Mackenzie rested her hand on Lily’s. “Me too, Lil. You guys are my best friends. I’m so glad we got stuck together as dormmates. Let’s never lose touch, okay?”

“Promise,” Robin said, adding her hand to the pile.

“Girl power and forever friends. We’ll be like the Spice Girls—only spicier.” Lily winked.

“The Spicier Girls?” Mackenzie parroted with a contagious laugh.

“That’s right, we’re the Spicier Girls. I’ll be Adventure Spice, Robin can be Homemaker Spice, and Mackenzie’s Dr. Spice.”

“Dr. Spice?” Mackenzie raised a skeptical flaxen eyebrow.

“Because you’re super smart and majoring in science,” Lily explained. “Together we’ll rule the world.”

The girls giggled as Cute Waiter Guy carried the pizza to their booth and slid it onto the table.

“My friend thinks you’re cute”—Lily adjusted the name tag on his uniform for a better look—“Geoffrey F. You should ask her out.” Lily pointed to Robin, whose cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

The boy flashed a cocksure smirk. “I don’t need to ask. I just take.”

Lily glared up at him with shrewd eyes almost the color of coal. “Then you can just take your ass elsewhere. No one messes with the Spicier Girls.” Lily flung an arm around Mackenzie while Robin hid her blushing face behind her hands and auburn bangs.

As he left, Robin peeked between her fingers. “God, you’re embarrassing. I can do my own asking out, thankyouverymuch. Why do I put up with you?”

“Because you luuuurve me.” Lily beamed at her two best friends, the sisters she never had but had always wished for. “We gotta stick together, right, girls? You know I’ll always have your backs.”

“And we’ve always got yours. Until death do us part.” Mackenzie pulled the trio into a group hug, arms linked, foreheads touching, as they burst into self-deprecating chuckles.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Mackenzie said, producing three colorful cords from her pocket. “I made these friendship bracelets—one for each of us.” She passed the macramé charms out, and each girl fastened the delicate metal clip.

Robin traced the threads with one finger. “Fits perfect. And it’s gorgeous. Thanks, Mac. You’re a creative genius.”

Typically, she deflected the compliment with a wallflower’s diffidence. “I’ve got an idea. Everyone repeat after me.” Mackenzie bounced in her seat, a happy dance, as poetry effortlessly flowed from her lips:

“With this bracelet I do vow

To these two girls forever bound.

Through life and love, through thick and thin

Until that day when death will win.”

That night was the beginning of an era. The inauguration of a lifelong sisterhood, of shared dreams and tears and secrets and lies that would one day unravel their friendship to its core.

Chapter 3

Mackenzie

NINE DAYS AGO