“Which is a travesty I’ll honestly never get over. Anyway, who cares? She made herself look stupid today. Everyone knows you’re the one with class.”

“I know, I shouldn’t mind,” Brooke said, looking down at her hands. “Usually I wouldn’t.”

That was true. She was practically the human version of a Care Bear. “What’s up? You okay?”

Her face softened. “Yeah, yeah, totally. Just, argh, stressing about this stupid essay.”

I burst out laughing. “You still haven’t done it?”

She groaned and tipped backward. “Not even halfway!”

“What about those essay-help sessions they run in the library after school? Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s Thursdays, right? Go today.”

“I can’t, Darcy, I have work tonight.”

“Can’t you call in sick?”

Brooke rolled her eyes back so far I could only see the whites, her eyelashes fluttering. “Negative. It’s the launch of a hyped palette today, we’re expecting a full house. They had to roster on five more of us to be safe. They low-key hinted that if anyone skips for any reason other than a coma, we might as well not come back.”

“Harsh. All that over a palette?”

“It’s pressed pigment,” Brooke said, like that somehow explained everything.

“Oh, right, pressed pigment, of course.”

“I have to work Saturday and Sunday, too. How am I going to get this done?”

“Do you want me to come over and help?”

She straightened and gave me an apologetic smile. “Darc, I love you, I do, but I want to get a good grade.”

Laughing even harder, I pretended to double over in pain. “Ouch! Ouch!”

Brooke started giggling now, too. “Oh no, that came out so much harsher than I meant it to.”

“Tell me how you really feel next time.”

A movement in the doorway caught my eye, and the spell between us was broken. Brooke seemed to have noticed it at the same time, because we sobered up and turned as one.

Raina hovered in the doorway, looking hesitant. “I think I dropped … my phone.”

We watched silently as she stalked by us to the semicircle. Sure enough, her iPhone, cased in a leather wallet, lay on the floor by one of the chair legs. The silence was getting louder by the second, but it had gone on too long to break it. It must have been obvious I was irked by Raina’s presence. The moment she’d interrupted had felt special.

Not so special it couldn’t be shattered, though, apparently.

The closer it came to my meeting with Brougham, the more nervous I felt.