“She’s right,” Lillian snapped, like she was annoyed with Marianne, not Harper. “She said I’m a little pitchy. Not the right tone mixed with her voice or something.” Lillian raised a hand and shook it as if erasing the whole conversation with her palm. “Doesn’t matter. She asked Juliana instead, and that’s fine.”

“What? Well then Harper is, like, a fool because you, Lillian Ruth, are good at everything. It’s like she hasn’t even met you.” Marianne blew on her fingers and put out her other hand.

Lillian shot up, sitting straight as an icicle. “I am not good at everything.”

“Okay…” Marianne said, deflating. “Geez.”

“I just hate when you say that because then it’s like … It takes away all the work I put into it,” Lillian said, softening.

Marianne blew a hair out of her eye. “Huh. I can see that,” she said.

Lillian sighed. Her shoulders relaxed. “I wanted to be good at it.” She started painting Marianne’s other hand, shaking her head. “But it’s fine.”

“You can sing for fun, right? It doesn’t have to be with a band, or even be good, right? I love it when you sing,” Marianne told her gently, worrying she’d get snapped at again.

But Lillian just said, “Totally. You’re so smart, Marianne Bess.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty much Ken Jennings,” Marianne said, thinking of a Jeopardy! champ Dan had told her about.

“Who?” Lillian asked before adding, “Doesn’t matter. Mar, you don’t have to be an A student to be smart.”

“Ha,” Marianne said flatly. “That’s a lot like what Mom said. You’re her clone.”

Lillian groaned dramatically. “You know there’s a whole world between acing a test and failing it, right? And you can shoot for whatever your best is? Or what’s possible for you? Like, in the pool”—Lillian leaned toward Marianne, switching to swim team mode with her whole self—“your greatest competitor is really you. You want to beat your own time most of all. Do you really not get that?”

Marianne shrugged.

“I swear, you’re, like, infuriating,” Lillian said. Finishing up their nails, she told her, “The topcoat is in the bathroom. Come on.”

They headed down the hall and Marianne sat on the sink counter while Lillian knelt on a stool in front of her.

“Honestly, Mar?” Lillian said as she applied the glossy layer.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t care that much about the music part.” She bit her bottom lip.

“What do you mean? You love music.”

“Sort of,” Lillian said. “It’s fun…”

Marianne waited for her to say more, but it took a few fingers.

“What I cared about was being around Harper,” Lillian confessed finally.

“Oh.” Marianne didn’t know what to say. “Like, you’re into her?”

Lillian nodded.

“Did you ever get her to join Literary Lionesses?” Marianne blew on her nails.

Lillian shook her head. “You called me a wuss and you were right.” She slumped on the stool.

“I do not understand you,” Marianne admitted. “You’re perfect. Why are you so freaked out by this girl?”