Danielle sighed. “I didn’t . . . drop him because I was done with him. I dropped him because he was done with me. He fucked me and then told everybody about it! And then I’m supposed to wait around for him to tell me he’s done? Please don’t tell me all of this”—she motions back and forth between herself and Ava—“is about Chase, because he’s not worth it.”

“It’s not about Chase,” Ava says. “It’s about you taking something you knew I wanted because you knew you could. And you’re doing it all over again with Andrew! You’re only here with him because of Keely.” I flinch at her words.

Ava pulls out the final bobby pin and her hair tumbles over her shoulders in purple waves. She throws the pin at Danielle. “I’m surprised you never fucked Charlie. Hannah would have flipped and you would have loved it.”

Danielle lunges at her, grabbing hold of the necklace around Ava’s neck, and as she pulls away, beads fly everywhere— scattering and rolling across the dock in all directions. Ava grabs a strap of Danielle’s gown, pulling and ripping so that it tears, and Danielle shrieks.

“Stop!” I say, and Hannah and I rush toward them. We grab on to their arms, trying to pull them off each other. Ava turns to me and her eyes are wild, like she’s gone mad. Her blue, glittery makeup has smeared down the side of her temples, and there are mascara tracks down her cheeks.

“I don’t need your help!” she wails. She shrugs my hands off, and I grab her again, trying to keep her steady, keep her calm, but she’s howling and flailing like a woman possessed. I try to grab for her but she’s tottering on her heels, and then suddenly she’s falling backward, tipping slowly away from me. Her arm shoots forward, reaching for something to hold, finding only air. And then she’s gone, over the side of the dock and into the water.

There’s a loud splash.

Danielle stops grappling with Hannah and turns. “Oh, come on,” she says. “I’ll get her.” And then she jumps in after Ava.

“I’ll go get a teacher,” I say, turning away from the lake and back toward the Walcott. I begin moving toward the other end of the dock, but I hear a gasp from behind me and turn back to the lake. Danielle and Ava have just burst through the surface, and Hannah is on her knees, pulling them up. The water is deep enough that only their heads are exposed, but it looks like they can stand. Hannah grabs Ava by the shoulders and Danielle hoists her from below up and onto the dock, where she sputters and coughs. Then Hannah grabs Danielle.