I woke up super early, even before Mitten Man, even before the sun rose. All I kept thinking about was Drea and Hayes. Just like I’d been more honest with Venice, I felt like I needed to be more honest with both of them. They couldn’t just keep showing up in my life wherever and whenever they wanted. They were bumming me out in a serious way. While Venice was still sleeping, I crawled out of bed. At five o’clock in the morning, I did something I should have done weeks ago. I got out my phone and sent Drea and Hayes some super-sincere pops.

I scrolled through my contacts. Drea had picked a terrible username: HotdogGrl. For somebody trying to shed an embarrassing Internet puking experience, she seemed pretty okay reminding the world about it every time she popped. As I typed out my message, I wasn’t sure I could say everything that I needed to in one pop. But I tried.

After I sent it, I realized that pop felt a little bit rude. And it also didn’t really say everything I meant to say. So I tried again.

Two pops and my Drea problem was done. Over. Fixed. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to solve it. And I’d solved it for Piper too. Sure, Piper hadn’t complained about her yet, but eventually that would’ve happened. Drea had a problematic personality. She was way too forward and needy. I glanced over at Venice, but she was still sleeping. So I turned my attention to Hayes.

I didn’t really understand his username: HACanoe. But I wrote to him anyway. Because I didn’t need to have a crush. I really didn’t. And I was going to tell him that as politely as I could.

Just like after I sent Drea her first pop, I got worried that maybe I’d been too harsh, or said what I meant to say wrong. So I sent Hayes another pop really quickly.

Sending those pops made me feel a tiny bit anxious. Because I wasn’t sure I’d said things the right way to Hayes. I really truly didn’t want to hurt his feelings. But I also didn’t want to deal with him anymore. It would have been okay if he’d crushed on me from a distance, but his trip to Fro-yo Unicorn had been the last straw, even if Javier had invited him. Then a great idea struck me. Just in case Hayes read my pops and decided to call me, I needed to give his number a special ringtone so I knew to never answer his calls. And the perfect song jumped into my head. It was a song Piper sang in the car at red lights: “Stressed Out” by Twenty-One Pilots. The lyrics didn’t make much sense to me, but the beat felt perfect.

Then I thought about sending pops to Javier too, letting him know I was sick of his tasks, but I was suddenly feeling sleepy again. And I had so much skating to do in a few hours. I figured I could write that one later. So I closed my eyes and the next thing I knew, Venice was gently shaking my shoulder.

“We need to get ready,” she said. “We have to pick out our outfits. Zipper-braid my hair. And eat breakfast and it’s almost ten.”

Our lives were so jam-packed. So we hurried as fast as we could, and even though I had watched four tutorials, zipper-braiding Venice’s hair was only a partial success.

“It feels really loose,” she said as we sat in the backseat of my dad’s Camry.

“It doesn’t look loose,” I said. Even though some of the bottom loops did seem a little unsecured.

It was rare that both my mom and dad drove me someplace together, let alone Venice, but that was exactly what happened that day.

“We’ll be browsing at the bookstore,” my dad said. “Pop us when you’re done.”

“You actually don’t pop people,” Venice corrected. “You send pops.”

“However you want to say it,” my dad said. “Transmit us pops when you’re finished.”

“Right,” I said. I liked that my ride wasn’t going to be too far away. Considering everyone who was going to the rink, it was nice to think that I could flee the scene whenever I wanted.

“Venice, if you need a lift we can do that too,” my mom said.

She climbed out of the car and smiled. “Thanks, but I’m set.” Then she spotted Leo and screamed. “Leo!”

I watched her run to him as he stood leaning against the bright-blue rectangular building. I climbed out of the car too and stood beside my dad’s rolled-down window.

“I’m sure they’ve got their transportation all figured out already. Couples are like that,” I said.

My dad shook his head. “I can’t believe Venice has a boyfriend.” Then he gave me a concerned look, like he was asking me with his eyes to never get a boyfriend.

