You’re halfway up the Gallagher porch steps when the front door slams open and Fiona nearly collides with you. Her hair is messy, she’s out of breath, and she gives you that wide-eyed “I may have screwed up” look you know way too well by now.

“Okay, okay—don’t freak out,” she whispers, grabbing your arm.

“You only say that when I should absolutely freak out,” you say.

“Yeah. Fair.” She glances back into the house, lowers her voice. “Someone called the school about Liam getting into a fight. I went down there to deal with it and, uh… I may have told the vice principal he was an idiot.”

“That’s not that bad,” you say.

Fiona winces. “And then I might have said it loudly. And then he threatened to call the cops because apparently I ‘caused a scene.’”

You stare at her. “…Fiona.”

“I know! I know!” she whispers sharply. “Look, someone from the school might show up here to ‘talk,’ and I just—can you please say I wasn’t there? That I was at work? That I’ve been here all day? I don’t need another mess right now.”

You don’t even hesitate. “Yeah. I’ve got you.”

She blinks, surprised. “Really?”

“Fiona, you’ve covered for everyone in this family a million times. You think I’m gonna let you take the fall for one bad day?”

She lets out a breath she’s been holding for way too long. “You’re a lifesaver, seriously.”

Before you can respond, there’s a knock on the door.

Fiona panics, whisper-screaming, “Hide me! Hide me!”

You push her toward the stairs, and she practically jumps up two steps at once. She crouches behind the railing like a kid playing hide-and-seek.

You open the door.

A stern-looking school administrator stands there, clipboard in hand.

“Hello. I’m looking for Fiona Gallagher. We need to discuss an incident from earlier—”