That's the deal Indigo Summer makes with her boyfriend, Marcus Carter. That way, they can both enjoy their vacations, no guilt, no questions asked. Not that Indigo isn't worried when Marcus heads to Texas to spend time with his estranged mother—kissing Marcus goodbye is hard enough, and who knows who'll be kissing him in Houston? But Indigo barely has time to think about her temporarily ex-boyfriend by the time she gets to Chicago. She's hanging out with her cool cousin, who lives alone at seventeen and has her own life—a life Indigo thought she wanted, until things get way out of hand. She needs Marcus, but he has his own thing going on…and his mother wants him to stay with her permanently.

Maybe it's time for a new pact.