Part 4 (2/2)

”Well, if it's okay with your mom,” Jenny offered, getting up to put away the cereal boxes, ”I can drive you girls to the train tomorrow morning.”

”I'll ask,” I lied.

Roxie and I went back up to her room, and over the course of the day, I gave in little by little. I didn't put up that much of a fight, if I'm honest. I gave in when she said I could just go and hang out with her. I didn't have to get my picture taken at all if I didn't want to, and anyway, wouldn't it be better than being at school?

Honestly, there was no possible argument against that.

But I knew there was no way my parents would ever let me cut school to go with Roxie Green to have her picture taken. No matter how much my parents say it's important to stand by your friends, they don't completely mean it. Like, Mom and Jade's mom only smile tightly when they see each other now. They used to sit on a park bench and totally gossip all summer when we were little. So I knew I'd never win that argument on the merits. Anyway, they had been saying for my whole life that I should be less argumentative.

That's why I decided not to have the argument.

Also, they were having enough arguments without me. Since I hadn't gotten the baby monitor out of the study, I listened in when they were whispering at each other Sunday night. I couldn't hear the whole thing, but it was definitely about money. Mom was saying, ”I've got it under control, Jed,” and ”We really don't need the entire neighborhood buzzing about our business”; he kept murmuring to her, too, lots that I couldn't hear, but what I did hear him say was, ”I just think it's inappropriate to be spending that kind of money right now on a party for an eighth-grade graduation. It's obscene! And we can't, Claire. We can't.”

”Don't say we can't,” she snarled. ”I can certainly-”

”She's canceling,” he said. ”It's done.”

Then they were back to whispering, but that was enough. Obviously they were making Phoebe cancel her graduation party, poor thing. I wondered how Phoebe would deal.

Knowing her, she would just somehow turn it to her advantage and become even more popular.

Roxie texted me as I was drifting off to sleep that night that she had told her mother I had to drop off something first period and then they could pick me up at the corner down from school to go to the train. I texted back OK, OK, then placed my phone beside the baby monitor on my nightstand and stared at both things without blinking until my eyes burned. then placed my phone beside the baby monitor on my nightstand and stared at both things without blinking until my eyes burned.

I went to sleep to the lullaby of my parents' whispered arguments, and woke up before dawn, dreading the day.

6.

I GUESS GUESS I I WAS KIND OF WAS KIND OF a wreck in the morning waiting for the bus, because Quinn asked what was wrong with me in a way that made me think she somehow knew what I was planning to do. I swore her to secrecy and told her. a wreck in the morning waiting for the bus, because Quinn asked what was wrong with me in a way that made me think she somehow knew what I was planning to do. I swore her to secrecy and told her.

”You're cutting school?”

”Just this once,” I explained.

”Why? Perversity?”

”Maybe,” I said. ”If I knew what that word meant, I would tell you if that's the reason.”

Quinn rolled her eyes. ”It's like, being bad just for the sake of being bad.”

”Oh,” I said. ”No. Not perversity. Being bad just for the sake of being a good friend. Perfriendity.”

She shook her head, disappointed. ”Since when are you even friends with Roxie Green? Who cuts school to wander around the city and get her picture taken by G.o.d knows who? I don't think I like this girl.”

”Well, you don't have to,” I said.

”Think, Allison. You're taking a train and then a subway to G.o.d knows where without permission so some stranger can take pictures of you?”

”Roxie knows where, too,” I insisted. ”She's from there. Don't worry.”

Quinn opened her light blue eyes very wide. ”Are you an idiot or suicidal?”

”Neither,” I said. ”And I'm not getting MY picture taken, I told you. I'm just going with Roxie. I'll be back at school before the end of the day, so n.o.body will-You know what? Forget it. I shouldn't have told you-”

”You're an idiot,” she interrupted me. ”Just what Mom and Dad need right now is trouble from you again.”

”Don't tell them,” I warned her. ”You promised.”

”I won't! I have no intention of hurting them. But can't you just-Fine, whatever. Have fun.” She climbed up onto the bus ahead of me.

”Thanks,” I said to her back, just as sarcastically.

I sat with my knee bopping uncontrollably through first period, where I got a slip of paper at the end of the cla.s.s with the Fascist's crinkled purple writing on it: Excellent presentation. Thought-provoking. A.

I crumpled it in my hand as I left the cla.s.sroom and shoved it into my backpack. A? Fine, whatever. I headed toward the back door and, rounding a corner, almost slammed into Ms. Chen, the princ.i.p.al, who said, ”Let's see some smiles, students! Learning is exhilarating!”

I managed a smile for her, like, Excellent pep talk; my life is turned around now, Excellent pep talk; my life is turned around now, before I hurried down the stairs and out of there. Roxie and her mom were in the car at the bottom of the hill with the motor running and the radio on full blast. I slipped into the backseat and slumped down to make my getaway. before I hurried down the stairs and out of there. Roxie and her mom were in the car at the bottom of the hill with the motor running and the radio on full blast. I slipped into the backseat and slumped down to make my getaway.

”You're bringing your backpack?”

I thought of making up an excuse, but couldn't come up with one. ”I never go to my locker,” I admitted. ”I'm not even sure where it is, maybe over by the gym somewhere? I don't know. Anyway, I kind of forgot the combination by now.”

Roxie's mom cracked up, the same loud, barky laugh as Roxie. It was the kind of laugh that was hard to resist joining in on. ”That is excellent,” she said as we pulled into the train station. ”Lost your locker. I love it. Have fun!”

As she drove away, I said to Roxie, ”Your mom has the coolest voice. Like almost smoky.”

”She used to be a DJ, before she had me.”

”You can totally hear why,” I said. ”A DJ. That's so cool.”

”What about your mom?” Roxie asked, looking down the tracks for the train. ”What's she like? Typical suburban mom?”

”No. She's a hedge fund manager,” I said, and when Roxie looked blank about that, I explained, ”It's, like, with money. She's the smartest person I've ever met, the most beautiful, the most perfect.”

”Wow,” Roxie said. ”That must suck.”

I laughed, feeling a wave of surprising relief flood through me. ”It does,” I said as the train thundered into the station. ”n.o.body ever got that before. Including me, I think.”

Roxie shrugged. ”My mother used to be a total h.e.l.lion.”

”Really?” I asked. ”She seems so sweet.”

”Well, she nods too much, like my dad,” Roxie said. ”But yeah, she's pretty sweet.”

”I bet my mom would like her,” I said, and then shrugged because maybe that sounded like my mother was desperate for friends or something. Sometimes I could just slap myself.

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