As soon as the Cahills had dropped Ava off, she raced inside and discovered with relief that no one was home yet. Moxy started running in circles around Ava the second she stepped into the house.
For twenty minutes Ava sat on the floor, petting Moxy, who, pleasantly surprised to be given such attention, rolled onto her back with all four paws in the air, the better to allow Ava to stroke her tummy. Ava was lost in thought. She still couldn’t believe Charlie had shown up at Sal’s. Just as she’d finally decided she would break up with him once and for all. Was it a sign of some sort?
Ava was still sitting on the floor with Moxy when she heard a car door close quietly and Tommy’s voice saying thank you to Luke.
Moxy bounded to her feet, and the two of them went to meet him as he came in through the side door.
He tiptoed quietly into the room and looked warily around. “Hey, Ave,” he whispered. “Anyone else home yet?” He was dressed in very un-Tommy-like clothes: a dark shirt, a sport coat, and blue jeans.
Ava shook her head. “You better change out of those clothes, though, before they get here,” she said.
“Yep, and I should be lying down in my room anyway,” he said. “Come up and talk to me in a minute. I’ll tell you how it went.”
When Ava went upstairs, she found Tommy under the covers of his bed, propped up on his pillows. She went in and sat down.
“So, how was it?”
His dark eyes danced. “It was brilliant, Ave. We won the contest! We totally stole the show! The three of us—Jackson on drums, Harley on bass, and me—each had a solo improv, and we killed it.”
“Aw, Tommy, that’s so great,” said Ava. “But what are you going to say to Coach?”
“Nothing, I hope,” he said. “I’ll just say I’ve been home throwing up but now I feel better.”
Alex and Mrs. Sackett were the next to arrive home, followed soon after by Coach. Ava wasn’t in the mood to hear about Charlie from Alex, so she pretended to be asleep. She heard her parents go in to check on Tommy, and then she heard the murmur of his voice, sounding weak and sick. She heaved a sigh of relief. It looked like Tommy had gotten away with skipping out on the second half of the game.
“Well, it looks like you got away with it,” snapped Alex as she came into Ava’s room the next morning without even knocking. She dropped into Ava’s comfy chair and crossed her arms, eyeing her sister with extreme annoyance.
Ava was still in bed, but she’d been awake for a while. She closed her phone. “Got away with what?”
“Oh, brother,” snorted Alex. “With being on a date with a guy and having the other guy you’ve been going out with show up at the same exact time? Thanks to me, anyway. I covered for you, even though you were zero help in this whole thing, thank you very much.” She sat breathing heavily, her nostrils flaring.
“Al, it’s not like I asked for this date with Jack,” Ava pointed out. “May I remind you that you were the one who said yes, posing as me?”
“Okay, well, whatever,” said Alex. “I am totally and completely exhausted from all the excitement of these past few days.”
“I just texted Jack,” said Ava quietly. “I apologized for running out like that. Told him maybe we should stick to playing basketball together. He was pretty decent about it.”
“Wait. So you broke it off with Jack?”
“Well, it’s not like there was anything to break off,” Ava pointed out. “We weren’t actually dating. But now I’m conflicted about Charlie again. I don’t know what to think about the fact that he came all that way, just to see me.”
Alex shifted uncomfortably. “Hey, Ave. Have you been on his Buddybook page recently?”
“No. You know I don’t go on Buddybook nearly as often as you do.”
“I know. That’s why I’m mentioning this,” said Alex. “See, it looks to me like Charlie might kind of have a girlfriend. Remember Caroline Blatz from last year?”
“Caroline the volleyball star?”
Alex nodded.
Ava sat, contemplating. “She’s okay, I guess. Still, it’s weird. You finally decide you’re going to break up with someone, and then find out they were about to break up with you, and it feels, well, bad. But I’m glad for him.”
Alex watched Ava open her phone and send a text. Soon after, her phone buzzed, and then she sent another.
“Who’s it from?” Alex asked.
“Charlie. I just texted him and apologized for being weird at Sal’s and said how good it was to see him. And then he texted me and said one of the reasons he wanted to sit and talk with me last night was that he wanted me to know he’d sort of started going out with Caroline. And I texted back and said I knew, and it’s cool. So we’re cool.”
“So you just went from having two boyfriends to zero boyfriends—and you’re happy about it?” Alex asked, shaking her head. “I just don’t understand how we can be sisters, let alone identical twins.”
Ava grinned. “It’s a wonder.”