Alice rears back, gawking at me like I’ve grown scales. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

I blink. “I decided not to go through with that group. So, I’m not going—”

“Hi, yes, hello. I regret to inform you that you’ve had a temporary lapse in judgment. These things happen, and I’m going to try not to make you feel too badly about it. But you’re going to that gala.”

I groan. “Alice, I don’t want to go.”

“You are going to that gala, Matty, even if I have to force you into one of Charlotte’s dresses!” Alice says, her eyes gone flinty behind her frames.

I sigh and fold up the greasy newspaper as neatly as I can, then toss it onto my tray. “You don’t understand.”

Alice crosses her arms over her chest. “I understand you’ve suddenly stopped talking to a hottie-hot boy who adores you, and you won’t explain why, and it sounds like he did nothing wrong. I understand you have an invitation to a black-tie event that you seem to want to toss in the trash. And I understand that I begged my parents to let me stay on campus this weekend just so I could help you get ready, and honestly, Bree, we were way too nerdy in high school for me to let you throw this opportunity away!”

I gape at her. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Sixteen years of Disney movies that I know you watched just as much as I did, so what’s really going on here?”

“I don’t want to go!” I’m loud enough that Alice flinches, and the two girls sitting beside us turn their heads in our direction. I pull my bag out from underneath the table and start zipping it up. “And I need to get to class.”

Alice watches me, shaking her head. “This ain’t it, Matty.”

“What’s not it?”

“This.” She waves her hand at me. “A couple weeks ago you were all over this group, texting this Nick kid all the time, going to therapy, staying out late. And this week all of that’s gone? You get back to the room earlier than I do? Spend more time studying than I do? Read the school newspaper? And I know you’re not sleeping.” She shakes her head again. “This ain’t it.”

“You get mad at me for not taking school seriously enough, and now I’m taking it too seriously?” I scoff. “A couple weeks ago I came home crying, too. Is that what you want?”

“Of course not. But…This week you’re a zombie. You know what you need?”

I stand up and sigh. “You gonna say Jesus?”

“No.” She points at me. “You need homeostasis.”

“Did you just… biology me?”

“Sure did.”