“Meet my new cochair!” Gabby crowed. “Em, this is Skylar. She’s new to Ascension—just started school on Monday. Sky, this is Em. The best of the best!”
Em wasn’t really in the mood to hang out with someone she didn’t know, but she was supposed to be making up with Gabby, and really, she should be thankful that this girl was taking over the dance committee. One less thing for Em to worry about. So she plopped down on the floor, where Skylar sat with an array of nail polishes in front of her.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said with as much warmth as she could muster. Skylar’s hair, she noticed, was in rollers, just like the ones Gabby used. Uh-oh—someone had a girl crush. Not surprising, really. Gabby had always had followers.
“Babe,” Gabby said, reaching over as she scooched across the couch. “Aren’t you cold? Where is your coat? It’s March!” She rubbed Em’s arm, which was bare. As though she’d gotten dressed in a dream, Em looked down and saw for the first time that she was wearing just a T-shirt. No sweater, no jacket. Is this what she’d been wearing at home? Had her mom seen her leave the house that way?
“Oh . . . I must have left it in the car,” Em said with a note of confusion in her voice. “I’ve been kind of absentminded recently,” she added, as much to herself as to Gabby and Skylar.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed,” Gabby said. But her tone wasn’t mean this time. There was a combination of amusement and concern in it. “Want something to drink? An Irish coffee with some egg rolls? That’ll warm you up.” With that, she was bounding into the kitchen with the bag of Chinese food, leaving Em with this new girl, who had barely said a word.
“So . . .” Em leaned back onto her hands, stretching her toes out in front of her. “Pedicures?”
“Yeah,” Skylar chirped. Her voice sounded strained. “I’m going to do this one,” Skylar said, holding up a fuchsia color.
A classic Gabby color, Em noted. “Nice,” she said, trying to seem enthusiastic. She picked up a bottle of dark red that appealed to her. It was so dark it was almost black. Em hadn’t spent more than ten minutes on her personal appearance in the last month—and it showed. It couldn’t hurt to at least pretend that she was a sixteen-year-old girl (who would be seventeen in just a few months).
Gabby came back into the room with a tray of Irish coffees.
“Here we go,” she said, distributing them to Em and Skylar. “Chinese food is waiting in the kitchen for when we’re done. I hope these pedis last until my pajama party.”
The first sip of coffee burnt her throat, but Em didn’t care. She gulped it down. It was weird, she really didn’t feel that cold on the outside—she never would have noticed how underdressed she was if Gabby hadn’t said anything. But there was this undeniable pit of coldness inside her. She didn’t know if it was anxiety or sickness or those little seeds the Furies had told her to swallow, but she couldn’t shake the strange feeling.
“So, soak, then scrub, then lotion?” she asked as the girls assembled their home-pedicure station.
“Precisely,” Gabby said. Em began to relax. Gabby’s favorite pop music Pandora station played in the background, the room smelled like flowery lotion, and warm whiskey was spreading in her belly. She felt almost normal.
“So, Skylar . . . I’m always curious how our guys hold up against non-Mainers,” Gabby said with a giggle. “Who’s hotter? Alabama boys or Maine guys? Who do you think is the hottest guy at Ascension so far?”
Em watched Skylar’s face blanch and flush before transforming into an embarrassed smile. “Oh, I don’t know,” Skylar said, focusing intently on her big toe all of a sudden.
“There must be someone,” Gabby pushed. “You can totally tell us. I’m very good at keeping secrets, and Em is in outer space and will probably forget what you say in a few minutes anyway.” She shot Em a grin.
Skylar looked back and forth between Em and Gabby, as though sizing up their trustworthiness. Then she spilled, all in one breath: “IguessIthinkPierceiskindofcute.”
“Pierce Travers?” Gabby squealed. “Really? Okay, well, first of all, duh. He’s definitely hot for a sophomore. And secondly, we could totally make that happen. Don’t you think, Em?”
Em stalled, wiping her ankle with a washcloth. It was obvious to her that Pierce had a crush on Gabby.
“It’s definitely a possibility,” Em said slowly. “I don’t really know him, but he seems like a sweet guy. You know him pretty well, right, Gabs?”
Gabby ignored Em’s question. “Oh my god, cuteness! Well, okay, we’ll get to work.” She sounded like she was planning a tactical maneuver. Which, Em guessed, she was. “He’s totally invited to my pj party, by the way. But none of the boys are allowed to sleep over.”