Glenn pulls Cora tight against his side in a half hug. She’s so petite next to him, like she could hop right into his shirt pocket.

Piper thanks him and then announces she has a surprise. She tells us all to watch her thighs closely, where after a few seconds of intense armrest grabbing, Piper lifts one thigh upward like she’s marching in place.

She beams up at me as her leg flops back to the seat.

“You may just get your standing O yet.”

Glenn carries Piper to the car, and Cora drives us to the party, talking nonstop about the size of the houses, which inflate into mansions as we get farther from our neighborhood. Carports give way to four-car garages, and pickup trucks become BMWs until we reach Kenzie’s house, a colossal modern atrocity with sharp angles built into a hill overlooking the lights of the valley.

Cora reminds us for the one-billionth time that we can call her at any time and she’ll be here ASAP to pick us up.

I bump Piper’s chair up the steep gravel path toward the front door, which is twice as tall as I am. She picks at the cuff of her compression garments, fraying it more each time she fidgets.

“Are you nervous?” I ask.

“Of course not. I just don’t usually wear these ones,” she says, tugging the arm of her garments down before putting her hands in her lap.

Her fingers find the frayed edge again.

“Okay. Maybe a little nervous.”

My own stomach tangles into knots when we reach the door. Music blares from inside, and I smooth my hair back one more time, hoping I’m not committing the party foul of the century by showing up as a disfigured man.

“Hey.” Piper snaps her fingers at me. The daffodil green of the dress matches her eyes. “We can do this. It’s a party. It’s supposed to be fun.”

I laugh. “Right. Just two carefree crippled girls out on the town. What could possibly go wrong?”

Piper laughs with me as she reaches for the doorbell.

“Let’s find out, shall we?”

28

Kenzie answers the door as some sort of slutty feline.

She stands with her hand on her hip for a second, her long tail extending from her skintight leopard-print leotard. The fuzzy ears on her head wiggle as she shakes her head and finger in unison at Piper.

“Uh-uh. No way. Drama cast and crew only, and you made it crystal clear that you want nothing to do with us.”

“She’s with me,” I say, stronger than I feel.

Kenzie looks me up and down.

“What is on your face?”

I try to stand straighter despite the rising desire to run after Cora’s car and go home, where girls dressed as sexy cats with razor-sharp claws can’t get me.

“My costume.”

Piper jumps in.