“Oh, yeah. Since, like, fifth grade. And even then, it’s not like I really needed to come out. My room was a shrine to Wonder Woman and I don’t even read comics.” She grins. “Wasn’t tough for my mom and stepdad to read between the lines.”

“And Taylor?”

“Pretty much the same. They introduced themselves with their pronouns the instant we met, so I’ve never known them to ID as anything else.”

Well, that was lovely for the two of them, but not particularly helpful for me.

Or maybe it is. Maybe this is making clear that I’m blowing things way out of proportion. If being bi means always knowing, well, that isn’t me. The only girls on my bedroom walls are my friends, and I’m certainly not into any of them that way.

That settles it. I’m straight. Just like I always thought.

I wait for the feeling of a weight lifting from my shoulders, but it never comes.

Chapter Seventeen

NOW

“Who has the highlighter?”

I pass the compact to Gia and get back to focusing on my eyebrows, which, despite having been waxed the day before, look like they could use another pluck or twelve. Or maybe they’re overplucked. I can’t keep up with eyebrow fashion.

“The liquid, not the powder,” Gia says impatiently, and I shrug. Homecoming has arrived way too fast, and despite having a great dress with an awesomely poufy tulle skirt and enough sequins in the bodice to put the night sky to shame, I’m having an impossible time getting excited for the primping portion of the evening.

“Here, here.” Kiki hands her the bottle and shoves me gently out of the way so she can examine her earring options in the mirror. “Which ones do you guys like better?”

I scrutinize her lobes. Kiki almost never swaps out the pearl studs her parents gave her for her seventeenth birthday, so it takes a second to adjust to anything sparkly in them. “The dangly ones are definitely more interesting, but the diamond studs are classy.”

“Okay, so do I wanna be interesting or classy?” she asks, turning her head from side to side.

“You’re always interesting,” Shannon says sweetly. “Maybe try classy for once.”

The rest of us crack up at her burn, including Kiki. “Better not mess with what’s already working for me,” she says, taking out the diamond and handing it to Shannon. “Classy is boring.”