I HAD slept on the whole ride home from karaoke and didn’t have a chance to catch up with anyone. I gave Alice a call.

“Oh, I was coming over later anyways,” she said. “Band practice.”

“What band?” I asked.

Five minutes later, her car pulled up outside. She knocked on the door vigorously. “Girl!” she yelled, running up to the door. I gave her a hug. “I’m sorry I went away with no warning,” I said.

“Oh, I was there at the quarry with you. The minute I saw that jet touch down I knew it was going to happen. I mean, who would say no to a summer practicing heroics with Sam.”

I smirked. She was right. I wouldn’t have given up my summer with Sam for anything.

“It was fun.”

“I bet it was. I want all the gory details.”

“I wouldn’t call them gory per se. Lots of hot nights in the jungle and a few intimate moments,” I gloated.

“Intimate moments. What are you, the movie rating board? I bet he didn’t ever wear a shirt. Did he wear a shirt?” Alice asked.

“Sometimes. It was funded by PeriGenomics and they like their employees in professional attire,” I paused. “But, yeah, keeping a shirt on him is like keeping a leash on a cat.”

“And how’s Freedom Boy?” she asked pointedly.

I didn’t really have a good answer for her. I slightly stuttered. How were things with boys? Freedom Boy was out in the world. There was something with Sam—we kissed, at one point—but just as soon as it happened, it was like it disappeared. Now I was back in Doolittle Falls and both dudes were elsewhere. “We’re chill. We have an understanding,” I said. “Both Freedom Boy and Sam.” Alice rolled her eyes.

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” she said, shaking her head. “When are you ever chill about anything?”I thought about it for a moment. The sky clouded over. No, being chill wasn’t really in my skillset.

“Do you want to hear about my summer? Everything’s changed, it seems.” Alice said this quite seriously, and then broke out into a laugh. Her blonde hair had a purple streak in it, and it looked really cool. “No, seriously, nothing happened, I wish I went with you. All I’ve been doing is running around from restaurant to restaurant, creating various détentes for the sake of peace. And clean food.”

“And your band?” I asked. “Did you guys come up with a name yet? I think Swan Squad would be killer.”

“Oh that. It’s just Johnny and me and anyone else we can find with a semblance of musical talent playing our instruments off key in the garage. But, you know, we hope to get better. I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with your brother.”

“Why?” I said. It felt a little weird hearing her talk about the band so casually. I go away one summer and my best friend and my brother are hanging out in a band. It’s like I didn’t even exist. But I decided to be resilient and move past it. Changing the topic, I made a joke. “Do you know how much pan-flute I heard this summer?”

My phone buzzed. It was Johnny. I’m selling tourist stuff right now if you want to see me, he wrote. Welcome back.

You could make a lot of money off tourists in Doolittle Falls. Especially if they were Hero fans looking to press the flesh in person. Hero Maps sold in the stores. Small buses would drive by estates in Marston Heights pointing out houses. The chamber of commerce ran all sorts of events and usually called it stuff like Summer of Heroics, like nightly showings of Docs projected in the town park. Obviously not any GrappaMan films. It was the usual Freedom Man popcorn fare. Freedom Men In History. Freedom Man Versus the Dragon. Freedom Man Versus Nature Man, Freedom Man Versus Society Man, Freedom Man Versus MechaFreedom Man Freedom Man, the Hero’s Hero.

“Hey, Johnny’s just sent a text. He’s on the main drag,” I told Alice. She nodded, sinking into the lumpy sofa, her boots pointing in the air.

“He’s made so much money this summer between his t-shirts and Hamilton’s painting. Our band’s made no money, though. There’s a million tourists around. You heard about the Freedom Man movie, right?”

“Yeah, I head a little about it,” I said, which was a partial truth. I knew there was going to be a movie. I’m a human girl; I do read celebrity blogs. The details had been skimpy, and I’d been in the jungle for a month with no Wi-Fi or cell reception. There was still mail in the jungle and I’d heard nothing about it from Freedom Boy himself, despite his occasional letter. But I didn’t want to admit that. “Should we go see him?”

“I guess. Sure. Let’s walk over,” Alice said. Apparently, there’s been no parking in Doolittle Falls ever since the open Harpastball practices started.

I grabbed a hat on my way out. I wanted to go incognito for now. Even if Alice knew the deal with me and whatever dude flew in my orbit this week, I didn’t want to ruin it by actually running into either Freedom Boy or Sam. I didn’t want to risk it.