wearing this dark purple blouse with a wide neck that exposed her collar bone. All I wanted to do was kiss that collar bone. Trevor was right. She did look hot. “Hey,” I said. “Hey.” I felt like every inch of my skin was on fire. “A toast,” Chloe’s mother announced. She lifted her champagne glass, and we all followed. Even the eighth graders at the table had champagne. Cristal was not considered alcohol on the crest. “To a happy holiday season!” Mrs. Appleby announced. “And to us!” “To us!” everyone chorused. We always toasted us. Just to remind ourselves that there were people out there who weren’ t part of us. “Having fun?” I asked as a waiter in a tuxedo placed a dish of risotto in front of me. My stomach grumbled. There was always one good thing about Sunday dinners: The food kicked ass. Everyone started to eat, and the room got loud. “Oh, so much,” Ally answered sarcastically . “You?” “Totally.” I chewed and swallowed. “So. Where’ s your boyfriend tonight?” Her cheeks turned crimson. “He has a gig.” “A gig?” I laughed. “He’ s in a band?” “Yeah. And they’re pretty good, actually . Why do you care?” “I don’t. Just making small talk,” I said with a smile. She smiled back. This was going well. “So, I’m thinking . . . after this we should go somewhere,” I whispered. She ducked her head. The blush de epened. “Go somewhere?” “Yeah. You and me.” “Are you forgetting about the previously mentioned boyfriend?” she asked. I grinned . “No. What does he have to do with anything? All I want to do is talk.” She scof fed and tore of f a piece of her roll. “Y eah, right.” I sat back, faking offense. So innocent. “Why? What do you think I want to do?” She looked at me and rolled her eyes. “Shut up.” “No, really . Tell me. Is there something you want to do other than talk?”
Ally shoved a huge piece of bread in her mouth. I’d been right about one thing. Sunday dinners were way more fun with her there. I took another bite of my risotto and looked across the table for the first time. Shannen was glaring right at me as if I’d just stomped on her foot. Crap. I glanced quickly away . “So, Gray , how are things at the hospital?” Mrs. Kirkpatrick asked. “They’re fantastic, actually ,” Dr. Nathanson r eplied. “We’ve just been given the go-ahead on the new cancer wing.” “That’s fabulous news!” Mrs. Appleby remarked. “I’m so glad my little fund-raiser this fall was a success.” “It certainly was,” Dr. Nathanson r eplied, tipping his glass toward her. “Thank you again for sponsorin g it. And thank you for inviting us tonight. It’s an honor .” “It’s our honor to have you,” Mrs. Appleby r eplied. “And I’m so glad you brought along our old friend.” She smiled at Ally’s mother. “I would have invited you myself, Melanie, but I wasn’ t sure you’d be interested.” I felt Ally tense up next to me, but her mother beamed. “Oh, please, Clarice. Of course I’m interested. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you girls.” She grinned at Mrs. Moore, who gave her what I thought was an encouraging look, and at Faith and Hammond’ s moms, too. My mother looked kind of pale as she touched her napkin to her mouth and cleared her throat. “Yes, Melanie, they’ve missed you, too,” she said. “I can’t tell you how often they talk about you. It’ s always Melanie this and Melanie that.” Ally’s mom seriously looked as if she was going to shit with happiness. “It’s true,” Mrs. Kirkpatrick said. “We’ve especially missed your seven- layer chocolate cake.” Ally smiled as her mom beamed. “That was always a crowdpleaser ,” Mrs. Ryan said. “Very much so,” Mrs. Appleby said. “Y ou should think about making this a weekly thing again.” My skin tingled. Ally at every Sunday dinner? That would be the greatest thing ever. And if she were here every week, my friends would have to get used to her again. And then, who knew? “Clarice, I would love that,” Mrs. R yan said happily .
