"I don't get it," Riley said, when Sabina told them about cousin Wyatt's awful plan. "Isn't the blockchain like, NFTs and cryptocurrency?"
"Yeah, I think so."
Ahead, Wyatt walked with Sabina's parents, his hands flying as fast as his words until he was distracted by a well-loved old video game system poking out of a pile of old appliances. Antique furniture, gently used kitchen gadgets, worn books, and a chaotic assortment of other goods spilled over the rows of tables laid out on the church lawn for the big yard sale. Earlier, Sabina had helped carry in the curated contents of her family's attic, but now that the sale was in full swing they were free to browse, and they weren't alone. Despite the haze in the air from a distant forest fire that overnight had begun to billow smoke across the lake, High Valley had turned out in droves to find new-to-them treasures and share gossip with friends over fresh-squeezed lemonade and homemade baking.
Sabina slowed down and let other people move between her and her family. She couldn't stand to be near cousin Wyatt for a minute longer.
While she picked through a rack of dresses, Riley turned their cup of lemonade between their palms, bumping the metal straw along their gums. "So, what's the actual business plan? Is it NFTs? Does he want to mint NFTs for the bees? What does that even mean?"
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure he was just saying nonsense words for the whole presentation. My parents acted like they got it, but I don't believe them. What do you think?" She held a long paisley dress up against her chest and swished her hips back and forth.
Riley considered. "It's great. You can twin with my grandma."
Making a face, Sabina put the dress back. "I'm not ready to accept that fate yet."
They moved on.
"I just don't understand. Cousin Wyatt always has a new business idea, and they never work out. How is this dumb blockchain plan better than everything I've been doing?"
"What are your parents gonna do?" Riley asked, stopping to thumb through a pile of old comic books.
Sabina pushed out a sigh. "I think they've lost their minds, but they're gonna let him try it. Whatever it is."
She picked up a tarnished candle stick, then set it back down. It was fruitless to try to distract herself from the misery of realizing that she had failed. Her whole four-step plan for an unforgettable summer was worthless now. Without a plan, how was she supposed to know what to do?
Restlessness kept her moving down the tables. Riley followed, still slurping their lemonade. The sound was driving Sabina up the wall.
They gave her a hopeful grin. "I know his last scheme was a disaster, but who knows. Maybe this one will work."
"It's not gonna work."
"But if it did, that'd be good for the farm, right?"
Sabina shot them a glare. "You're supposed to be on my side!"
They lifted their shoulders. "Everything is always about sides with you. The farm is in trouble, right? If cousin Wyatt's plan could make a difference, shouldn't that make you happy?"
"No, because if his stupid blockchain thing works, then that just proves they don't need me."
"I mean, they did run the farm for a lot of years without you. Besides, maybe your parents would relax about the school thing if they weren't so worried about money."
Their perfectly reasonable tone infuriated her. "You don't get it. You're lucky that your grandma doesn't mind that you're not doing anything with your life. But my parents have a plan for me, and they don't care if I don't like it."
She realized Riley had stopped walking. Impatient, she turned to tell them to hurry up. But they were staring at her, lemonade dangling forgotten by their side.
"Not doing anything with my life? A lot of people take gap years, Bina."
"Riley-"
"I've been waking up at 3 AM for you all summer. Do you see these bags under my eyes? I have been suffering."
"Look- I didn't mean that. I'm just going through a hard time right now."
"That doesn't give you the right to be mean."
"I know." Sabina bit her lip. "I'm sorry."
They shook their head and their cup of lemonade, rattling the melting ice.
When they didn't say anything else, Sabina said, "Come on. I want to see if I can find sheets of plexiglass. We've got two more weeks to win the Best Vendor Award, and I know exactly how to do it. Something that the Vergers and even Gretel's can never compete with."
They trailed after her. She thought they would ask what her idea was, but they didn't.
Instead, they said, "You still want to win the award?"
"Of course," she said, shocked that they would question it.
"But if you're going to school anyway, why does it matter?"
Something twinged in her chest, but she couldn't admit to the dark, deep-rooted fear that this might be her last chance make a difference. The fear that once she left High Valley, everything would have changed when she came back - or, worst of all, the fear that once she left, she might never come back at all. "Because we don't need any smart contracts or NFTs or whatever to save the farm. And even if I can't convince my parents to let me stay, I can still prove that to them."
"I don't know. It kinda seems like you just can't accept that your plan didn't work out the way you wanted."
It was her turn to stop stock still and stare at them. "Excuse me? You're my best friend. It's your job to support me."
They rubbed at the side of their neck, rumpling the collar of their loud shirt. "It's not like you appreciate it when I do."
Speechless, Sabina opened her mouth, then closed it again. Before she could find words, though, the worst possible thing happened: Otis appeared down the row.
His face lit up when he spotted Riley, and he sped up. He probably thought he was swaggering, but really it was more of a joyful bound that closed the distance between them. Dread settled like a stone in Sabina's stomach.
"Hey, Riley!" Otis didn't waste a second in sidling right up to them. In a move so familiar that it made Sabina sick, he slipped an arm around their waist and pressed a kiss to their cheek.
Riley's eyes jumped to Sabina. Their hand tightened against Otis's wrist. But they didn't push him away.
It wasn't until that moment that Sabina realized exactly how stupid she had been.
"Oh, you're here too, Sabina," Otis said, as though he had only just noticed her standing there, and wrinkled his nose.
