, making sure not to lose sight of her, then hurried down to the beach. If Blaze noticed that Ro

“You have to tell the police what you did,” Ro

“I didn’t do anything. And you’re the one who got caught.”

Ro

“No, I didn’t.”

“The CDs were the ones you were listening to!”

“And the last time I saw them, they were still by the headphones.” Blaze refused to face her.

Ro

“Oh, well.”

Ro

Blaze got up from her spot, brushing the sand from her jeans. “I’m not doing anything to you,” she said. Her voice was cold and flat. “And that’s exactly what I told the police this morning.”

In disbelief, Ro

Ro

She didn’t want to return home, knowing that as soon as her dad talked to Officer Pete, he’d learn what Blaze had said. Yeah, maybe he’d still be cool about the whole thing-but what if he didn’t believe her?

And why was Blaze doing this? Because of Marcus? Either Marcus talked her into it because he was mad about the way Ro

She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, but with her stomach in knots, she wasn’t hungry. Instead, she sat on the pier until the sun went down, watching the water turn from blue to gray and then finally charcoal. She wasn’t alone: Along the pier, people were fishing, though as far as she could tell, nothing much seemed to be biting. An hour ago, a young couple had shown up with sandwiches and a kite. She noticed the tender way they stared at each other. She figured they were in college-they were only a couple of years older than her-but there was an easy affection between them that she had yet to experience in any of her own relationships. Yeah, she’d had boyfriends, but she’d never been in love, and sometimes she doubted whether she ever would be. After her parents divorced, she’d been kind of cynical about the whole thing, as had most of her friends. Most of their parents were divorced as well, so maybe that had something to do with it.

When the last rays of the sun were fading from the sky, she started toward home. She wanted to be back at a decent hour tonight. It was the least she could do to show her dad that she appreciated how understanding he’d been. And despite her earlier nap, she was still tired.

When she reached the head of the pier, she opted to walk through the business district instead of along the beach. As soon as she rounded the corner near the diner, she knew she’d made the wrong decision. A shadowy figure leaned against the hood of a car, holding a fireball.

Marcus.

Only this time he was alone. She stopped, feeling her breath catch in her throat.

He pushed off the car and walked toward her, the play of streetlights casting his face half in shadow. He rolled the fireball over the back of his hand, watching her, before the ball ended up back in his fist. He squeezed his hand, extinguishing it, and started toward her.

“Hi, Ro

She stayed in place, wanting him to see that she wasn’t afraid of him. Even though she sort of was.

“What do you want?” she demanded, hating the slight quiver in her voice.

“I saw you walking and thought I’d say hello.”

“You did,” she said. “Bye.”

She started to move past him, but he stepped in front of her.

“I hear you’re having troubles with Blaze,” he whispered.

She leaned back, her skin crawling. “What do you know about it?”

“I know enough not to trust her.”

“I’m not in the mood for this.”

Again she turned, making her way around him, and this time he let her pass before calling out to her.

“Don’t walk away. I came to find you because I wanted you to know that I might just be able to talk her out of what she’s doing to you.”

Despite herself, Ro

“I should have warned you she gets pretty jealous.”

“Which is why you tried to make it worse, huh?”

“I was just making a joke that night. I thought it was fu

Of course you did, Ro

“So fix it,” she said. “Talk to Blaze, do whatever you have to do.”