EIGHT YEARS EARLIER

Jade is late.

That’s nothing new. At least, it’s nothing new lately. In the last year or two, my best friend has been constantly leaving me hanging.

This afternoon, I’ve been standing in front of our high school for the last twenty minutes and there is no sign of her anywhere. At first, there were kids all over, but it’s cleared out enough that I can verify that she is nowhere in sight.

Great.

Jade and I are supposed to be studying together today. I am absolutely drowning in Mr. Riordan’s trigonometry class, and Jade has always been better at math than me. I need this study session, because we’ve got our midterm soon, and I’m going to fail if I don’t start knowing a lot more trigonometry than I do now.

My phone vibrates in my jeans pocket. I pull it out and a text from my mom is waiting for me.

Home soon?

I peck out a text to her:

On my way. Jade is coming back with me to study.

Okay, see you soon. Love you.

I shove my phone back into my pocket, then I take a swig from my bottle of peach iced tea as I look around for Jade. My eyes wander over to

the fence that encloses the schoolyard. But Jade wouldn’t be there. That’s where all the after-school sports take place, and she’s never been an athlete. I can’t even imagine Jade Carpenter running laps around the yard. And she’s never been into athletic boys. She likes bad boys.

As I scan the length of the fence, I realize I’ve got company. Much to my surprise, a little girl is standing there in the grass. In fact, it’s the same little girl with blond curls who I saw over the weekend when we were at Ricardo’s. The one who told me to steal that sweater from the store.

Once again, the little girl is all alone. She seems even more out of place here than she did at Ricardo’s—standing outside a high school yard, wearing the same exact pink frilly dress she had on the other day with a matching pair of Mary Janes on her little feet. She notices me staring at her, and she flashes me that gap-toothed smile. I raise a hand in greeting, and she waves back.

Maybe she’s the sister of one of the students here. That would explain why she would be in Ricardo’s, if she were shopping with a big sister who left her alone. And again, they have left her alone here. I should make sure she’s okay.

“Amy!”

A sharp nail jabs me in my shoulder, and I whirl around. Jade has finally materialized, again wearing far too much makeup for our study session, as well as a short black skirt paired with ripped fishnet stockings. There’s a smell emanating from her that I can’t quite identify.

“Geez, what’s with you?” Jade rubs her slightly bloodshot eyes. “I was calling out your name, like, ten times!”

“I didn’t hear you.” I grab my backpack, which I had rested on the ground since it weighs about five metric tons. “I was worried about that little girl over there.”

She squints at me. “What little girl?”

I look over my shoulder, back at the yard. The little girl seems to have wandered away. Oh well—I’m sure she’s fine. “Never mind. Are you ready to study?”

The plan is to go to my house. We used to go to Jade’s house all the time, but for some reason, she’s gotten weird about letting me come over. It’s too bad, because Jade’s mom is way cooler than mine. First of all, she’s never home. There are usually no adults around at all. I’ve never met her dad before. I’m not even sure if Jade knows who he is—in the past, she’s

told me he’s in the military deployed overseas, an astronaut visiting the moon, and once that he died before she was born.

“I don’t feel like studying right now,” Jade says. “I’m all studied out.

Why don’t we hang out behind the school?”

It hits me now what that smell is emanating from Jade’s clothing. She’s been hanging out behind the school smoking pot with the stoner kids.

“Jade,” I say, “I seriously need to study.”

“Ugh, you are always studying.” Her voice takes on a whiny edge. “For once, why don’t we have some fun? You know, Steve Alcott said he thinks you’re cute.”

“If I don’t get a good grade on this test, I’m going to get like a C in math and my mom is going to kill me. And my college applications are going to be screwed.”

“So?”

“So you promised me we could study together and you would help me!” “And I will.”

“No. You’re not helping me at all.”

I look at Jade’s familiar face and wonder what happened to our friendship. She used to care about the same things I did. She didn’t just shrug her shoulders at the idea of getting a bad grade.

“You need to chill, Amy.” She rests a hand on my shoulder. “This will all work out. Trust me.”

“How? How will it all magically work out?”

Jade rolls her eyes. “Fine. Be that way. But I’m going to go hang out with fun people.”

“Jade…”

Before I can say another word, she’s marching away. So much for our study session. I guess I’ll have to muddle through it on my own.

I toss my now empty bottle of iced tea into a trash can and take one last look back at the yard, where that little girl was standing. I didn’t see any other kids or parents come by to pick her up, but I don’t see her anywhere. I crane my neck, searching the area around the school for that pink frilly dress and the blond curls but it’s like she vanished into thin air.

She must have left.