I look down at the beige carpeting. Rennie’s red toenails are facing the shared wall between us.

“Who?” I say.

“I’m sure you’ve seen her, Lil. Our school’s not that big. Anyway, a bunch of the junior boys were saying that she’s sooooo hot.” The way Rennie drags out the “so,” I know she’s being sarcastic. “They’re all going to vote for her for homecoming court. But she’s not that pretty, if you ask me. Definitely not homecoming-caliber pretty. I bet her hair isn’t even really blond. I bet she dyes it.”

Even though I’m glad, obviously, that Rennie hasn’t noticed anything, I bristle at what she’s saying. Mary’s pretty. A little weird, sure. But she is pretty. And it makes me glad to know that other people, boys especially, see it too. The girl hasn’t had the easiest go of things. I still don’t know exactly what it was that Reeve did to her, but it clearly screwed her up big-time.

I hear the rustle of material as Rennie pulls a dress over her head. “Ooh! This one’s cute. You ready to model?” The door of her dressing room swings open and then closed.

I hurry up and get the dress on. I don’t even like it. The color’s not flattering on me. But I step out of the dressing room anyway.

Rennie’s standing on the box, up on her tiptoes, modeling in the three-way mirror. I see her eyes move off her reflection and onto me. “Champagne doesn’t work for you,” she announces.

“I know,” I say. I sit down in one of the overstuffed chairs near the mirror, because I suddenly don’t want to try on dresses anymore.

“This one is hot, but I don’t know.” Her voice sounds sad. “I wish I’d tried it on last.”

The dress is tight, silver and covered in sparkles. It’s exactly what Rennie said she wanted from the get-go. I swear Rennie always gets what she wants. “What are you talking about?” I say.

“Because it’s only the first one I’ve tried on, and I feel like, if I bought it, I’d be settling, you know? The first dress is never the perfect dress.”

I don’t answer her. I just look at my nails.

“Lillia!” she whines. “What do you think? Is this the one?”

I purse my lips, pretend to consider it, and then sigh, “Yeah, sure. I guess,” even though the dress does look amazing on her.

Rennie huffs, disappointed with my apathy. She looks back at the mirror and smiles again. She knows how good she looks. She doesn’t need to hear it from me. What I say, what I think, doesn’t matter to her at all.

She turns around and checks out her butt. “I guess what I should be asking is, ‘Will Reeve like it?’ His opinion matters the most, as my date.”

I sit up straight. “Wait. Aren’t we going in a big group?” That’s how it’s always been, since our freshman year. There’s no couples. No one asks anyone to go specifically with them. For prom maybe, but not homecoming. We just roll in a big group.

“Not anymore. Ash is going with Derek, PJ’s taking that cute sophomore girl Allie. And I’m going with Reeve.”

“You asked him already?” When did all this happen? When did everyone pair off without telling me?

“Not yet. I mean, it’s a given that he’ll say yes.” Rennie messes with her strapless bra, trying to create more cle**age. “I’m telling you, Lil. It’s going to be our night. He’ll be looking hot, I’ll be looking hot. You saw what happened during spin the bottle. Fireworks.”

I feel myself sweating. “Then, who am I going to go with?”

She hops down from the box and says, “Go with Lindy,” before disappearing back into her dressing room.

Oh my God. Is she serious? This is just so Rennie, to not even consider the fact that Nadia has hooked up with Alex, which she totally knows and still hasn’t admitted to me! It’s unbelievably insensitive. And there’s no way I’m going to go to homecoming with Alex if there is even a remote possibility that he likes me. Especially not after the things I did to him. That would just be way too awkward.

“I’m not going with Alex,” I say. “I’ll just ride with you guys in the limo.”

From the other side of the door, I hear her say, “We’re all going to be paired up. It would be weird if you were alone, just tagging along with no date. Besides, Alex doesn’t have a date yet either. It’s going to look like you guys are going as a couple anyway.”

I honestly don’t care what it looks like. “I said no,” I say, my voice rising.

