Page 215 of While You Were Trending

I bolt upright in bed. What—two o’clock?How the hell is ittwo o’clock?

Flow whimpers and crawls closer to me while my brains slosh in my head like I’ve been drinking.

I haven’t though.

I haven’t had anything at all to drink since Caro’s wedding.

“Ginny?” Cricket says softly.

I gasp.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” she says quickly from the corner of my room. “I—Mabel asked me to sit in here.”

My heart squeezes and I lunge for my phone, which isn’t where it’s supposed to be. “Declan?—”

“Declan’s fine. He’s good. Cross my heart.”

She crosses my floor, still not spotless, but much cleaner than it has been, and sits on my bed with me. “You’re in the news again, but everything’s fine. Here. Coffee. It should still be warm. Do you want me to pour it in your mug?”

Oh no.

No, no, no.

If Mabel sent Cricket up with coffee in an insulated tumbler and the coffee mug Declan made me— “Caro? Ten?”

“Everyone’s fine.”

My mother’s voice drifts up the stairs again. “I demand to see my daughter. She needs her mommy.”

I flinch.

“Mabel’s handling it.” Cricket doesn’t wait for my answer on the coffee and instead pours it from the tumbler into the mug, then hands the mug to me.

Flow whimpers harder and crawls into my lap.

I take a sip while I look at my friend.

One of my sisters. Sisters of my heart.

“What—what did I do now?” I ask Cricket.

“Nothing.” She squeezes my arm. “But the world kinda knows now that you’re dating Declan and that he’s been filming a documentary here. Which means your mother knows. Actually, she might have started that rumor. We’re still looking for the original leak, but we’re pretty sure it was her. And?—”

“She’s mydaughterand she’s in trouble and she needs her mommy and Iwillsee herright now.”

Flow howls.

Full-on howls, then leaps off the bed and dashes into the closet.

I hand Cricket the coffee mug and toss my sheets off.

“Fuck this,” I mutter. “I’mdone.”

I throw on a pair of pajama shorts underneath Declan’s Minnesota T-shirt, then fling open the door.

Dori and Samantha are leaning against the opposite wall.

“She’s going to war,” Cricket says behind me.