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Ahh, vanilla. Just the way I like it.

“Thanks, Sof. You have no idea how much I needed this this morning,” I said, grinning at her. “But you know you don’t have to bring me coffee every morning. I can always grab something from the caf.”

“I know, but the coffee cart doesn’t even make lattes, and I think what they do make might actually be toxic. For real,” she said conspiratorially. Then she smiled and took a sip of her own drink.

“Okay, but only if it’s not too much of a hassle,” I said.

“I’m already getting mine anyway, so it’s no biggie,” she said sweetly. This might have been true, but I was pretty sure that even if Sofia hated coffee, she’d still pick some up for me. She was sweet like that. Whereas Bethany or Trish never did anything unless they got something in return, Sofia really was that nice. This was partly why I’d insisted on pulling her into our little circle. We needed someone pure and good to balance out the rest of us.

“So, what are we talking about this morning?” I asked. As I began to strut across the quad, everyone fell into step behind me.

“Sarah Forrester,” Bethany said animatedly. “You know how she was at Peter Frick’s party this weekend? You won’t believe what she did after you left. I still can’t believe you left early, B-T-dubs. It was the party of the year!”

“I’m sure it was,” I said with a smile. The thing was, every party was the party of the year to Bethany. She was sort of a party whore, if you know what I mean. She thought she’d just die if she missed one. But that’s why she was our little gossip queen. And she prided herself on this fact. Her dream was to one day be a host on one of those Hollywood gossip shows. “You know my rule about parties. You make your appearance and then leave people wanting more. Besides, nothing good happens after midnight. Case in point: Sarah. What happened, anyway?”

Bethany hushed her tone to invoke a little drama in her retelling. The girl loved a captive audience. And as much as I tried to stay away from the scandalous side of Astor High, I had to admit that I was drawn to her little updates. And as president of the senior class, I had to be aware of what was going on at my school—er, AHS. That’s just good leadership.

“So, you know how Sarah and Josh broke up last week?” I nodded. “Well, when Sarah showed up at Peter’s party, she didn’t realize that Josh had already moved on—until she walked in on him and Kara full-on making out in the corner of the living room.”

“Uh-oh,” I said, already feeling bad for Sarah. She and Josh had been together for over a year, and they hadn’t even been broken up five minutes before he jumped on another girl? Nobody deserved that. Especially from someone who’d supposedly loved them.

Ugh. That’s the reason I don’t date high school boys. Well, that and the fact that none of them could handle me.

“Uh-oh’s right. As soon as Sarah saw them, she walked over and poured her beer on them both, causing a major scene. It was like one of those bad shows where the wrestlers all talk smack and stuff, just minus the chair throwing,” she said. “Anyway, so after she stopped yelling at him, she disappeared into the kitchen and proceeded to get totally sloshed.”

“Poor Sarah,” I said, shaking my head sadly. “What does she weigh? Like a buck? A buck five soaking wet? And I don’t think I’ve ever seen her drink, let alone drunk.”

“Well, none of us have seen her quite like she was on Friday,” Trisha chimed in sarcastically.

“Hey, this is my story, thank you very much,” Bethany snapped at Trish. The two of them were constantly bickering and I found myself having to be their mediator on a regular basis. Most of the time, it was because Trisha was pushing Bethany’s buttons by encroaching on her territory. But that was Trish. She liked to stir things up. This was good when she was on your side, not so great when she wasn’t.

Bethany smoothed down her blond hair and regained her composure before she continued, but not before I caught Trish rolling her eyes. “So then a drunkity-drunk-drunk Sarah decided she was going to get back at Josh by doing a little striptease dance on a table in the living room, and then she made out with some guy on the baseball team. Lucky for her, Josh left before she threw up in the potted plant.”

“It was pretty hilarious.” Trish snorted.

A broken heart and humiliation? I couldn’t see anything funny about that.

“Cut her a little slack,” I said, tapping my perfectly manicured fingernail on the top of my coffee cup. “We’ve all done stupid things under the influence of love and alcohol. Or do I need to remind you of that time a few summers ago at the pier, Trish?”

Trish’s smile faded into a frown and she instantly looked at the ground. I knew that would shut her up pretty fast. The last thing she’d want was the rest of our crew finding out about her own most embarrassing moment ever. However, we both knew it was an empty threat. I’d never divulge something so humiliating and hurtful about someone.

What she didn’t know was that this particular incident had saved our friendship.

Because of her attitude, people at school were quick to think Trisha was an ice queen. And admittedly, I’d thought the same thing at first. I wasn’t sure anything could penetrate her bitchy exterior and was wary to have someone like that around me.

But then I found that she could have her heart broken just like the rest of us. And she had. Holding her that day as she bawled her eyes out had reminded me that she actually cared very deeply about people—even if she didn’t always show it. Trish looked at her emotions as a weakness when in reality they were an asset. Our feelings remind us that we’re alive. That we’re human. It’s what connects us all.

The silence began to grow uncomfortable, but before I could say anything else, Sofia came to the rescue. “Um, Hadley? Don’t tell me that’s another new outfit. It’s totally gorge!” Sofia stopped me in the middle of the hallway to admire the clothes I’d meticulously picked out that morning.

She was always so good at deflection. It was another thing I loved about her. She was like me in that way. In fact, she was a lot like me. Maybe that’s why I connected with her so much. She was the only sophomore among us, and if I had to leave the school in someone’s hands after I graduated, I’d want it to be someone like me. Fair, commanding, but friendly. Sofia was all of those, which made her a perfect number two.

“What, this?” I asked nonchalantly as I looked down at my outfit and then placed my hands on my hips as if I were posing on the red carpet. The dress I had on was black with slashes of white, as if someone had cut straight through the material and exposed the lining. The top of the dress fell flat across my chest, showing just enough cleavage to leave something to the imagination. My heels matched my bloodred leather jacket, giving my outfit the perfect mix of naughty and nice. To top it off, my lips were stained a beautiful shade of berry, which complimented my ivory skin and dark chocolate-colored locks.

“I may have gone shopping this weekend,” I said coyly. In reality, I’d simply done a glamour spell that allowed me to make certain outfits take on the look of others. This one was straight off the runway in Milan. Why wear last week’s clothes when you could wear them before they were available to the masses?

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear the same outfit twice,” Bethany said, narrowing her eyes at me suspiciously. “And I pride myself in memorizing things like that. I can remember just about every outfit a person wears on any given day.”

“Oh, yeah? What was I wearing last Tuesday?” Trish challenged.

“Black halter, Seven jeans, ballet flats, and a bomber jacket,” Bethany answered without missing a beat.