Chloe’s sleepovers were the best because her mom had the best snacks. Double Stuf Oreos, Cheetos, Hershey’s Kisses, our favorite Cheerwine soft drink… anything amazing you could think of was in their pantry. And she always made us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. I mean, I liked my friends too, obviously, but when given a choice of sleepover houses, Chloe’s would always win.

“Yes! Oh my gosh! Tell us everything,” Ben said in a high-pitched voice, mocking us, coming over to see what was going on.

I punched him in the arm.

“Iris rode to school with Merit McDonald this morning,” Jessica said, eyes wide. “Can you even?”

“I can’t even,” Ben said, again mockingly.

The first bell rang, warning us that it was time to get to class. “See you at lunch!” I called to my friends. Ben and I walked inside together, to Honors English. We were reading Little Women, and it might have been the best book I had ever read in my entire life.

“So what’s that about?” Ben asked.

“Well…” I started. “It’s kind of a long story, but my mom and I are living at this awesome beach house—just temporarily, of course—with Merit’s family and this other family.”

He stopped and put his arm out. “Wait. You’re living at the mommune?”

I laughed. “Ben, come on. Yes, okay. We’re living at the mommune.”

“Blink twice if you’re in danger.”

I slapped him lightly on the arm. “It wasn’t like we had a lot of choices. We literally can’t get to any of our money or our house or anything. Alice is really nice.”

“Is it true that you have to do a share-your-feelings ritual at dinner? And yoga with the sunrise?”

Honestly, neither of those things sounded that bad to me. And at the couple of dinners I had been to there so far, all we did was talk about the best part of our day, something we were grateful for, and something we wanted the group’s advice on. Sure, it was a little weird. But it was also kind of great, you know? Like this big family I would never have gotten otherwise.

“And sacrifice virgins on the full moon?”

I laughed at that one. “Ben, it’s totally fine. Although the meals are vegan.”

Ben made a gagging sound.

“No, you won’t believe how good a cook Merit’s mom is,” I said. “She’s, like, next-level. You have to come over sometime to have her cooking.”

He smiled at me. “You name the time. I’ll be there.” Then he held up Little Women. “So, do you like this?”

“I think it is magic. The sisters. The family. The love and the bond between them.”

“I have sisters, and it’s basically a lot of screaming and clothes stealing.”