Mel sauntered up then, her hands in her pockets, but even the sight of her in that absolutely criminal white tank top wasn't enough to distract Sabina from this complete and utter betrayal. Especially not when Mel didn't look the least bit surprised at Riley and Otis's coziness.
Sabina clenched her jaw so hard it creaked. "Riley. We need to talk."
Without waiting for snarky comments from Otis, she grabbed Riley's arm. They were stronger than her, but they didn't pull away.
"Give us a sec," they said to the Vergers, with this tone like they were apologizing for Sabina. That only made the anger boil hotter.
"We'll just wait here, then," Otis called.
Sabina dragged Riley through the crowd and into the open space behind some bushes near the bluff. She didn't have any reasonable arguments. She was too overwhelmed by the welter of fury and hurt and embarrassment at being the last one to know what was going on with her best friend and her worst enemy. Once they were out of sight, all she could do was gesture wildly back toward where they had left Otis and shriek, "You didn't think to tell me this was happening?"
They squeezed the lemonade cup between both hands. "I haven't been hiding anything. You were on that boat, too."
"Yeah, but-" Sabina struggled for words. "But this is different. This is- He kissed you."
Riley drew themself up to their full height and set their jaw. "Yeah, he did. And it wasn't the first time."
"He's a jerk! Remember how he told me that I wasn't invited to the Pebble Beach party?"
"You didn't even want to go to that party."
"That's not the point! We're literally competing for the Best Vendor Award right now. He's my enemy. You're not allowed to date my enemy."
They stared at her, eyes wide in disbelief. "I'm sorry. Are you trying to tell me who I'm allowed to date?"
That unsteady feeling was back, like the ground had shifted under her feet. "I just don't want you to get hurt. All of the Vergers are evil."
"Oh, please," they scoffed. "Mel is a Verger, too. We both know that's not what this is about."
Sabina flushed. "Why don't you tell me what you think it's about, then?"
"You can't stand it when there's things you can't control," they said matter-of-factly. "And I hate to break it to you, but other people want things, too. I love you, Bina, but sometimes I think Otis is kinda right about you."
The hurt was like a knife right between the shoulder blades. "We've been friends since we were babies and now you're letting Otis tell you how to feel about me?"
"Friendship is supposed to go both ways." Their expression was mulish. "If you want me to support you, then you have to support me back."
"How can you say- I support you!"
"Do you think it's supportive when you say that you think I'm not doing anything useful with my life? After I've literally spent my whole summer helping you?" Their eyes narrowed. "You know what I think? I think you're jealous that I actually have the guts to kiss a cute guy who's into me."
"I'm not jealous!" Sabina clenched her fists, hot with shame and anger. "How could I be jealous when it's that jerk? I don't get how you can possibly like him."
They shook the last mushy chunks of ice in their cup. "He's sweet to me. And he actually respects me, unlike some people."
That was too much. "You think I don't respect you? Well, guess what. I don't need you. I can win the Best Vendor Award by myself. If you think I'm such a control freak and you hate working with me so much, why don't you just quit?"
"Well." Riley took a deep breath, then coughed a little when the smoke caught in their lungs. "If you don't need me, I guess I'm just wasting my time trying to help. So. Fine. Yeah, I quit."
Sabina hadn't expected that. She hadn't known there was a limit to Riley's tolerance, but there it was. She'd found it. And they looked as miserable about it as she did.
"I'm gonna sleep in so late tomorrow," they said and took one step away, then another.
"Fine!" she said. "Have fun with Otis and don't expect me to feel sorry for you when it ends badly!"
They didn't turn around. The smoky air stung her eyes.
By the time she felt brave enough to face humans again, Otis and Riley were gone. Only Mel was still there. She looked up from a tattered romance novel, identifiable by the acres of abs on the cover, and looked at Sabina.
"I would ask if everything is okay, but I think that would be a stupid question," Mel said.
Sabina gripped her own elbows. Even though Mel hadn't witnessed the worst of her meltdown, the humiliation was still sharp. Still, Sabina was grateful that she had waited. She needed someone on her side right now. "Have you ever said something to someone you cared about and like, you knew it was mean, and that it would hurt them, but you said it anyway?"
Mel set the book down on the teetering stack it had come from. "Babe, I could tell you hours of stories about the fights me and my mom had."
Sabina warmed at her sympathetic smile, but- Babe. For a moment her heart forgot it was supposed to be hurting.
Riley had called her jealous. Maybe they were right. Mel had thought she was a bitch from the very beginning, and yet she was the one who was still here, looking at her with an intensity that made her a little breathless.
The only part of her plan she still had any hope of accomplishing was step four: have her first kiss. She had nothing left to lose.
"Would you?" she asked.
"Would I what? Tell you stories about my mom?"
"Yeah. Or about the city, or your friends back home, or- or whatever."
Mel shoved her hands in her pockets. "If you want. I mean, I'm sure you've never met anyone as interesting as me in this little bitty town."
The air was hot and sharp with smoke, and for a moment Sabina felt like she was standing in the middle of the forest fire. She didn't want to be alone right now, but it was more than that. It was Mel that she wanted to be with. It was Mel who she could trust to tell her the truth without the weight of a lifetime's petty grievances behind it. "Let's get out of here."
That sly smile crept across Mel's face. "Whatever you say." And then, as they fell into step towards the parking lot she leaned in, her soft brown hair tickling Sabina's ear, and murmured, "Did I ever tell you I've got a weakness for a girl with a car?"
Sabina swallowed hard at that wicked twinkle in Mel's eyes. She had no idea what she was getting into. For once, though, that was almost as exciting as it was scary.