Mateo, Ivy, and Cal were friends in junior high, after The Best Day Ever (as Cal dubbed it), when they snuck out of a field trip to Boston and happened to land in the middle of a parade celebrating the Red Sox's World Series victory. They had a terrific day and started hanging out together, but drifted apart once they got to high school. Ivy is an overachiever who feels like she has to compete with her extremely gifted, genius younger brother, Daniel. When Ivy loses the Student Council Presidency to Brian "Boney" Mahoney, who ran as a joke, she's mortified and wants nothing more than to take a day off of school.
Cal, meanwhile, has been a serial dater for years. His recent girlfriend broke up with him, but that's okay: Cal has another woman in the wings, his art teacher, Lara. Cal knows it's totally wrong to try to hook up with a teacher, but he just can't help himself. He's dying for a chance to spend some more time with her, but when she stands him up for their breakfast date before school, the last thing he wants to do is go to class.
Mateo's life spiraled quickly downward over the summer between junior and senior year. His mother was sued by a kid who got hurt at her bowling alley and she ended up losing the business. Now he and his cousin, Autumn, are working a total of five jobs between themselves to try to keep the family afloat. And his mother has crippling osteoarthritis and her medication is insanely expensive. She tries to go without it so as not to overburden her children (she adopted Autumn when Autumn's parents were killed) and as a result is in near constant pain and can barely move.
So, long story short, when the three of them run into each other on the way into school, none of them wants to go, so when Cal proposes ditching and trying to recreate The Best Day Ever, Mateo and Ivy are in favor. It goes south pretty quickly when they arrive in Boston and they discover Boney Mahoney's murdered body--in Lara's art studio.
Lies and secrets and more lies all pile up until the three teens are in *way* over their heads. Plenty of red herrings and twists kept me guessing until the end. And what a great ending! There's got to be a sequel. It would be too cruel if there wasn't.
