Though I didn’t have a fever, last night I did that whole half-sleep, half-hallucination thing where I tossed and turned and obsessed all night long. Since I was one hundred percent committed to telling Julian the whole story in the morning, I kept imagining what was about to unfold over and over and over again. Emmett was right … this was only going to get harder the longer I waited.

I awoke to the horrid beeping of my alarm at eight thirty, completely out of it, probably because I’d only gotten to sleep two hours earlier. The feeling of dread in my stomach didn’t help matters much. Though I’d showered the night before, I decided that standing under a cascade of hot water for fifteen minutes might help shake the sleep and anxiety from my body. The anxiety clearly wasn’t going anywhere, but at least I emerged from the shower slightly more awake. I walked into my bedroom just in time to hear my phone buzz that I had a message.

“Hey, Janna, it’s Julian. Sorry to call last minute, but it looks like I can’t meet this morning after all. My dad and I have to go to my cousin’s place earlier than I thought. Hopefully we can talk about whatever you wanted to talk about at dinner before the movie? Sorry, but I’ll see you tonight.”

Even though I knew my fate was sealed, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved at the last minute change of plans. I deleted the message and bent over, wrapping a towel around my wet hair, twisting it, and sticking the end under the back of the towel. I stood up, pulled my pajamas back on, and slid into my still-warm bed, mostly because it seemed like the best option at the time. Well, some things are beyond my control, I thought. If that’s not a sign from the universe, I don’t know what is. And then I closed my eyes and sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

When I opened my eyes again, it was nearly twelve o’clock. And the only reason I knew that was because my brother started pounding on my bedroom door belting out the “Good Morning” song from Singin’ in the Rain, a song my mom used to wake us up with when we were younger. Only, this morning Henry had replaced the original lyrics with his own. They sounded something like this: “Good morning, good morn-ning, you’ve slept in until noon, good morning, good morning, you goon.” Cue laughter, exit stage left.

“Henry, leave your sister alone!” I heard my mom call from downstairs.

Noon? I slept until noon? I rolled over and looked at the clock, wiping the drool from the side of my mouth as I swung my feet around and sat up. I figured I’d better check in with Emmett about going over to the park together.

I turned on my cell and saw that Emmett had already texted me.

J. Ended up going to Regatta early to help out. See you soon.

Just as well. Despite my solid second sleep of the day, my head was still filled with cobwebs. Easing into the day seemed like a good plan to me.

May weather in Seattle had a habit of being extremely unpredictable, and more often than not, Regatta Saturday ended up being cool and rainy. But as I stepped outside the house to walk the mile and a half to the lake, I was psyched to look up at the sky and see not even a single cloud in sight. And though the air was slightly cool and breezy, the sun nicely warmed up my skin. It was a perfect spring day. A good omen, perhaps, for what was to come.

I left my iPod at home on purpose, enjoying the brisk walk to the park without the distraction of music. I didn’t know if it was the weather or the walk or what, but somehow the sick feeling I’d had in my stomach in the morning had been replaced with a strange sense of calm. Somewhere between my phone call with Emmett last night and this moment, I must have surrendered to the inevitability of what was going to happen today. Even better, I had this weird feeling that everything was going to work out.

I had about three blocks to go when I felt my cell phone vibrate. I pulled it out of my backpack, continuing to walk while I switched it on.

Does Julian know the truth?

It was Molly. She hadn’t contacted me directly since our fight a week ago. Why was she asking me this question? What was she up to? I debated whether or not to respond. The idea of getting into everything again with her over text didn’t really jibe with the peaceful attitude I’d just embraced. But what if it was really important? Or what if it was another threat to tell Julian everything? What if by not answering her, I was going to push her to the brink of betrayal? Or worse, what if she’d already done the unthinkable?

I texted back:

Why are you asking?

It took a minute for her to respond.

Just tell me. It’s important.

I unconsciously picked up my pace, feverishly texting as I continued to walk.

I’m telling him tonight. Why do you want to know?

I nervously held the phone, waiting for her answer. I made it nearly a full block and had just started down the shaded pathway toward the Delmar booth when she finally texted me back.

I think Emm just told him. Thought you should know.

What? I reread her message to make sure I didn’t get it wrong. Emmett would never do that to me. Why was she messing with me like this? Besides, Julian wasn’t even here today. He was helping his cousin move.

I was about to text Molly back but decided to go straight to the person being slandered. I speed-dialed Emmett, my fast walk turning into a jog as I made a beeline toward the booth. My heart was pounding. While Emmett’s cell rang, I finally caught a glimpse of him. And then I stopped dead in my tracks.

Emmett and Julian were talking. Oh my God. Why were Emmett and Julian talking? Why was Emmett pulling out his wallet? What was he showing Julian?

“Janna!” Molly ran up to me.

I looked at her furiously. “What did you do!?”

