“Hey!” Fina says, picking up a book called The One and Only Ivan. “I love this one!”

“Oh! Me, too,” says Skyler, breaking into a toothy smile. “It’s my third time reading it.”

I hand her back her social studies book and a math worksheet. “Mr. Owens assigns a lot of homework, huh?”

“Yeah,” she says. “There’s way more homework here than at my last school. Or maybe that’s just seventh grade.”

“Maybe,” I say. “Hey, why did Ruby tell you to come talk to us?”

Skyler looks sheepish. “I told her I was, um, having a hard time making friends. And she just said you guys were really cool.”

So that’s why Skyler walked over here. Why she’s been staring at me. Not because of my patches or my boots. Because she wants to be friends.

Fina and I share another look.

“Well, even Ruby is right about something once in a while,” Fina says, grinning. “Where are you from?”

“Florida,” says Skyler.

The bell rings, and the three of us walk in together, swapping stories about our old schools. Fina is still hobbling a little. Her mom and dad took her to an urgent care place last night, and it turns out Madeline was right. She sprained her ankle but not very bad.

“What happened to your leg?” Skyler asks.

“It’s a long story,” Fina says.

“There’ll be lots of time to tell you later on,” I add.

It turns out Fina and I aren’t the only ones too distracted to pay attention in school today. In all my classes, everyone is talking about Thanksgiving break. At least some of the teachers are smart and decide to let us watch movies instead of actually trying to teach us stuff.

The one person who doesn’t seem excited about the long weekend is Edie. I steal glances at her table during lunch that day while Fina is telling Skyler about her plans to initiate her into the New Kids Brigade, which include an elaborate secret ceremony, apparently.

My eyes keep going back and forth between Edie—dragging her fork through her food, her eyes glued to the table—and Ruby, who is talking to one of the Graces.

Halfway through my tacos, Ruby catches me looking at her. For just a second, she holds my gaze. Then she gives me the tiniest nod and looks away. And I think that maybe her saying those things to Skyler was her way of apologizing to me. Of trying to tell me that she wishes she hadn’t done what she did.