You asked why I never told you about Cleo, and the truth is I don't know. Embarrassment? Hurt? A combo of both? All I know is Cleo was my best friend and then she didn't want to be around me anymore. On top of that, she left knowing the situation with my mom. I think that was the worst betrayal.

I've wanted to ask her why—what exactly did I do to drive her away—but I can't make myself. I have too much pride to lower myself for someone who throws me away like trash. Do you see now why I like Sloane and Bri? Unlike Cleo and my mom, they're always there for me. I trust them not to leave. I can't say the same for most people. -Georgie aka Alexx

Ravi's head snapped in her direction. His shoulders hunched as he leaned forward, trying to make out her face amongst the harsh shadows. "Alex?" he asked tentatively, inching closer.

"Hey, Ravi." Relief rushed through her as well as a healthy dose of surprise. "W-What are you doing here?" That was a stupid question. He was walking. Obviously. She tried to turn it into a joke. "Seeing the sights?"

She mentally groaned, wanting to slap her forehead. Way to sound like a character from a bad teen movie. "Disregard that last part. Actually, disregard everything from after, 'Hey, Ravi.'"

He chuckled, the sound filling the quiet park. Thrusting his hands even deeper in his pockets, he rocked back on his heels and cocked his head to the side. "So, hey, Alex. What are you doing here? Seeing the sights?"

She fought back a bark of laughter. "Yup, wanted to check out the infamous swings of Castillo Canyon. Battles were forged here. Friendships lost."

A solemn nod. "I heard about that. War of the Swings. Lots of highs. Lots of lows." The metal chains clanked as he sat next to her. Kicking the ground, he propelled himself forward and began swinging. "But really, what are you doing here? Don't you have dinner with my cousin?"

"I did." How long did he think dinner would take? "You know it's past ten, right?"

Ravi blinked. "What?" He slammed a foot down, bringing him to an abrupt halt. He fumbled for his phone and let out a string of curses as several texts and missed calls popped up on his screen.

Her eyebrows raised. "How long have you been out here?"

"Enough for my aunt to threaten to call the cops," Ravi muttered, typing out a message and hitting send.

Blowing out a breath, Ravi began swinging again, this time pushing himself higher and higher. It wasn't a graceful swing. Every motion was rough and hostile, like a fighter in a ring. The force knocked his hoodie down, revealing his square jawline and thick hair that seemed to defy gravity.

She swung alongside him and thought about what he said. Why would his aunt threaten to call the cops? It sounded like a warning rather than concern. From his interactions with Keya, it was clear he didn't get along with the family, but this went beyond not getting along. There were some serious negative vibes.

His phone lit up, and Ravi slowed to check it. He texted something back and pocketed it, letting out a hefty sigh afterwards that sounded like a fifty-pound ball shackled to his legs.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"Not really," he muttered. His bottom lip drooped as he looked up at the stars, deep longing in his eyes. "I miss home."

So much feeling in those few words. Alex hesitated to ask more, afraid he would snap like last time, but there was something different about him tonight. It was like he'd stripped his armor off and was letting her see the most fragile part of him. Taking a chance, she asked gently, "Where's home?"

His lips pressed together in a firm line as he exhaled through his nose. "Good question. I don't even know anymore."

Well, that answered a lot. Say hello to Ravi Malik, king of vague. "Well, where did you live before moving here?"

He made a noise in the back of his throat and pumped his legs to swing higher. "New Jersey with my uncle and his family." His tone was flat and even, but she could feel the disdain like a bad taste in her mouth.

Alex threw her weight forward, getting enough height to match his. "I'm guessing it wasn't a happy experience?"

Even the metal chains clicking against each other couldn't drown out his scoff. "Let's just say my uncle and I have very different views on life, so they shipped me here to my aunt."

"You don't like it here?" Alex had never been to New Jersey or even outside of California, but thought Castillo Canyon was a pretty awesome place.

He shrugged his shoulders which seemed Hulk-like compared to the kiddie swings. "It's okay, I guess. Haven't seen much."

"Except for the parks."

He grinned at her. "Right. Those I can vouch for. And the swings..." He let out a low whistle. "Top notch. Gets a gold star for sure. Especially when a certain girl is on it."

She blushed and was thankful it was too dark for Ravi to notice. "You're an idiot."

"Would an idiot help you with your English homework?" he teased.

"A nice idiot would." Ravi had been feeding her answers at the start of every class, much to Keya's disproval. You'd think a girl who would do anything—including lie—to get a play off the ground would be okay with copying homework, but Keya was surprisingly stringent about classwork.

"Nice?" Ravi exclaimed with a scowl that only made his features prominent. "Why not call me boring and be done with it?"

She thrust her nose in the air. "Nice is a perfectly good word."