“Good.” Then Mrs. Appleby sat back in her chair, and something in her eyes shifted. “In fact, perhaps you should host next month.” Ally’s smile faded. “Oh, what a fabulous idea!” my mother trilled, catching on to the joke. “But don’t you live in the Orchard View? Would you even be able to squeeze us all into that tiny place?” Ally’s mother went ashen. I wanted to launch myself over the table and wring my mom’s neck. How could she say that? What the hell did she have against Ally’s mother? They didn’t even know each other. Suddenly she seemed no better to me than Faith and Shannen when they were shredding Ally for no reason. Just for fun. Just to win each other’s approvi ng laughs. I hated her in that moment. Her and all her fakeness. “Ladies,” Shannen’s mother scolded. Across the way, Shannen’ s dad let out a loud burp. “Excuse me,” he said loudly . “Nonsense, Brendan,” Mrs. Appleby said, barely stifling a laugh. “It’ s the highest form of flattery .” A few people laughed under their breath. There was a long silence as Mrs. Moore blushed purple. Ally’s mother leaned behind Todd’s back to whisper somethi ng to Dr. Nathanson. He nodded and pushed his chair away from the table. “Thank you for having us, Clarice, but I think we should be going,” he said, standing. “Oh, Gray, please,” Mrs. Appleby said, standing as well. “Is that really necessary?” “Yes, I believe it is,” he r eplied. Good for him. He took Ally’s mother’s hand as she got up as well. She turned away from the table, her head down. “Ally? Quinn?” Dr . Nathanson said. Quinn’s face was on fire. She looked like she was about to cry, probably out of embarrassment, but she got up. Ally didn’t move. I looked at her. The mortification was written all over her face. So blatant I felt it in my gut. Suddenly I didn’t care about Shannen’ s glare or the fact that Chloe and Hammond and Faith were watching. Or my parents. I leaned toward her ear . “Don’t listen to them,” I said. “They’re just a bunch of sad old bitches with nothing better to do.”
Ally looked at me, her eyes shining. I wanted to kill every person in the room who’d ever made her feel bad. But then she pressed her lips together and shoved herself up from the table. As she followed her mom toward the door, the room was dead silent. “Thanks for coming,” Faith said sarcastically under her breath. Some of the kids giggled. Chloe shot her a scornful look, but Faith just rolled her eyes. Ally paused, turned around, and faced the table. Dozens of unsympathetic faces stared back at her . “No, thank you . . . all of you, really, for a lovely evening,” she said pointedly . And then she was gone.
After spending the night listening to my mother crying into her pillow, the last thing I was up for on Monday morning was a full day of school. But if she was going to rally and go, I was going to rally and go. I just hoped none of those Crestie bitches said a word to me in the hall. Otherwis e, there was going to be blood. “I can’t believe it,” I ranted to David and Annie as we walked down the main hallway . “I can’t believe I ever cared about being their friend again. Clearly everyone on the crest is pure evil.” “I don’t know. Gray’s pretty cool,” David said, shedding his jacket. “And Quinn seemed nice at dinner that night—” Annie and I turned, and we both gave him a look that could have stopped a charging bull in its tracks. He lifted his hands in surrender . “Sorry. You’re right. Pure evil.” “Thank you.” Not that I didn’t think Gray was cool. Especially after he’d been so chivalrous at the Applebys’ party, going against the Crestie pack and getting my mom out of there after she was attacked. I just didn’t feel like being contradicted in all my fury . We k ept walking. “All I know is, after the obnoxious presentation their moms put on last night, I never want to be friends with them again.” At that moment, we came around the corner and stopped, bumping into each other one by one like an overdone comedy routine. Shannen, Chloe, and Faith were all standing right next to my locker . “Uh-oh. This is not going to be pretty,” Annie said under her breath. She whipped out her camera phone and hit record. “Unbelievable,” I said through my teeth. I shouldered Shannen out of the way and spun the lock on my locker door. Annie and David hung back on the other side of the hallway , Annie moving back and forth as she tried to get the best angle on Shannen’ s face. “Well, good morning to you, too,” Shannen said.