“I had a zit once. Once upon a time . . . a long time ago.” She made it sound like a fairy tale. A fairy-tale zit that had escaped from a troll and accidentally landed on a princess’s face.

“I did too!” Rose blurted out. “And yeah, I peed in a swimming pool once. It was at the Meadow Lark Community Swimming Pool and . . .”

“Don’t talk!” Brianna roared. Rose knew that some might think that Brianna was beautiful in that skinny fashion-model way, but her eyes were too small and it gave her, in Rose’s opinion, a kind of rodenty appearance. It looked as if she were always seeking out crumbs or the tiniest bits of food, or more likely gossip. What kind of rodent? Rose didn’t ponder this too long. But definitely a rodent—rat, mouse, vole, whatever. A creature of the underground. Her hair was skinned back in a ponytail that made her tiny face look so sharp it might cut something. Like blades! Rose thought. She had heard that Brianna was a champion ice-skater.

She leaned in toward Rose. Something toxic seemed to leak from her eyes. “Carrie does the talking. Asks the questions,” she snapped.

“Right, Brianna. Thank you for recognizing that. I am the questioner.”

Inquisitor is more like it, Rose thought.

“So what happened to your mom?” asked Carrie.

“She died.”

“Your dad?”

“I don’t know.”

Carrie stuck her head forward as if she was trying to ferret out every tidbit of information. She was still shorter, much shorter than Rose. “Divorced? He abandoned you? Ran off with a prettier lady than your mom? Or dead too?”

Rose gasped. This was too awful. It was only her second day of school. They had obviously done their homework on her, finding Threads and then her YouTube stuff. She could never have imagined such a start to the school year. This was one for Guinness World Records. Rose was no stranger to first days in a new school. She and her mom had moved around so much she was practically a professional at first days! Her mom had been a real estate agent in Philadelphia. And for her mother, new houses were investments. After she moved into them, she would fix them up and sell them. She was a serial renovator. New houses in new neighborhoods had never really bothered Rose. Her mom always said, “I don’t sell homes. I sell houses. Home isn’t four walls and a roof. Home is you and me.”