Miley rolled her eyes at Hannah. “Whatevs, just trying to help my bitches out, but if my help’s not wanted, then lots of luck, ladies…” She stopped for a moment, but then couldn’t help herself and went in for the kill shot. “I just don’t know how you could take him back after what he did! I mean I know you love him, but we all know he’s gonna do it again. My mom always says: once a cheater, always a cheater.”

Lolly remained calm even though she had told her friend earlier that morning she didn’t want to hear any more of her Steven bashing, but Miley was obsessed with her alpha status, which meant she had to have the last word. Right now, however, Lolly just didn’t want to get into it. It was important to keep at least one area of her life running smoothly, and since her home life was currently tension-filled she really needed her school life to stay chill.

But that didn’t mean she was going to share with Miley that she’d crossed the Rubicon with Steven and gone from virgitarian to carni-whore. What she was going to do was make sure she was as good in bed as any bf-sexting ho-bag from the South Bronx, if not better. So in preparation for Valentine’s Day, Lolly hid in her closet when she should have been doing homework (although couldn’t this be called homework?), put on her new gold Beats headphones, and typed the words “best blow job ever” into the search bar.

VIII

Steven’s dad had called him from Singapore and asked him to deliver his Valentine’s Day gift for his mother to the apartment. Well, “asked” was the wrong word; Steven’s father didn’t ask things from his only son, he demanded them. Steven, who couldn’t say no to his father, promised he would, but he knew the only way he could do it and not be late for his rendezvous with Lolly at 2 P.M. at the St. Regis was if he ran his father’s errand at lunch. So, Steven had Van Cleef & Arpels messenger his father’s gift to his school and then picked it up before leaving for the day.

It never once occurred to Steven that he should text his mom before showing up at the house, because, why would he? When he walked in his front door, he noticed a pair of size-thirteen limited edition Big Baller Brand sneakers by the door. Thinking about it later, Steven wondered why the shoes didn’t give him pause but for some reason he had just assumed they belonged to one of the many workmen who were installing the new cherry wood bookshelves in the library. This made no sense though, because Steven knew the designer kicks retailed for six hundred dollars at Barneys.