“Oh no, no way,” Emma said sarcastically. “Ryan only suggested that if I didn’t want my dad to hear about how I’d been hitting on the founder of Pulse to win ValleyStart that maybe I should consider changing the caption on my profile.”

Lucy’s jaw clenched. “She’s right. No matter what you said, Delia, he’d have talked his way out of it and then definitely have had you arrested. Probably thinks we were fishing. He’d never believe we could actually have something on him.” Lucy’s voice got sharper, angrier, and Delia realized just how much Lucy had been keeping inside all this time. “He thinks if he threatens us, we’ll back down.”

“Is he right?” Maddie asked.

“Do we want him to be?” Lucy said.

Delia let her eyes focus on each of them, then stepped back until she saw them together. The image was so much stronger.

“I don’t,” Delia said. “I wouldn’t do it alone, but with all of you . . . well, as my mom would say, the show must go on. She didn’t let childbirth stop her, so what’s the threat of a little jail time?”

Lucy sucked in her lower lip, moving forward to narrow the distance between them. “And who knows . . . first all-girls team to—”

“Win,” Delia said.

“Accessorize with handcuffs,” Maddie said.

“Kick Ryan Thompson in the bal—” Emma said, stopping when she laid eyes on Sadie. “Backside. In the backside.”

Sadie groaned. “I’m eleven, not five.”

They all drifted closer, forming a tight circle and leaning in.

“So we’re actually doing this?” Delia said. “Consequences be damned?”

Lucy looked at each of them. “Do you trust me?”

A chorus of yeses and Maddie’s “uh-huh” sent a shiver down Delia’s spine.

“Then we’re presenting, no matter what,” Lucy said. “I just need to make one call.”

“To who?” Sadie asked.

Lucy locked eyes with Emma. “My editor at Teen Vogue.”

Sadie’s hand slapped her hip. “Yowza. And to think you’re no longer a 10. Pulse doesn’t know what it’s missing.”

“It’s about to,” Lucy said.

A ding sounded on Delia’s phone. She checked it and motioned to Lucy. The others began talking, and Delia and Lucy slipped to the side.

She showed Lucy her phone. “Do you think we should still do this too? Because, well, I was just wondering—”