“Fine, whatevs. I was just looking out for you. By all means, do whatever your little heart desires.”

I go back into the dressing room and force myself to keep trying on the dresses I picked. The last one is maybe cute. It’s black, which I hadn’t considered, but the cut is just what I wanted. Strapless, with a sharp sweetheart neckline, and a short poufy skirt. It’s sophisticated. I come out of the dressing room and ask Rennie what she thinks. “With peachy-nude heels?” I ask.

Rennie taps her finger against her lips. Considering. It used to be that I would wait for Rennie to decide before I could. Whether or not something was good, I mean.

“I think I’m going to get it,” I say. I’ll wear my hair up, I decide. I step off the platform and go back into the dressing room.

I slide the dress off. And then put it back on the hanger. It’s expensive, more expensive than I thought for a plain black dress. I’m standing there, in my underwear, wondering if my mom will kill me, when I see Rennie’s hand waving underneath the wall.

“Hey, let me try that last dress on.”

You already found your dress, I want to say. And also you can’t afford it.

Instead I pass my dress under the door, change back into my clothes, and wait while Rennie tries it on.

I hate that she looks good in it too. I decide right then and there that I’m definitely buying it.

“This is cute,” she says, admiring herself. “Which one do you like best on me, Lil?”

I want to scream. But I don’t. Of course I don’t. Instead I change the subject. “Hey, did you hear that Melanie Renfro is, like, hard-core campaigning for homecoming queen? I saw her talking to the track guys.”

Rennie rolls her eyes. “I’m not worried about Melanie Renfro. I’m telling you, Lil. I’ve got this in the bag.” She cocks her head to the side, and then nods her head decisively. “The silver one. That’s a homecoming queen’s dress.”

It hits me. The best way to get back at Rennie.

*    *    *

The whole ferry ride home, I can’t wait to tell Kat that I’ve got the perfect plan for her revenge—we’ll find a way to keep Rennie from winning homecoming queen.

Once we get back to Jar Island, I’m more than ready for Rennie to drop me off. But instead she drives right past my block. I turn in my seat, and she says, “I’m going to swing by Alex’s place. I want to talk to Reeve about homecoming.”

“Right now? Can’t you take me home first?”

“No.” She puts a hand on her heart. “I’ve got this feeling like it needs to happen tonight. It’ll take, like, five minutes.”

Again. What I want doesn’t matter to her. “I’ll wait in the car.”

“Just come inside with me. Keep Alex company while I talk to Reeve.”

We park, and Rennie takes a minute to touch up her lip gloss. Her hand is shaking, she’s that nervous. I follow her into the pool house with my arms folded. I’m sure I don’t look happy, because I’m not. In fact, I’m hoping Reeve shoots her down.

Reeve and Alex are on the couch, playing video games. I guess what happened on the field is already old news. It’s funny. I don’t think boys even know how to hold a grudge. I’m sure Reeve denied he had anything to do with the jerseys or the song and Alex took his word for it. Hopefully, Alex won’t go looking for the person who did.

I stay near the door while Rennie walks up and stands right in front of the television. “Reevie,” she says sweetly. “Can I talk to you for a second, in private?”

Reeve tries to look past Rennie at the screen, and when he can’t, he pauses the game. “Of course.”

Rennie slides her arm through his and leads him off into Alex’s bedroom. “BRB, Lillia!”

Alex turns around and sees me. “Hey, Lillia.”

“Hey, Lindy.” I sit down on the far end of the sectional. Alex’s face is barely red anymore. I guess he finally stopped using that lotion. “Your skin looks a lot better.”

Alex turns so he’s facing me. “Rennie’s asking Reeve to homecoming, huh?”

Surprised, I say, “How did you know?”

“Well, because Ashlin asked Derek today. And I think PJ’s gonna bring some sophomore girl.” I notice that Alex is blushing. It’s coming up from his chest, creeping up his neck. “No one’s asked you yet, right?”

