I planned to ignore Anya and Jake and focus on my other friendships.Anya came up to me outside of school. “Are you going to stay away from Jake?”“Did you break up with Brad?” I asked, mimicking her snide expression.She stomped off.Things went a little better with Jake in homeroom. Odd that I was now on better terms with him than with Anya. He actually spoke to me and didn’t yell.“My mom is really into your dad,” he said. He watched for my reaction.I gave up and made a face. “I know. I think we’re in big trouble.”“They really gross me out,” he said.“Has my dad been back over there?” I asked, not wanting to know but somehow needing to.He nodded. “All day yesterday. We had” —he flinched— “a cookout.”“The three of you?” Poor guy.“Yeah. Why weren’t you there?” He leaned back in his seat and stretched out his legs. “I thought it was his weekend.”“I was with my mom. How bad were they?”He wrinkled his nose. “They were flirting and holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes.”“Yuck.”
