And what could be truer in life than that? Skyla was going somewhere, and Marianne wasn’t.

5

AFTER SCHOOL MARIANNE SAW that Lillian had sent her a video. It was of a girl with the bottom of her head shaved. She was playing guitar on the bleachers, surrounded by a small crowd. Underneath it Lillian wrote, see? harper.

Did high schoolers really sit around jamming together? Awesome.

did you request hotel california yet, Marianne wrote back.

hahaha not yet. school go ok?

Marianne wished Lillian meant how were things with her friends, like she always meant when she asked Lillian about school. But she knew that Lillian meant “How are your classes? Will you pass? Did you turn in homework? Did you even do your homework? Will you be alright, or do I have to deal with a problem sister forever?”

it was great, Marianne texted. i actually improved so much they said they think i can skip right to college. I was thinking id go to brown. thats a school right?

Marianne knew Lillian wanted to go to Brown one day.

but i told them i wanted to go to periwinkle instead, Marianne kept on writing. get it? its a color joke.

When Lillian didn’t respond, Marianne wrote, just invite harper to your frickin book club what is wrong with you.

After a few minutes, during which Lillian was surely living her exciting high school life and not paying attention to her little sister’s texts, Lillian wrote back: gtg. swimming then the meal charity stuff. its just you & mom for dinner. dads in the pit this week. lu.

lu too sis.

The next afternoon, after a school day that had felt never-ending, Vi began practice by writing a schedule on the whiteboard. It reminded Marianne so much of her mom that she almost made the joke that she felt at home. But no one would get it.

Mr. Garcia explained that, as Vi had “adopted the mantle of leadership in the sudden absence of Ms. Schuler,” she would run one practice a week.

Mr. Garcia, wearing one of his fun ties that day—neon green with purple polka dots—stood in front of an enormous poster that read, “Everyone is welcome here!” surrounded by the word “welcome” in a couple dozen languages.

“Today as you study, remember…” he told them. “Hitting the buzzer quickly is extremely important. If a team had encyclopedic knowledge, that would be the only purpose for practice. It would be akin to track practice—speed being the only concern. However!” and he lifted a finger in the air. “No teams have encyclopedic knowledge. Therefore…”

“I think Remington is pretty close to it,” Dan muttered.

“They know everything,” Nina agreed. “They really do.”

“No team has encyclopedic knowledge,” Mr. Garcia repeated.

He was so … proper. If Marianne was in charge she’d respond, “Remington has nothin’ on us, guys! Come on! Let’s kick some Remington rear!”

“Therefore, our concentration is always on what?” he prompted them.

“Developing our specialties,” Nina, Dan, and Vi responded in a monotone chorus.