Shanice chirped, “I say a fashion show.”

Mya rocked back in her chair, her phone in a two-hand grip, only halfway with us. “What’s a fashion show got to do with purity?”

“About as much as a dance number,” Shanice fired back.

Helena and Ralph and Bobby laughed. I found none of this funny.

Kiera spoke without looking up. “I’ve been texting with Sister Vanessa and she suggested we be proactive. She’s expecting us to impress. So, whatever we settle on, that’s where the bar is set.”

Jameer gave a wicked eye roll. “Total freedom to control our message. Y’all got ideas?”

Everybody spoke at once, and I only caught snippets of phrases. Purity comedy routine. Purity choir concert. The only thing anyone agreed on was purity.

With everyone trying to talk over everyone else, the competing voices grew into a loud dull roar, a library no-no. The tattooed librarian from last night was back, her eyes dark and bloodshot, giving us a dirty look through the study room window. Jameer clapped his hands together once, a thunder crack that made me jump in my seat.

“Stop.” He squeezed the word through clenched teeth. The group complied. “We start on paper. We take a half hour, everyone makes a list of ideas they like, then we go through and pick the best ones. Narrow down from there.”

Kiera tapped her phone. “Excellent plan. I’m setting a timer.”

Mom and Dad had spoken. Everyone except me, Jameer, and Kiera tugged spiral notebooks or loose-leaf from the garden of school bags planted under the table and got to work.

Jameer retrieved a fancy-looking brown leather journal from his bag for his own brainstorming. Kiera, though, brought the book she’d been reading from her lap—the Jacqueline Woodson novel she’d gravitated to—and splayed it on the table like she planned to keep her focus there and only participate in this activity at the supervisory level. Essentially, she was Tyrell counting the Cra-Burgers at FISHto’s.

I signaled her with a hand wave. Her eyebrows arched high, waiting.

“Talk to you a minute?”

All the girls looked up, then quickly zeroed in on their papers when they noticed us noticing. Kiera gave me a tight nod, led the way, bringing the book with her, as if she didn’t trust it to be there when she returned.

Outside of the study room, away from the windows and prying purity eyes, I said, “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Should I have told her I was hurt? Disappointed? Expecting something different than a purity class reunion? I motioned to the book in her hand. “You’re checking it out today?”

“Sure. It won’t blow my cover now.”

“So it was all good when you and Jameer got in last night? No problems?”

“We told our parents it was a nice night so we decided to walk. They let us come out of the house today, so it seems like it worked.”

“Cool.” The awkwardness was thick between us. I said, “I’m sorry about—”