“Only for a short while. Long enough for it to make a difference. Think of it as … borrowing, not stealing.”

“Apujan … I was just kidding. I’m pretty sure you’d get in trouble for that,” she says.

“Not if I don’t get caught.”

“You’ll get caught. You’re not exactly James Bond.”

“I won’t get caught if you help me.”

“I’m not James Bond either!”

“Please, Priti. It’s kind of the exact right form of payback. She stole something from me, now I borrow something from her.”

Priti hesitates. “And you will give it back?”

I don’t have time to answer as the bus jerks to a stop.

“This is us!” I grab my bag and hurry down the stairs before the driver decides to shut the door and zoom off. Priti hurries after me. She must not be too bothered by the idea of me taking Flávia’s henna tubes because when we slip through the front door, she’s too busy glaring into her phone to repeat her question.

An hour before bed, my phone rings. It actually rings. The only people who have ever called me are Ammu and Abbu, and both of them are in the house with me. Not to mention I don’t think either of them particularly wants to speak to me at the moment. Or maybe ever again.

For a second, I just stare at my vibrating phone. There’s only a number flashing on my screen. I wait the ringing out, then go back to working on my henna designs.

But a moment later the phone begins to buzz again. One, two, three times. I let it ring out. It has to be a prank call.

When it rings a third time, though, curiosity gets the better of me.

“Finally. Where have you been?” I recognize Chaewon’s low, lilty voice in an instant. “I’ve been calling for ages.”

“You only called three times … whose phone are you calling from?”

“My mom’s. My phone is out of credit,” she says. “So … hey.”

“Hi.” Chaewon and I barely text, much less talk on the phone. We’re friends, or were friends, as a trio, and that was it. There’s a silence on the line between us, and all I can hear is Chaewon’s breathing, soft and slow. I want to ask why she’s calling, about what happened earlier today, about why she didn’t defend me to Jess. But before I can string the words together, she breaks the silence.

“So … what did Ms. Montgomery say when you told her you were going to do this on your own?”

I shrug, before realizing she can’t actually see me.

“She said it was fine. She didn’t seem too bothered about it.”

“Oh.” There’s another lull. I chew my lip, wondering why exactly she’s calling. What it is she wants.