It was supposed to be a boring family road trip. My mom had convinced me to tag along because “everyone’s going, you’ll have fun,” and I’d already regretted it the second I saw the cramped rental bus parked in front of the house. Everyone piled in—uncles, aunts, kids, bags shoved overhead and I ended up in the very back, last row, half-asleep already, my headphones tangled in my pocket.

I didn’t expect her to sit beside me.

My stepcousin. She’d only moved into our family orbit two years ago when her mom remarried, and since then she’d been nothing but trouble in my head. Too pretty. Too mouthy. Always smirking...