“I don’t even like anybody right now,” I told him.

He broke into a small smile. “Have a good time.”

“And don’t get stunty,” my mom said. “I want you to come home unbroken.”

“Don’t worry,” I said as I waved goodbye. It was like my mom didn’t know me at all sometimes. I had no desire to engage in risky, bone-breaking behavior at a skating rink.

When I walked inside I felt a little bit nervous about crossing paths with Hayes. Luckily, I didn’t see him around. Venice and Leo had already put on their skates and they rushed right over to where I was renting mine.

“Did you see that Hayes gave us free snack coupons?” Venice asked. “He’s so awesome.”

That was actually really nice of him. I glanced around.

“I don’t see him,” I said.

“Yeah,” Leo said. “Nobody has.”

That made me feel a tiny bit more nervous. And if Leo hadn’t been standing right there, I might have told Venice about the pops I’d sent Hayes while she was sleeping. But I just didn’t feel comfortable talking about my personal life in front of Leo. Maybe when he went to the bathroom I’d tell Venice. Or maybe I’d pop her about it later.

I looked out onto the skating rink and saw a really tall guy Rollerblading like a fiend. He was wearing a helmet, so I couldn’t tell who it was, but based on the well-defined biceps it sort of looked like Victor, Venice’s brother. He centered himself on the ramp and launched his whole body several feet into the air.

“Wow,” I said. “I’d break my neck if I tried that.”

“Victor is very talented,” Leo said. “He’s good at everything.”

Before I could agree, I saw Anya skate by with Sabrina and Sailor. They looked like they were having such a good time. I wondered what they were all thinking about. Didn’t they have any stress in their lives? They sure didn’t seem to. Maybe when they put on roller skates, it all melted away.

I took my skates to a bench and slipped off my shoes. Instead of rolling onto the rink, Venice took a seat next to me on the bench. Tragically, Leo stood beside her.

“So Leo and I want to talk to you about something,” Venice said.

I felt myself breathe a little faster. Were they about to lay some bad news on me? It sure sounded like that. Which seemed double awful, because there were two of them and one of me.

“What is it?” I asked. I tried to breathe normally.

“We think we’ve figured out our group costume,” Venice said, reaching down and squeezing my hand. “And it’s something super amazing.”

“What?” I said. Because I thought I should be involved in the planning stage and not just have the costume sprung on me.

“Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat won’t work for three people,” Venice said.

“Right,” I said. Not only that, but it was a terrible idea for a costume anyway.

“Mr. Falconer gives extra credit if you go as something Idaho-themed,” Leo said. His eyes looked wide and happy, like he thought his ideas were amazing.

“Don’t worry,” Venice said. “We’ve already ruled out Lewis and Clark. It’s a two-person costume. But what if we went as miners?”

“What?” I asked. Because it sounded like Venice had said “miners.”

Leo shoved his phone in my face. “Like these guys. They already look like they’re wearing costumes.”

“And no fur!” Venice said. “Isn’t it the perfect costume idea? Leo thought of it last night in his sleep. He woke up and boom. There it was.”

Leo was smiling huge, like he was the smartest person to ever wear skates and stand beside a bench.

“I don’t want to dress up like a dude,” I said. “Even for extra credit.”

Venice seemed shocked to hear this. “Getting extra credit would take some of the pressure off our report.”

I stood my ground. “Do you know how hot we’d get wearing mining hats all day? We’d probably all get headaches.”

And because Venice understood that I would never in a million years dress up as a miner, she said, “Okay. Fine. Do you have any ideas?”

I tried really hard to think of something clever. “Piper and a couple of friends wore giant cardboard squares around their heads and went as selfies.”

Leo looked disappointed by that suggestion. “That was hot two years ago. It would be stale to do it now.”

I couldn’t believe Leo called my suggestion stale. It was like he was daring me to hate him.

“We could go as a BLT sandwich,” Leo said.