Oh, no. Oh, no. Rennie’s probably already told Alex to ask me! I quickly get up from the couch and walk over to the window. “God, I don’t understand why we can’t just go in a big group the way we always do. Why change things now? It’s so dumb. I mean, we’ll be hanging out together anyway.”

Alex comes over near to where I’m standing. Not too close, but close enough. He nods, like I’ve made a good point. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” But I can tell he’s disappointed.

Rennie pops out of the bedroom and hops her way over to the glass door I’m leaning against. Her cheeks are flushed, and her smile practically fills up her entire face. “Okay, Lil! Let’s go!” she sings.

Rennie always gets what she wants. But not this time. Not when it matters the most.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

KAT

I’M SITTING IN BED WATCHING A MOVIE ON MY LAPTOP when I hear the knock at my window. For one crazy second I think it could be Alex. Shep, who is curled up on a pile of my laundry, barely even lifts his head. Dumb dog. I hop off my bed and go to open it. It’s not Alex. It’s Lillia. “What the hell?” I say, heaving the window open. “I have a front door.”

She climbs inside, her cheeks pink. “It’s one in the morning,” she reminds me. “I didn’t want to wake up your dad. But I knew you’d still be awake.” Lillia’s got on a short puffer coat even though it’s barely cold outside. She gasps when she sees Shep. “Shep!”

Shep jumps up and bounds over to her. She bends down and hugs him and strokes his back and ears. “Shep, I missed you!”

“His breath probably stinks right now,” I say. “He just had a bone.”

Lillia ignores me. “Shep, you remember me! I can tell you do.” My dumb dog is drooling all over her, panting and wagging his tail.

She gives him one more pat and then walks right over to my dresser like she owns the place. “I remember this!” she exclaims, picking up the porcelain doll my mom gave me for my seventh birthday. “Her name is Nelly, right?”

Yeah, her name is Nelly. So what. I sit back down on my bed, my arms crossed. “What’s up?”

“Will you please close the window first? It’s cold.”

I want to tell her to see a damn doctor, because something is seriously wrong with her body temperature. But I need to be nicer, so I just do it.

“Thanks,” she says, and blows on her fingers. “So, I have an idea for how to get your revenge on Rennie. It’s perfect.”

I’m having major flashbacks, the way she keeps touching my stuff, picking up candles and sniffing them, winding up my jewelry music box. Lillia used to love poking around Rennie’s and my rooms when she came back for the summer. Like, she wanted to see what parts of our life she’d missed out on when her family left each school year.

She turns back around, a flash of gold dangling from her hand. “You still have it,” she says, her eyes wide and surprised. It’s that stupid key necklace she gave me the first day of school freshman year.

I leap up and snatch the necklace out of her hand. “Quit touching my shit,” I snarl.

“I’m just surprised you kept it,” Lillia says with a toss of her ponytail.

“Don’t flatter yourself. I just haven’t gotten around to pawning it yet,” I say, tossing it back into the jewelry box and slamming the top shut.

Under her breath Lillia says, “Since the ninth grade?”

*    *    *

Lillia’s mom called Rennie’s mom and asked for a playdate. A playdate, for God’s sakes. We were eleven years old, not six. Rennie’s mom said yes, and then Rennie begged me to come with her. She wanted us to ride our bikes over, so we could leave in case it was boring, but my mom said no, White Haven was too far away. Lillia’s house was on the other side of the island—only a ten-minute drive, but still. Our friends lived within walking distance; we ran in and out of each other’s houses all day long during the summer. Lillia’s house felt a world away.

That first day we played out in the pool for the afternoon. Rennie and I practiced swan dives and cannonballs while Lillia splashed around the shallow end and pretended to be a mermaid. Her mom brought her little sister, Nadia, out and she had swimmies on her arms. Her mom said, “I’m going to fix you girls a snack. I’ll be right back. Lillia, you watch your sister.” Not long after she went inside, Nadia floated too close to the deep end, and Lillia started to scream. Nadia got scared and burst into tears, so I quickly swam over and pushed her back to Lillia, who was practically crying too. She was, like, “Thank you so much.”