“That’s because we’re good eggs, too, Lolls. Takes one to know one.” Anna sat up and put her arms around the passenger seat, giving Lolly a friendly hug. “Hey, Steven told me you have your heart set on the sixties room, and since Bea gave me first dibs, I’ll be sure to snag it and then I’ll take whatever number you guys get, okay?”

Lolly was so overcome by Anna’s show of generosity, she teared up. Not only that, she found it so comforting to know Steven had been listening to her when she voiced her desire for that room in particular. His putting in the extra effort to make sure she got what she wanted delighted her. All Lolly’s paranoid thoughts vanished and she let out a deep sigh of relief.

Ava Max’s “Sweet but Psycho” bumped on the satellite radio but before Steven could change the station, Lolly and Anna both squealed, “OMG! I love this song!” right at the very same time. The two of them laughed, and Steven called jinx, then turned up the volume and smiled, happy that his girlfriend and his sister were getting along so famously. Steven was driving away from his troubles, looking forward to one of Bea’s infamous parties, observing the speed limit because of the eight ball he had in his hip pocket.

This night away was going to be what the doctor ordered for all three of them.

XXI

The sixteen teenagers were seated at a long table with three Christofle silver candelabras set in the center. Beatrice sat at the head of the table. On her right were Anna; Vronsky; her best most loyal BFF, Adaka, who happened to be actual Nigerian royalty; Murf; Daler and Rowney, fresh off a flight from Milan; and Addison and her twin brother, Benjamin, the teen stars of the biggest Disney Channel show since Hannah Montana, who were in town from LA. On Beatrice’s left were Steven; Lolly; Rooster, the Wick’s star quarterback; Brayton, a ballerina from Stockholm and the daughter of Beatrice’s mom’s best friend; LiviX2, a pop star duo whose real names were Olivia and Livingston, second cousins who recently inked their first record deal and were playing at Coachella in a few months; and last but not least, Dandy Zander, who went by DandyZ, Beatrice’s gay CrossFit-junkie bestie.

An A-list such as this only worked because no one had to compete with anyone else. Each and every one of them had won the lottery, except for Murf, but that was what Bea liked about having her cousin’s old baseball buddy in the mix. She kept an eye on him to make sure he didn’t appear to be uncomfortable, but he was seemingly at ease in the present company.