“Where is this?” she asked.
“Floating Man Quarry.” Nick looked surprised. “You’ve never been here?”
Ali stared into the big, clear lake at the bottom of the cliff and shook her head. Spencer used to urge them to come here, but Ali had always refused, worried that everyone would like this place too much, which might make Spencer think she was cooler than Ali.
“The cliff-diving is amazing.” Nick walked to the blanket. “People are always trying to shut this place down because they say it’s dangerous, but no one’s gotten hurt yet.”
Ali sat down on the blanket next to him, noting the grass nearby was wet with dew and flecked with clover. Then Nick turned to her and kissed her softly on the lips. Her stomach swooped, and her head felt faint. Nick’s hands brushed her shoulders. Then he pulled away and smiled bashfully at her.
“You’re so amazing,” he whispered.
“You, too,” Ali said back.
Then Ali flopped onto the blanket and stared at the sky. Nick cut off a piece of bread for her and slathered it with cheese. As she took it from him, he squeezed her hand again. “I’m serious, you know. This is, like, the best. I’m glad you came here with me today. I hope it makes up for missing the party last night.”
“I’m glad I came, too,” Ali said. But suddenly, for reasons she couldn’t exactly explain, a sob rose into her throat. This was almost too nice. She turned away.
Nick paused from pouring two glasses of sparkling cider, lowering the large bottle to the blanket. “What is it?”
Ali shook her head. “Nothing. Sorry. I’m just being an idiot.”
“Are you sure?”
A Jeep pulled up, and a few kids got out, stripped off their clothes, and walked to the edge of the cliff. Ali watched as they jumped off without even looking down first. Everything that had happened recently bubbled inside her, ready to spill over. Her sister. Her friends. It was more than she could take. Her problems felt like one of those snakes-in-a-can toys that had been at her grandmother’s house: No matter how hard she tried to fit the lid back on, it kept popping off, the snakes jumping free.
She looked over the cliff, trying to shove everything down deep. “How long is the drop?”
“I don’t know, but not far enough for it to be dangerous,” Nick guessed. Then he turned to Ali and gave her a very serious look. “You don’t have to change the subject with me, you know. I do it, too, when there’s something I’m dealing with but don’t know how to talk about. But whatever you’re worried about, whatever you think you can’t say, you totally can.”
Ali swallowed hard. She glanced at Nick, then cut her eyes away. “I shouldn’t,” she said. “It’s not usually something I talk about.”
“I can’t promise I can help. But at least I’ll listen. You strike me as someone who tries really, really hard to hold things together because everyone else in your life can’t. I’m the same way.”
Ali glanced at him gratefully. “Really?”
“Uh-huh. It gets me in trouble sometimes, especially when I am dealing with some really serious stuff and I have no one to turn to. But we all need someone to turn to. And maybe you and I should turn to each other.”
Ali nodded. Suddenly, she felt brave. She took a breath. “I have a twin sister,” she admitted. “No one knows about her.”
Just saying the words out loud made her dizzy. She looked around, certain a bolt of lightning would zoom down from the sky or a plague of locusts would descend on the quarry—something to prove that the world had truly altered for good. Instead, a butterfly flapped past and the clouds shifted overhead. Nick reached for her hands.
“And?” he said.
“At first, when we were little, we got along great.” Ali pulled up a handful of grass and let it blow away in the wind. “But then, suddenly . . . well, I don’t know. Something happened. And then she hated me. Wanted me gone. She did terrible things to me.”
Nick squeezed her hand. “I’m really sorry.”
A lump formed in her throat. “My parents sent her away. She’s been gone a long time. But I just found out she’s coming back to live with us again.”
Nick blinked, his expression stunned, as if she’d just slapped him. “She is?”
“Well, yeah. My parents want us to try to be a family, but we’re not a family—not with her. She’s going to ruin everything. I can just feel it.”
“When did you find out she was coming back?”
Ali twisted the stud earring in her earlobe. “A few days ago.” She felt the tears rising. “Everything else is a mess, too. My parents . . . who knows what’s going on with them. And my friends—I don’t even know them anymore. I would be able to handle that stuff on its own, but with my sister coming back, it’s just like . . .”
“It’s too much,” Nick finished for her.
Ali nodded. “Exactly.”
Then he opened his arms and pulled Ali in. She nestled into his chest, allowing herself exactly one full sob. It felt so good to be hugged ridiculously tight. She pressed her ear to his ribs and heard his heart beating, its rhythm unusually fast.
He leaned back and stared into Ali’s eyes. “Whatever happens, just keep your head about you, you know? You’ll get through it—I’ll help you. Don’t let her bring you down. And whenever you want to vent, you can call me. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
Ali attempted a wobbly smile. “Okay,” she said shyly. Then she lowered her eyes. “I’ve never told anyone that, you know.”