“Gross,” I said. “My sister is a vegan. I refuse to dress like a meat product.”

“You could go as the L or the T,” Leo said in a snarky way.

“Not happening,” I said. I started to lace up my skates. I felt like it was suddenly my job to come up with an idea for the perfect three-person costume. It was so much pressure.

“Robots would work,” Leo said.

That idea sounded difficult. I needed full use of my arms and peripheral vision. I tried to think of a kind way to turn that idea down. “Wearing a box to school would suck.”

“Three-person costumes are so hard,” Venice said.

“Well, we don’t have to think of it right now,” Leo said. “We could skate.”

And before we could all agree with that, Victor came speeding up and brilliantly pivoted and stopped right in front of us.

“Is this the chatting bench?” he asked. “Is this where everybody goes to talk?”

“Hi, Victor,” I said. “I like your moves.”

“I’m trying,” Victor said, flashing me an awesome smile.

“We’re getting ready to go skate now,” I said.

“We were trying to figure out our Halloween costumes,” Venice said. “We’re trying to think of something for the three of us.”

“That’s easy,” Victor said. “A three-humped camel.”

Venice frowned. “We don’t want to be attached. We have different classes.”

“Okay,” Victor said. “There are a trillion ideas. Pirates, fairies, zombies, the Beastie Boys.”

“Perry won’t dress like a dude,” Venice said in a really judgmental way.

“That’s cool,” Victor said. “You gotta do what feels right.”

I watched as he weaved through the crowd and then wiggled and fishtailed. He was so athletic. It blew my mind.

“I don’t want to go as fairies. I’m allergic to glitter,” Leo said.

“I don’t want to go as a pirate or a zombie,” Venice said.

“Who are the Beastie Boys?” I asked.

Leo shrugged. “Hey, do you wanna get snacks?”

“Totally,” Venice said, grabbing his hand.

“Okay,” I said, standing up onto my skates and catching my balance, and moving toward the snack line. “I wonder if Hayes is working at the counter.” Because sometimes he helped make the nachos.

“Oh,” a voice said behind me. “He’s not coming.”

I turned to see who was talking. Anya. I should have known. I turned back around and lost my balance a little. I had to grab on to a metal pole or I would’ve hit the floor.

“Is he doing homework?” Leo asked.

“Nope,” Anya said. “He told me somebody sent him some crappy pops and he wasn’t coming.”

I kept holding on to the pole so I didn’t fall down. Everything felt very unsteady all of a sudden.

“Who would send Hayes crappy pops?” Venice asked. “That’s awful.”

“He didn’t say,” Anya said. “But it’s lame. Hayes is totally nice.”

I couldn’t believe that Anya was judging me, even though she didn’t know she was judging me. It sucked.

“What can I get you guys?” the counter clerk asked. He was young and had acne and had scabby elbows just like Hayes. I stayed silent while Venice and Leo ordered a smorgasbord of snacks. “And for you?” the clerk asked.

I felt so terrible. I stood and stared at the menu items. Then I ordered what I felt I deserved. “I’ll just take a cup of ice.”

“Ooh, too bad, so sad, but the ice machine is broken,” the clerk said.

“That’s okay,” I said. “I don’t need anything.”

I looked around and realized I didn’t see Drea either. Maybe my pops had been tougher than I’d meant them to be.

“You can share what we got,” Venice said. “You need to eat something.”

But I didn’t think that was true. I felt really guilty. And it didn’t feel right to be using Hayes’s gifts anymore.

“I’m not feeling so hot,” I said. “I’m going to send my mom a pop.”

“Wait,” Venice said.

But I didn’t wait. I skated back toward the bench with my shoes. I couldn’t stay here. I didn’t deserve to be at a roller rink having fun. Besides, I needed to work anyway. I couldn’t remember what specific tasks I had to do to get ready for class portraits, but I knew I had a bunch of them. And they weren’t going to complete themselves.