“She should. That guy is such a creep. He’s not even nice to her.”

“I know, and look at me. I’d lick the bottom of her feet. You know, I’m starting to wonder if that’s the problem. Maybe I’m too nice.” Danny’s sentiment touched a raw nerve in Sherri. Arthur was so sexy and so accessible, so why was it that Mitch still hovered on the edge of her thoughts, a delicious and enticing mystery?

“Val cares about you, Danny. She does.”

“I don’t want her to just ‘care’ about me. I’ve already got sisters, you know?”

“How about you and Val come to my party Sunday.” She’d never thrown a party before; it felt good to say those words. “I know of a place on Beulah.” A place: how detached that sounded, when she could have said that it was her boyfriend’s cottage. Was Arthur her boyfriend?

“Yeah, sure. I’m actually off at four that day.”

“Can you help me spread the word?” She wanted all the same people who went to his parties to come to hers. If anyone could get people there, it was Danny.

“Yeah, sure,” Danny said. “As long as Val comes. I want her all to myself.”

“Deal. I’ll ask her.” Her stomach tightened. “I’d better go weigh in. I hope I can keep my job.”

“Don’t worry. You’re light as a feather,” he said.

She didn’t feel light, and what did Danny know, anyway? He’d never had to step on a scale in order to work. “And if I’m still fat, then what?”

Danny hopped off the bike, reached deep into his pocket for a bottle and shook some little white pills into her hand. “These’ll help.”

“Diet pills?” All the girls were on Dexatrim; it was basically speed. She’d seen other girls take it but she swore she’d never try the stuff herself, not after watching her mother’s bad reactions to all the medications she’d taken—pills that made her vomit, made her sleep for days, tore up her gut. She remembered the medicine cabinet filled with all those amber-colored bottles she detested, and the mornings she’d spent pinching them into piles. To Sherri, pills meant disease and problems that weren’t easy to fix. But these pills were small and harmless-looking. And Danny was a good guy—he wouldn’t let her have them if he thought they’d hurt her. There had been an unspoken closeness between Sherri and Danny since she’d found out about his relationship with Val. Sherri was the keeper of their secret. He trusted her, and so she trusted him.