Bully

K.C. admits that Liam has been cheating on her. She tells Tate that she found out about this when Jared invited her to the Loop one night. She describes arriving just in time to see Liam kissing another girl. The incident strikes Tate as odd. She wonders why Jared would have bothered to expose Liam’s cheating; she knows that Jared and Liam are close and that boys don’t usually reveal one another’s secrets. 

Later, Tate goes out into the backyard and sees Jared’s dog, Madman. The dog knows Tate well because she and Jared once rescued him together. Now, he bounds through the hedges toward her. Jared watches the reunion quietly, and Tate can’t help but wonder why Jared is being so polite. Moments later, Jared calls his dog back. Jared’s mother then appears; she is happy to see Tate and invites her over.

Tate visits with Jared’s mother, whom she knows to have an alcohol addiction. Jared’s mother has improved, but she and Jared’s father have always been fairly absent from Jared’s life. 

Tate’s narrative reveals that one summer,