She was still wasted at three in the morning when she was woken by Val and Danny, who stumbled, giggling and drunk, into the dorm room. The security light from the outside of the building shone through the slats of the blind. She could see Danny standing behind Val with his hands wrapped around her. When Val was with Curtis, she seemed sullen and aloof. She’d return to the dorm with a split lip or a bruise on her arm that she’d have to cover with the same concealer she used on her face. Danny brought out something soft in her prickly friend. “Danny?”

He put his finger over his lips. “Shhhh.”

“You’re not supposed to be in the dorms,” Sherri said.

“What are you going to do, call the cops?” Val asked.

Val was right. There were rules, but from what Sherri could tell, they were relaxed. Carmen had rescued a kitten and kept it in her room, and nobody seemed to care about the “no pets” policy. Besides, Val had never asked Sherri for anything before, and she didn’t want to be on her roommate’s bad side—something that could happen with the slightest gesture. Even though their relationship had warmed, it was only on Val’s terms, and Val still scared her. Sometimes she’d be nice, offering to do her makeup for her, and the next minute she’d say something biting but in a passing manner. She’d called Sherri big-boned, and told her that her incisors were like fangs. As much as Sherri wished she could dismiss these barbs, they stayed with her every time she looked in the mirror, and they reinforced Val’s position of dominance in their relationship. Sherri looked up to Val the way she’d looked up to Roberta. She put up with everything she did.

“Come on, Sherribelle.” Danny tussled her hair. “My grandmother is at the cottage with a bunch of women from her Bible study. We have no place else to go. Help a horny guy out.”

“Fine, but this can’t happen again.”

“Don’t tell anyone!” Val said.

A few minutes later she heard groaning and a rhythmic thump, thump, thump coming from Val’s side of the room. “I love you like crazy,” Danny whispered to Val, just loudly enough for Sherri to overhear before she wrapped her pillow around her ears. Sherri wished Mitch would someday love her that much, but he hadn’t even called once since her return.

A few weeks later, at weigh-in, Gloria adjusted Sherri’s ears to center them on her head, even though Sherri was certain she’d already centered them perfectly. But she smiled through her teeth, anxious to get through the now-familiar ordeal at the beginning of each shift, a painfully thorough inspection of her hair, makeup, outfit, cuffs, bow tie, nylons, shoes, and smile. Sherri was convinced Gloria even inspected her soul.