"I think I preferred you calling me an ass," he muttered.

Smiling, she shook her head, a rush of sensation in her chest. "You're a strange one, Ravi Malik."

"So I've been told." He sent her a grin that had his dimple peeking out, the impact an arrow to the heart.

It was unfair, she thought as a gust of wind blew strands of hair in her face, that some people could fill a space just with their presence. Alexx had that quality, and so did Ravi, but while her best friend felt like a fuzzy blanket she wanted to snuggle, Ravi was a windstorm, taking up the very air she breathed.

"You finish your Scarlet Letter essay?" he asked, completely unaware of the effect he had on her.

"I haven't even started," she responded after taking a steadying breath. "But let me guess. You have." Most people would call Keya an overachiever, but she had nothing on Ravi. At least, not in the literature department.

A smug expression settled over his face. "Printed and stapled together."

"You finished already? How? Why?" They still had a couple of weeks left before they had to turn it in.

He tutted. "Alex, Alex, Alex. Don't you know, the early bird gets the worm?"

She barely resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. "That's such a stupid saying."

"But true. And the essay was easy, so why not bang it out and get it over with?"

"Easy for you, maybe. The rest of us rely on procrastination and Google."

"Want help?"

Her eyes lit up. "Yes, please."

But of course, it wasn't that easy. Not with Ravi. "What will you give me for it?" he asked.

"The satisfaction of knowing you helped a talented designer not fail high school?"

He leaned back and kicked his feet up. "Not good enough. I need something else."

"Fine, fine." She narrowed her eyes and snapped her fingers. "What do you want?"

"I want you to get on your knees and declare your undying love for classic books."

Alex wished she had something to throw at him. "Not happening."

"Come on," he teased, a boyish grin on his face. "I give good help."

"Your classics have nothing on my fantasy books." She'd argue this point until she was blue in the face.

"Wanna bet?"

"Yeah, actually, I would. You read one book of my choosing, and I'll read one book of yours. I bet you by the time you're done, you'll be begging for more."

"Deal," he said. They shared a goofy grin as they tried to shake on it, but their swings weren't in sync, so they high-fived in passing instead.

They swung in companionable silence as clouds hovered over the moon and the leaves rustled in the wind. She inhaled deeply, loving the crisp summer air that was on the cusp of autumn.

"It's my brother's birthday today," Ravi suddenly blurted out, all teasing gone. "He turned ten."

Startled, Alex glanced at him. A brother? So why wasn't he eating cake and sucking helium out of balloons instead of roaming an empty park? "Did you get him anything?"

Ravi's shoulders fell as he shook his head. "He lives in India with my parents and shipping is expensive. I called to wish him a happy birthday, but it's not the same as being there."

"India?" she marveled. "Wow. Talk about long distance. Why aren't you living with them?"

"Because they want me to get my education here. Say I can come home after college."

Alex tried to imagine being so far apart from her parents, and couldn't. "When did you move here?"

"Start of middle school, so I was eleven, I think."

That long? "It sounds scary. And lonely." Especially if he didn't get along with his relatives. Did he have friends back in New Jersey?

"Multiply whatever you're thinking by a hundred, and that's probably a portion of what I'm feeling."

Alex discreetly studied Ravi as the clouds parted, and the moon illuminated him in a soft glow. Sadness clung to him like a second skin, and she wondered why he was letting her of all people see this side of him. "You must miss them a lot."

"Tons, but I miss my brother the most." He pushed up his sleeve and shimmied his arm, so the gold bead hanging on his wrist glinted under the moon. "He gave me this right before I left so I wouldn't forget him." He shook his head. "As if I could do that."

Sorry didn't seem adequate and she doubted there was much she could say to make him feel better, but she tried. "I don't know much about India. Do they do anything special for birthdays?"

"Well, people do different things, but in my family, my grandma gives pujas, or prayers, and then performs a ceremony called Aarti." Alex rested her head against her hand gripping the chain and listened as Ravi described the ceremony which included a wick-burning in ghee or butter on a silver platter, and a mixture of rice and ghee with a colored powder called tikka, which was placed on the forehead.

The longing in his voice made her ache. "Can't you tell your parents you don't want to be here and move back?"

Ravi shook his head. "Once my dad sets his mind on something, that's it. No changing it."

"That sucks. Big time."

"Tell me about it. And not only is he making me stay here but he wants me to be an engineer."

"And you want to be a screenwriter," she murmured, thinking back to the first time they talked.

Ravi jumped off the swing making the whole structure rattle. "It's frustrating, you know? I get that parents literally create us, but does that give them the right to dictate our lives?"

"For the first eighteen, yeah."

"It's not fair." Ravi picked up a pebble and hurled it across the open field. "I'm the one living in the choices they make."

