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swings, I have him stumbling on his knees.
    “If I were you, I wouldn’t order any more sandwiches from me,” I say, pushing him back so he’s flat on the floor. I step over him, into the men’s room, and when I come out, a few of his friends have him balanced on a stool near the corner of the bar.
    My face looks like shit, and my mom is going to freak out, but I have one more hour to help Casey, and I’m not leaving here without that grand. I’ve earned it.
    “What the hell, man? You look—” I hold up my hand to stop Casey midsentence.
    “I don’t want to talk about it, dude. Weird fuckin’ shit went down, and I’m not quite sure what the hell it was all about. Let’s just finish this up, and I promise I’ll catch you up tomorrow.”
    He stares at me, doing that slow-blink thing he’s always done when he’s baffled by me, then he pulls his headphones back up and turns his eyes back to my computer screen. A few windows have popped up, so I reach over him and click them closed, ignoring the update warnings.
    And just because he could, my best friend makes a mix out of Kanye’s “Stronger” and “Eye of the Tiger”—a serenade for Sandwich Guy, the superhero.

Chapter 4
    P aige

    I may have underestimated my enemies. I didn’t expect Ashley to jump ship and join my cause necessarily. But I also didn’t expect her to sell me out so fast.
    But that’s foolish. I would have done the same thing—probably still would, if I found something that worked in my favor. Ashley wants to be in with Chandra, to rise to the top at Delta. Sinking me—that’s the new shortcut.
    Being here, in this house—it’s miserable. I came home from the party and the house was quiet. Most of the girls were in the tutoring lab or in their rooms studying, or at least that’s what I told myself. The quiet is there again this morning, and I can’t seem to tell myself the same lies. I’m being ignored.
    Chandra knows she would have to beat me to the ground to get her hands on my phone. I don’t care what I signed; she doesn’t have a right to see some things. So she’s squeezing me out in other ways. What I can’t figure is who followed me to the library—who saw me talking to Houston?
    “Whatever,” I say to no one. That’s me, two thousand miles from home and living with no one.
    I pick up my phone and take a deep breath…time to perform.
    “Paige?” My dad answers fast. “Is something wrong? Is your sister okay?”
    It’s always my sister. Cass has always been daddy’s girl.
    “She’s fine,” I say, packing my bag for the day, readying myself to study for my two easy tests—biology and ancient history. I turned in my English paper already, so nothing left to do but study—for the next twenty-four hours. I flop on the bed knowing I don’t have enough to fill my time to keep me out of here until my plane leaves next week.
    “Good, I was worried. The case, the assault charges…it looks like everything’s going to be closed. This should all go away,” my father says, and I barely hear him. He has no idea how far from going away things are for me. In one spontaneous decision to avenge my sister, I swapped places with her, and just as her nightmares are fading, mine are beginning.
    I pinch the bridge of my nose and shut my eyes. I should have called my mom. But my dad’s the one who handles plane reservations. My parents don’t really know that I moved out to live in the sorority house. They know I joined, but they didn’t want me to leave Cass—that’s why I’m here, after all: to watch her. Funny how I wish I hadn’t moved out now, though. I’d give anything to be back in that dorm room with her and her other roommate, Rowe.
    “Can I come home early?” I blurt out, hoping to catch him off guard. Of the two of us—my sister and me—I’m the emotional one. I used to cry to get my way, but I’ve found the tears come easier since this divide with my sister has grown. I let the threat of a cry