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“Let her drive. As long as she doesn't drive like a DeLoughrey,” Emely murmured behind me.

I was surprised she had come along. She was the first person I had wanted to call and ask, but I had been sure she would have said no.

Now, she didn't know where we were going, but she was in my car, which strangely calmed me down a bit.

“Excuse me?”

Larissa turned around with an indignant expression.

“Nothing against you,” said Emely, leaning back in her seat.

Larissa and Bayla raised their eyebrows at the same time.

“So, you don't hate me even though I'm a Ruisangor?”

I forced myself not to slam on the brakes at the next traffic light and watched Emely's reaction in the rearview mirror.

She looked out the window.

“I'd like to hate you guys. That would make things easier,” she sighed. “And if I weren't dependent on you to find out what my uncle did twenty years ago, I'd keep as much distance as possible.” Her chest rose and fell visibly. “But I don't hate you. You're... different from what I expected. Actually, you're... okay.”

Emely sounded different than usual. More relaxed.

When she noticed Larissa and Bayla staring at her, because they were probably just as surprised as I was to hear such words, she cleared her throat before our eyes met in the mirror.

Normally, I was the one who avoided other people's gazes, but this time Emely avoided mine.

“Even though I'm wondering what crazy plan you're trying to execute this time,” she quickly continued, tucking one of her dark strands of hair behind her ear.

Sheepishly, I looked at the traffic light, which had just turned green, and drove off.

I hadn't told anyone where I was heading because I had already pushed it out of my mind. Or had I just been afraid that no one would have come with me otherwise?

“You know, Emely, we could become friends and prove our conservative families wrong,” Larissa said with a grin, turning around.

“You’re just like your brother, Larissa,” Emely replied, raising her eyebrows.

“Don't compare me to Miles. I'd rather die,” Larissa laughed next to me, which I couldn't believe, because the two of them seemed increasingly inseparable to me.

The corners of Emely's mouth turned up slightly before she returned to looking out the window with a serious expression.

Bayla smiled in the rearview mirror, and I smiled back, grateful that these girls were taking away my nervousness.

I felt Larissa's curious gaze on me, and the little spark of composure vanished.

“Emely's right. Where exactly are you taking us?”

Emely raised an eyebrow, and I looked back from the rearview mirror to the road, turning the next corner.

“Wait a minute...” she began behind me. “This was your idea?”

My body tensed and I straightened my back a little.

Then I turned into the modern driveway with the newly paved parking courtyard of Vanderwood University Hospital, where I spotted a few students in their medical coats in the hectic parking lot.

“The hospital...” Bayla commented curiously.

“What are we doing here?” Larissa asked.