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jour Cooper will subject us to senior year?” She shakes her fist in the air. “Damn you alphabetical order.”
    Blue sky shows through some of the clouds shredding in the wind, and I hand Nicki her keys. “Maybe we could sneak one of those air sanitizers into his locker,” I say as I pull the seat belt across my chest.
    Nicki starts the ignition and backs up. “I still can’t believe Ari kept quiet about the fact that she’s the heir to the Land of Enchantment for the two years we’ve been in the chorus. Not that we talk too often—Ari’s a little too hot and cold for me, so I try to avoid her.”
    I nod. “Yeah, I experienced some of Ari’s many moods today, but you know, she’s had a rough life.”
    “Rough life? Her dad owns a freaking amusement park—which explains why she goes to White Cliff and drives a Mercedes!”
    “Uh, if money equaled happy, the rehabs in Hollywood would be out of business. And anyway, would you be bragging about being the heir apparent to the Land of Enchantment?”
    “No!”
    “See? And she’s got a father who, in my opinion, has an extremely unhealthy obsession with fairy tales. Add a wacko stepmother to the mix and I think a rough life applies.”
    Nicki tilts her head from side to side as if considering whether she thinks Ari has racked up enough teen angst points to agree with me. “I guess. And it couldn’t have been easy after Kayla checked out.”
    “Huh?”
    “Kayla was in the chorus—decent alto—she was Ari’s BFF until she went missing last year.”
    “Oh my God,” I say slowly. “I think I met Kayla’s brother at the park today.”
    “Hot guy—curly black hair, fabulous biceps?”
    I nod. “That’s Luke.”
    “He used to pick them up after practice sometimes,” she says as a smile breaks out on her face. “He’s got the dark, brooding thing down pat, that’s for damn sure.”
    “Yes, he does,” I say with a little too much enthusiasm.
    Nicki gives me a quick look, and my cheeks flush. I turn away from her to watch the scenery out the window.
    “Is someone forgetting she has a boyfriend?”
    “Since when does having a boyfriend mean you can’t appreciate a good-looking guy?”
    “It doesn’t, but the way Ari was always hanging on him, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s had her name forcibly tattooed on his ass. If you want to keep your fabulous new job, I’d be careful about admiring him so openly.”
    A shiver runs through me as Remy’s “Be careful, Meggy” echoes in my head. “Um,” I choke out, “don’t worry about it. Ari’s pretty much guaranteed that Ryan and I will be working side by side with no Luke in sight.”
    I decide not to tell Nicki I’m planning to visit Luke the first chance I get. She’s 100 percent grounded in a reality that isn’t haunted by ghosts. There’s no way she’d believe I just want to see Luke to talk about my dead sister and the Stephen King–like vision she showed me.
    I look back out the window and roll my eyes. Not only does Nicki not believe in ghosts but in second grade, after I told her about Remy coming back, she went home and told her mom, who told my mom. That got me four months of drawing pictures of my family with my stupid therapist until she was convinced I’d faced the truth about what happened to Remy and Dad.
    Like their empty places at the kitchen table didn’t scream the truth every day.
    At least Nicki was apologetic. Mom just increased my visits to Dr. Macardo and checked out of my life a little bit more. Talk about needing therapy.
    “So what was Kayla like?” I ask, hoping to change the subject.
    “She was nice, kind of quiet.” Nicki shrugs. “She let Ari do most of the talking. They did have a couple of catfights, which I attributed to Ari being genetically predisposed to bitchiness. The weird thing was that shortly after Kayla went missing, Ari showed up at practice with her hair bleached just like Kayla’s.”
    “Seriously?”
    “Yeah, until then Ari’s