But how could she not have talked about that phone call she’d overheard? There was no way she could have ignored it, although maybe she should have found a way to have the conversation without shrieking.

“Your mom cares, that’s all.”

Charlie admired her nails, spreading her fingers until her hand looked like a starfish. “Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you. She cares about herself. Everything has to be the way she wants it. I might add a glitter strip to this. What do you think?”

“She cares about you, you dumbass.” Izzy scrunched the empty can in her hands, her knuckles turning white with the force of it. “She says all that stuff because she cares.”

Charlie rolled her eyes. “You have no idea. You don’t have any of this shit to deal with—” Her voice tailed off as she realized, too late, what she’d said.

“Yeah, I’m so lucky to have lost my mom. Makes life so much easier.” Izzy didn’t recognize her own voice. It was as high-pitched and shrill as the school fire alarm. If her friends had any sense they’d evacuate, but they didn’t. They sat there gaping at her. “I bet you envy me. No one to tell me what to do. No one to tell me to turn my music down or wear my skirt longer. I mean it’s great, really. I can’t tell you how cool it is.”

Charlie glanced at Avery. Avery turned pink and gave a tiny shake of her head, embarrassed and defensive at the same time.

Izzy was furious with herself. This was the second time in as many days that she’d lost it. What was happening to her?

Panicking because now she was going to have to have a conversation she didn’t want, she slid off the bed and walked to the window.

“Ignore me. I’m tired, that’s all.”

“Sorry, Izz.” Avery spoke in a small voice. “We weren’t thinking. You know we didn’t mean it that way. We were just being normal around you, that’s all. You said you got sick of people tiptoeing. Treating you weirdly, like a freak, you know?”

She knew.

Izzy stared out the window, watching as Charlie’s mother climbed into the car. Her mother had hated driving. She’d taken cabs everywhere. Everyone teased her because when she reversed out of the drive she often went across the corner of the grass, leaving deep gouges, stripes of brown across green. Izzy missed seeing those tire marks. Just one of those small details you didn’t even notice until a person had gone.