“Love shack, baby, love shack!” Stuart chorused as he watched Mandy sway from side to side with Roy Clarke, throwing her head back and arching her pale, supple neck. She looked healthier and sexier than she ever had in her life, healthier and sexier even than during her modeling days in high school. The pot, the good food they’d been eating, the vitamins she was taking, the sleep she was getting—it was working.

“Damn. Our school MetroCards are no good after eight p.m.”

The walk back to the subway was kind of a comedown. Sublime had let Liam and Ryan keep the clothing, but they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves by actually wearing it. Instead, they turned the hoodie and parka inside out and tied them around their waists.

“I have a twenty,” Liam offered.

“You should be rich now,” Ryan said. “You’re a famous model.”

But since they weren’t real models, they would never be paid.

“At least we could maybe put it on our college applications,” Ryan said. “I saved a picture of my tattoo on my phone. So if there’s a college question like ‘What did you do for whatever cause?’ I can show the picture and say I was, like, an activist.”

Liam hadn’t thought about this. “That’s pretty genius.”

“Maybe we’ll be in the news,” Ryan added. “Which would be somewhat cool, but also sort of embarrassing. I’m sure my mom will have something rude to say about it.”

“Mine too.” Liam wondered if his mom would be impressed or angry. Either way, she would definitely have something to say.

“What a fucking waste,” a boy their age complained as he pushed his way past them.

The sidewalks of Houston Street were teeming with boys. The drop had never happened. It was like the anti-drop.

“I don’t even want this anymore,” Ryan said, tugging on the sleeves of the expensive parka at they walked. “I think I’m over Sublime. It’s too commercial.”

“Yeah,” Liam said, disappointed. He’d finally scored a Sublime hoodie only to find out that it was too commercial?

“Whatever. I can probably sell it for twice what they’re asking,” Ryan said.

Someone grabbed Liam by the shoulders and shook him hard. It was Bruce. He tugged on the hoodie tied around Liam’s waist. “Hey, did you losers actually get stuff? That’s totally unfair.”

“Hey.” Liam pulled the hoodie out of Bruce’s hands.

Ryan tightened the knot on the baby-blue Sublime parka. “That was lame,” he said. Liam knew he’d said it just so Bruce would stop bothering them. “We came all this way for nothing.”

“But I saw you guys go in,” Bruce said. “I was standing there for like five hours, and you guys just walked right in.”

“No,” Ryan said. He glanced at Liam.

“We tried. They knew we were full of shit,” Liam said vaguely.