“Me? I didn’t do anything! I tried to warn you!”

“Then why is Julian here? Why did you have to go and ruin the best thing that’s ever happened in my life? You had no right!” I knew Molly could be vindictive, but I never imagined she’d go this far.

“Janna, I swear to God it wasn’t me. I didn’t even know Julian was here until a few minutes ago—”

I didn’t have time to listen to her lies anymore. I turned and started running toward the booth. Maybe I wasn’t too late after all. Maybe I could still salvage this whole situation and get the happy ending I’d been praying for all week.

But when I saw the expression on Julian’s face as he spotted me, I knew there would be no happy ending. No happy ending at all. Clearly in no mood for conversation, Julian started walking away from the booth, away from me.

“Julian, vait! I can explain!” I shouted to him. Why am I still talking in my accent?

Julian turned around to face me. “Seriously? Vait? I cannot believe you’ve been lying to me this whole time! I can’t believe what an idiot I was to fall for it!” He was red-faced, his expression a mixture of anger and hurt.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“You didn’t mean to what? Lie to me for the past month? Oh yeah, you just ‘accidentally’ pretended to be from Hungary. Oops! You know what, Janna, if that even is your name … just … just …” Unable to even get the words out, Julian put his hands up in defeat and stormed off.

“Please, Julian …” My voice trailed off.

“Just let him go, Jan,” Emmett said.

My eyes filled with tears. “What happened? Why did Molly tell him to come here? Why would she do this to me?”

I started crying hard now, my hands flailing helplessly to wipe away the sudden rush of tears. Emmett came over to me and pulled me into a tight hug. I collapsed against him, thankful for the dry shirt to soak up my blubbering and his strong chest to steady me.

“I don’t think Molly told him to come here, Janna. I think he just showed up. He said something about finishing early.” Thank God, Emmett was being supercalm, the rock I needed.

“But I don’t understand. Why did she have to tell him the truth? What right did she have to do that?”

Emmett didn’t say anything for a minute. He stroked the back of my hair lightly as I cried. The situation seemed overwhelmingly hopeless. I kept flashing to the look in Julian’s eyes when he glared at me. It bordered on hatred. Could he really hate me? Was I a fool to think I ever had a chance of things working out?

“It wasn’t Molly, Janna. It was me.” Emmett spoke so quietly I wasn’t sure I heard him right.

“What?” I sniffled.

“I’m the one who told Julian. I’m so sorry. It was an accident.”

I abruptly stopped crying, wrenching myself from his embrace. “What? You told him? How could you? Why would you?!” I was yelling now, my sadness from a moment earlier replaced with a rage I hadn’t known before.

“I didn’t mean to do it, Janna,” Emmett said defensively.

“What do you mean you didn’t mean to do it? I told you I was going to tell him. Now you’ve ruined everything!” Emmett grabbed me by the arm and led me away from the booth, which to passersby was probably starting to resemble the set of The Jerry Springer Show.

“Look, I told you it was an accident!” Emmett was mad now too. “I thought you already told him! You promised me you were going to tell him this morning!”

“It doesn’t matter what I promised! You should have kept your big mouth shut!”

Emmett was pissed, but he lowered his voice and spoke to me in an almost-too-calm voice. “Of course. You’re right. I should have just lied to him, right? I mean, what’s the big deal? What’s one more lie on top of everything you did?”

I closed my eyes and clenched my fists. “You’re twisting everything around! You know I didn’t mean to do this.”

“Oh, so your lying to Julian for the past few weeks has been one big accident?” There was nothing I hated more than being the target of Emmett’s sarcastic cuts. “But then again, who am I to talk? I’ve been acting out a charade too. In fact, I’ve been lying to you for years.”

I stopped seething long enough to turn toward Emmett.

“What are you talking about?”

Emmett looked away and put his hands on his hips, hanging his head. He stood like this for a minute before turning around to face me.

“I’m talking about the fact that I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember,” Emmett said. “That’s right, Janna. All this time you’ve been pretending to be another person just so someone would like you, I’ve been pretending to be your best friend even though I wanted us to be something more.”

My heart ached at hearing the words come from his mouth. I felt the anger in my body soften. He looked so vulnerable.

“Emm,” I said softly. I reached out to grab his hand, but he yanked it away.

“Crazy, isn’t it? Of course, now that I’ve told you what I’ve been hiding for so long, I don’t think it’s even true anymore. I mean, had I known you had the potential to be so selfish and self-absorbed, there’s no way I ever would have fallen for you in the first place.” His eyes were red, his voice shaky.

Okay, that one hurt. “Emm,” I tried again.

“I think Julian had the right idea. I’ve had enough of the new Janna.” Emmett walked away without another word. And just like that, I was alone. Despite the thousands of people milling about, there I was, standing on scattered pine needles underneath a fir tree, more alone than I’d ever been in my life.