I lift my head from the pillow and prop my chin in my hand. “I still can’t believe she did that. Like, why?”

“Probably because she’s a nice, normal human being,” Lex says. “You act like she’s the human equivalent of a dumpster fire.”

“Well, she kind of is,” I mutter, even though I’m not so sure about that fact anymore.

“You know you hate her totally irrationally, right?”

I glare at her illusion. “It’s not totally irrational.”

“Um, hello, yes it is. Do you remember how you decided you didn’t like her?”

I let out an angry huff. “Um, yeah. Because all the seniors in choir freshman year called me Ana Two.” I sit up and scooch myself backward to sit cross-legged at the head of my bed. “It was so annoying. They all said we were the same person. And she made that comment about how it made sense that we were both called Ana instead of Shay, because I was just copying her.”

“I kind of thought that was funny in context.”

Ugh, it still makes me mad to think about it. The choir seniors all liked Ana more than me too. They used to joke around with her about how serious she was all the time.

“So you decided to not like Ana because other people said stuff about you guys, and then she made one comment you didn’t like.” That’s a radically oversimplified version of what happened, but Lex continues on before I can protest. “Are you guys going to be friends now?”

I groan, slumping against the wall. “I don’t know. We’re still, like, rivals for the scholarship.”

“Oh my god, Shay, that’s not a good reason to hate her. Give her a chance. Maybe she’ll be cool,” Lex says. She’s gone back to waving her bow for emphasis.

“Why are you on her side? You don’t even like her,” I say indignantly.

“Lady, I’ve, like, never even talked to her. I only hated her because you did,” Lex says. “Anyway, you should probably have more friends besides me. I won’t be around forever.”

My heart sinks at her words, but I put on a light, joking tone. “Right. You’re so desperate to leave me that you’re applying to non-licensing colleges!”

There’s silence from her end, and she turns away from her phone. I watch her fiddle with her ponytail, wishing I could see her face. “Yup,” she says eventually. “Don’t turn into a hermit after I’m gone.”

My conversation with Lex is still rolling around in my mind the next day when I get to school. Maybe Lex is right, and I was being totally irrational about Ana. But even so, I’m not sure I want to be friends with her.