His words resonated deep within her as she thought about her parents and the choices they made. Sometimes it felt like she was being punished for their debt. "I know what you mean." She rested her head against the chain, the swing gently moving back and forth. "My parents..." She trailed off, realizing what she was about to reveal. Except for her best friend, Alex never talked about her home life or her parents fighting or the crippling debt they carried.

Ravi cocked his head to the side. "Your parents...?"

She licked her lips, her throat dry. Could she trust Ravi with her innermost secrets?

He walked over to her, understanding radiating from every pore. "You don't have to tell me. I get it. Some things are meant for your thoughts and your thoughts alone." He got behind her and began pushing the swing.

She should have been grateful, but instead, a certain amount of wrongness swept over her. Ravi had let his guard down and been open with her, and she couldn't return the gesture. "It's not that I don't—"

"Alex," he said, cutting her off. "Stop apologizing for your feelings."

Even though his assumption was right, she couldn't let his statement go. Something inside of her twisted at the thought of him seeing her as a simpering girl. "I wasn't going to apologize."

"No?" he asked in an arching tone. "Fine, then stop explaining what you feel."

She skidded to a halt and spun the seat around. Electricity crackled as their gazes met. "You don't know me." The statement was mutinous. A dare disguised as a lure. Come fight me, it said. Challenge me so we can tangle.

"You're right. I don't. And yet," his lips tugged in a small but sad smile, "We kind of do, don't we?"

She breathed heavily as blood rushed to her ears. "I don't know what you mean." But deep down, she did. While she might not be on the same beat as Sloane or Bri, she was on exactly the same frequency as Ravi. Every time she was around him, she felt something click inside of her—like meeting like.

Ravi reached down as if to touch her, but she scrambled back, reminding herself she had Hugo. She couldn't—wouldn't—do anything to mess that up. Not even for someone as electric as Ravi. Electric could get you fried, she reminded herself.

His expression blanked as his hand fell away, and she knew she'd hurt him. Before she could apologize, he unwound her swing and began pushing her again. "So," he said after a while, his voice dark and raspy. "If you can't tell me your thoughts, who do you tell? Hugo Lorde?"

Surprise had her spine going ramrod straight. "How do you know about Hugo?"

He pushed a little harder, the jolt, a welcome one. "I go to the same high school as you."

She found it hard to believe Ravi listened to whatever the gossip mill churned out. A light bulb went off. But of course. "Playhouse. That's where you heard it." Alex frowned as she thought about Keya. "Why are you even volunteering there? You know Keya needs the help way more than Playhouse does."

The heat of his hands warmed her back as he pushed her again. "I see enough of Keya as it is. Don't need to volunteer for more." He caught her as she swung back, his arms banded around her waist like chains. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, his words a silky caress, "And for the record, I didn't hear about you and Hugo at Playhouse."

He released her and pushed her again, a yo-yo of action that mirrored her emotions. "Then where?" she asked, her brows drawing together. "You don't interact with anyone."

"Gee, Alex. Dagger meet heart."

"Oh please, you know it's true. I have more friends than you do, and I eat lunch alone in an empty classroom. So how would you know about Hugo and me?"

"I live with Keya," he drawled. "She makes TMZ look like amateurs."

She couldn't contain her laugh. "Keya? I would never have guessed."

"Then you don't know her. She's the worst gossiper right up there with Cleo."

The thought of Cleo and what she had done to Alexx brought her up short. "Do you know Cleo?"

"Not beyond the fact that she's always hanging with my cousin. Why?"

She shrugged. "Just wondering." It seemed weird to her that Cleo would ditch Alexx out of the blue and then latch onto Keya.

"So back to you and Hugo," Ravi said with an innocent air that Alex wasn't buying.

"Nope," she declared. That would be too weird, even for her and Ravi. "We're not discussing this. It's off-limits."

"Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?" he pressed.

"You're back to being an ass again," she warned.

"It's better than being nice." He muttered the last word like she'd announced he was a convict.

Rolling her eyes, she hopped off the swing in mid-flight and thankfully, landed on her feet, and not her knees. "I better go. My parents are probably wondering where I am." If they weren't still arguing, that is.

Sighing, Ravi ran a hand through his raven hair. "I guess I'd better go too." Although it sounded like the last thing he wanted to do.

Walking backwards, she started down the path she came. "By the way, what's your brother's name?"

"Karthik."

"Well, next time you talk to Karthik, tell him happy birthday for me." She lifted a hand goodbye. "See you Monday."

"Hey, Alex?" he called out.

"Yeah?" she asked over her shoulder, slowing down.

"Thanks." His face was solemn, but his gaze was soft as a lover's touch. "I needed this tonight."

Alex nodded and walked away, trouble brewing in the pit of her stomach because she had needed it too and didn't know what to do about it.