Her hair was up and sprayed into a pouf of green. Instead of her usual coveralls she was wearing a black-and-green-checkered blouse and liquid-black leggings with boots that buckled up to the knee with acid-green clasps. Her lips were painted bright green to match the glitter around her eyes. She looked like what a cool alien would look like going to prom, in the nineties.

Not that I was there, in the nineties.

She looked really, really cool.

Berry was clearly overcome by how cool I looked. “Wow! Nice tux!”

“I mean! You look amazing.” I gawked. “Where did you get that shirt? Did you get that from Greenville?”

“It was my dad’s.” Berry shrugged. “He used to be cool. What can I say?”

“Your dad is clearly the best,” I marveled.

“You haven’t experienced the fashion marvel that is Harry Blythe,” Berry added. “You should see what he wears on his birthdays. It is. . .a whole thing.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” I rubbed my chin in exaggerated evaluation. “I mean, maybe I’m coming over to your house to raid your dad’s closet.”

“I’m sure he’d be thrilled.” Berry put her hands on her hips as she assessed. “But this, this really takes the cake. I’m sorry I underestimated the tux earlier. It is very cool.”

“Hey.” Without warning, a ripple of nervous ran through my body. “I’ve like really missed you.”

“Oh.” Berry looked at her boots. “Yeah. Well. I just, yeah.”

“Can we, like, I would love to hang out with you again?”

And then everything was slow motion as Berry looked up at me. With her big eyes and her freckled cheeks.

And I got it.

“Berry.” The name escaped from my lips.

How could I have missed it? This person who just showed up and was so amazing from the first moment? This secret-garden painter, asphalt rider, my friend, my superhero, had been my true true this whole time.

“Anyway. I know you’re waiting for your date.” Berry pointed at the door. “I should go in. Make an appearance.”

There was a series of sharp honks. I looked up to see Gilly’s hand waving out the window of a big black truck.

“Hey! Anne!” she called.

There was a slight metallic rattling of buckles as Berry disappeared. “Bye.”

And then it was like there was just this big empty space. A Berry-shaped space.

“Hey!” Gilly hobbled forward as her dad honked and roared off. “You’re here! Am I late?”

“No.” I couldn’t breathe. “Uh. I mean, no worries.”

Gilly’s hair was all pinned up with little flowery clips, and she was wearing a yellow dress with little yellow flowers on it, with a matching yellow sweater. Her cheeks were flush from the short walk from the truck, and she leaned on a crutch to wipe the sweat off her forehead. “Geez, these crutches make everything take forever.”