Darcy forced herself to stop remembering and finally fell asleep. In the morning, she dreaded the thought of going to school and seeing Tarah. Darcy pondered different ways of handling the problem. Finally, when she walked into class, she just sat beside Tarah and said briskly, “Hi. You said your boyfriend could drive us to the tidal pool. When could he do that?”

Tarah was sketching in her notebook. To Darcy’s surprise, she was drawing pretty horses prancing across the pages. “Saturday afternoon,” Tarah said, without looking up.

“That’d be good,” Darcy replied, still staring at the sketches. “I didn’t know you drew stuff. ”

“I do lots of things you don’t know about,” Tarah said in a testy voice.

“Those are good drawings,” Darcy said.

“Why you bein’ so nice, girl?” Tarah demanded.

“I’m not. I just—”

“My Mama says when folks who used to look down their noses at you start bein’ nice, look out! They butter you up, then they stick you in the oven!” Tarah said.

“That’s the kind of thing my Aunt Charlotte would say,” Darcy blurted out. “She’s suspicious of everybody. She has a good job and she’s saving her money and she means to be the only one spending any. And she lives alone to make sure of that. ”

Tarah was silent for a moment, as if she was surprised at how honest Darcy was being. “I wouldn’t want to live by myself,” she said. “It’d be too lonely. ”

“My grandma is the opposite of Aunt Charlotte. She says it’s worth it to have friends even if once in a while somebody does you wrong. She says love is worth it, even when it hurts. ” Darcy could not believe she was sharing something so personal with Tarah. She had never shared family stuff with anyone—not even Brisana.

For lunch that day, Darcy and Brisana met at their usual spot. They liked it under an oak tree where it was shady and secluded. “Poor Darcy,” Brisana said as she pried open her container of yogurt. “How can you stand working with that dumb fat girl?”

Darcy wished Brisana would not make fun of Tarah, but she kept her thoughts to herself. “I’m making the best of it. ”

“Ms. Reed stuck me with Lori Samson. What a fool! And she has that terrible case of zits too! I think Ms. Reed resents pretty girls because she’s so plain-looking. Can you imagine what she looked like when she was a teenager?” Brisana rocked back laughing.

“Cooper Hodden is driving me and Tarah to the tidal pool on Saturday,” Darcy said.

“Oh Darcy! You’re riding with that loser?” Brisana cried, almost dropping her yogurt. “I’d never ride with him. I mean, Cooper is just the kind of fool who would date somebody like Tarah Carson!”