“Ack, that’s terrible.”
We locked in a mutual hug of relief. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed her, this snarky, acidic friend of mine. It felt like years since we’d had those few moments alone in the stairwell. This feeling wasn’t helped by the fact that since I’d last seen her, she’d grown a full head of mahogany hair.
“I was starting to worry you didn’t exist.” I gently tugged her hair and felt it give. Not extensions, a wig. “Or are you Audra’s evil twin?”
“Evil twin?” She laughed. “Audra is the evil twin.”
The Parents didn’t look up when I entered the dining room. Audra set out another plate.
“If I’d known one of the girls was coming for dinner, I would have ordered more food,” the Mother said.
I txted Audra.
moi One of the girls. I wonder if she even knows my name.
“Kyle can have my dinner, seeing as I still don’t eat meat.”
Audra slid a plump lamb chop onto my plate. Being with my Doc again felt like having a life-sustaining IV reinserted into my arm; being back around Audra felt just as mollifying.
audy The Father knows your name. He told me last night at din that he voted with the board to suspend that “Kyla girl” I was friends with.
moi Wait, your dad is on the board?
audy Yup. Thanks for telling me about your suspension btw.
I looked across at him. He was calmly cutting a lamb chop. I had the impulse to swipe his knife and jab him in the hand.
moi Did you at least defend me? Or tell him not to do it?
audy What do you think?
Audra’s eyes narrowed, but then crinkled into a smile.
audy I’m so happy to see you.
On the wall screen behind her, the news was about the oil exec and the US senator who Woofer footage caught with prostitutes in Dubai. The story had broken a week ago. It was developing into a mess of government and foreign kickbacks, falsified property rights on remaining Arab oil reserves, and so many unacceptable errors in morality and judgment that I was surprised our government functioned at all. A spokesperson for something called Awareness for a Safe America was calling for the senator to step down. Finally.
Audra followed my eyes and said, “I’m sick of the news. Wall: Wallpaper.”
Instantly, the screen behind her was a paisley print.
“Audra,” the Father sighed. “I was listening to that. Wall: News.”
The screen flashed back. The news cycle had moved on to a story about the skyrocketing price of bottled water.
“Wall: Wallpaper.” Audra grinned.
You wouldn’t know unless you were looking at her, but Audra wasn’t being bratty; she was trying to get a little attention. She was also trying to cheer me up. Only the Father didn’t look up.
“Audra, stop being childish.”
The humor was instantly gone from my best friend’s expression.
“Has it escaped your attention that I am a child?”
“And here I thought you were an independent eighteen-year-old. Guess we’d better take back the platinum Amex then. Wall: News.”
“I haven’t used your stupid credit card in months.”
No. That couldn’t be possible. Audra was dropping loads of money—the Elites, the expensive clothes, the museum memberships, H-double-L, my boxing lessons. Just the other day she’d come to school carrying a bag that she insisted was a knockoff, but when I Sourced it, my Doc said it sold at Barneys.com for three grand. No way could she afford that without her parents’ money.
Audra pushed away from the table, her eyes bright with tears. “Enjoy the news.”
She stormed out of the room.
All this time, I’d been wondering what I’d done to motivate AnyLies to make the video. I’d assumed it had something to do with competition (Jessie). Or vengeance (Ailey or Brittany). Or distanced dislike (anonymous you-tell-me). But what if it wasn’t as complicated as that?
Thanks to EToday, my video had now been watched over eight million times. If the person who posted it made even just a penny off each view thanks to the ads, that was at least eighty grand. What if this had only ever been about money?
“Someone’s having a dramatic day,” the Mother sighed.
I slid away from the table without thanking the Parents for dinner. I wished I could shut off my brain. Who loved Audra better than me and the girls? We were all she had. I couldn’t think these things about her. I also couldn’t stop thinking them.
“Kyle,” the Mother said, as I was nearly out the dining room door. Though she continued to stare at her Doc, her light complexion burned red. “If you ever have children, hope for boys.”
On the landing outside her bedroom, I tried Audra’s doorknob only to find it locked.
“It’s only me, Audy; can I come in?”
“No,” Audra wailed.
On the other side of the door, I heard her check the lock.
“Are you mad at me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then let me in, silly. I hate seeing you miserable. I found a new baby panda vid for you.”
“I can’t right now. I’m not decent. Kylie, all I want to do is take a long bath. I’ll Face you in a few, okay?”
Out on the stoop, I had a brilliant idea that would hopefully not only cheer Audra up but remind me that the only title she held in my life was best friend. If my plan also distracted me from spending the rest of the evening thinking about Mac’s date then we all equaled winners.
Group txting all the girls, I wrote that I’d discovered important info about my hater that afternoon and invited them all to an impromptu school-night sleepover at the Cheng house. As I waited for their replies, I couldn’t help noticing that the recycling bin in front of the Rhodes brownstone was filled with cardboard from various tech purchases. As Sharma’s and Fawn’s affirmative responses came back, I looked up at Audra’s window.
She would hate me for this.
Screw it.
I hurried down her steps and rifled through the boxes.
All the shipping labels were addressed to a Ms. Audra Rhodes. I was about to stop—this didn’t prove anything—when something caught my eye. There, wedged down between the boxes for a new camera lens and a backup drive, was the slim cardboard packaging for a GoFetch drive.
My Doc buzzed with Audra’s txt tone.
I whirled around and looked up at her window. It was dark.
audy Catch your hater-themed sleepover? Wouldn’t dream of missing it.