I can’t even believe what I’m hearing. Never in my life would I have imagined Shannon Marie Salter to have an insecure bone in her entire perfect body. “You really thought I would ditch you for a guy? After everything?”

“Chase wasn’t just a guy, Lar. He’s the guy.”

“Okay, but you’re the Shannon,” I counter, raking a hand through my short blond curls. “I barely leave the house without you. I will always need you, and not for your clothing or makeup.”

She picks up the cutlery, opens the cabinet I’d been reaching for, and pulls out the plates. “That used to be true, but things have changed. You seemed like you didn’t need me anymore, and then I met Jasmine in AP French, and she seemed like she might, so.”

“Shan, you will always be of the utmost importance. You are the person who got me over being embarrassed to buy tampons in public. You’ve been getting my ass to school on time since the day you got your license. When I got that horrifying zit right before picture day sophomore year, you spent like an hour making sure I didn’t look like a human pizza. But there’s more to being friends than being needed. You don’t need to, like, provide a service, okay? Well, other than eyeliner application. I’m really reliant on that.”

“Deal,” she says, her lips curving at the corners.

I grab a bottle of Diet Coke from the fridge and bump it closed with my hip. “You were really straight-up trying to replace me, huh?”

“It sounds so bitchy when you put it that way.”

“Yeah, because it was bitchy, Shan. That’s why you’re apologizing, remember?”

She sighs heavily. “Fine. Yes. It was bitchy. I was bitchy. But for what it’s worth, Jasmine’s cool. I think you’d really like her.”

It’s just … too much. I have to put down the soda. I have to put down everything because I have started cracking up and I feel like I will never stop. It’s so loud that Gia and Kiki come rushing in to see what they’re missing.

“What the hell?” Kiki looks back and forth between me, who’s laughing her ass off, and Shannon, who’s looking at me like I am deranged.

When I finally manage to gather myself, I look Kiki right in the eyes and say, “Shannon thinks I would like Jasmine if only I got to know her.”

“Oh.” Kiki bites her lip so hard to keep from laughing that I think she’s going to draw blood, and I lose it all over again.

“What the hell is going on here?” Gia asks Shannon, who just shakes her head.