From a distance a girl in his pack of friends shot her a hard look. Elle recognized her as one of those girls with a name that matched her hair color like Amber, Ginger, or Ashley. Elle pulled down her dress and drew together the knobby knees she hated. Speed’s head towered over the others. He winked at her when he thought no one was looking. It made all the difference. Sophia pinched her butt and said, “Ooohh, he wants you bad. Are you gonna do it later?”

Elle said, “Totally. Hard-core barely legal baby.” They could joke about it because they had made a pact with each other to only do it at the same time. Elle was certain that it was years away anyway.

The girls rushed back to Elle’s house so she could pack an overnight bag to spend the night at Sophia’s again. When they got home, Elle’s mom answered the door and said, “Good, you’re right in time for dinner.”

Elle told her mom that they weren’t hungry and were just dropping by to get stuff for school tomorrow. Her mother replied, “Exactly, school tomorrow is precisely why you need to stay home tonight.”

The girls followed her mom down the hallway and Elle pleaded to her mom’s back, “Please, just tonight.”

Her mom said, “What are you a vagabond now? Did I raise some sort of tramp?”

Her mom told them to go set the table. She added, “Your sister stayed home all weekend to help me around the house. We made an entire stock pot of bò kho yesterday.”

Elle said, “Mom, I can’t help it if Michelle doesn’t have a life.” Even though Michelle was close in age to Elle and Sophia, it was as if she was a galaxy away. Michelle was a little jock who lived for her softball team and didn’t even like boys yet.

Sophia slapped Elle’s shoulder. “I told you, we shouldn’t have come here.” She pretended that she was annoyed and was forced to stay. Yet during dinner, Sophia kept saying yum this and yummy that and said, “Wow, this is better than restaurant food.” She helped herself to two servings of the shrimp salad and two servings of the shaking beef dish. Elle’s mom was pleased to feed Sophia. She kept turning to her daughters to say, “Your cousin is such a healthy eater. You should be more like her.”

After dinner in her bedroom, Elle said, “This sucks. Should I just call him? He’s going to think I’m a flake. I can’t believe my luck.” She threw herself on the mattress with a thump. “Scoot over.”