“Golden Rule can make it easy to feel like you have a personal connection to someone, especially after watching so many of their videos for so many years,” Nicole pressed. “Jewel isn’t the person any of us think she is. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—it’s okay if the Jewel in your head doesn’t match the Jewel in real life—but being loyal to an idealized version of her is.” She gestured to Luna’s broken arm. “You have to put yourself first, even if that means going against Jewel’s plan.”

“I think you’re nice,” Luna said, but then shook her head. “Maybe you’re right about Stella, but you’re not right about me.”

WHAT A STAR

FRIDAY, 10:00 P.M.

Nicole was just about to put on her satin bonnet to finish getting ready for bed when someone knocked on her door.

“Hey,” she said after opening it.

Francis stood on the other side, hands in his pockets. “Hey.”

“Everything okay?” Nicole looked past him, out into the hall. All the other room doors were closed. He was alone.

“As far as I know,” he said. “I had a feeling you might be up still.”

“Yeah, I don’t really sleep much. I was going to give it a shot, though.” She gestured to her pajamas—a matching short set she lifted from the Wardrobe Room. It was cute. She wanted to wear it. So.

“Oh,” he said, nodding. “I was, um, wondering if you would want to maybe watch a movie. With me. The theater’s not far from here.”

The fact that her immediate gut answer wasn’t no took Nicole by complete surprise.

Yes. She wanted to say yes.

“Let me tell Stella first. I promised to answer some questions she had about making videos. Just want to make sure she doesn’t look for me since we’re all supposed to be ‘resting.’” But when she knocked on the red door, no one answered.

“Maybe she’s in Harlow’s room,” Francis offered.

Nicole hesitated, wincing. “I don’t think I want to bother them, then. Let’s go.” They left together, Francis once again navigating without using his tablet. Try as she might, she just couldn’t stop thinking about Harlow. At first, the afternoon off had seemed great. Felt great. She truly had a good time getting to know more about Francis. Meanwhile, poor Harlow …

“Does it bother you that we had the afternoon off?” Nicole asked. “Nothing bad happened to us.”

“No.”

Her heart sank with disappointment. If he didn’t want to care, she couldn’t make him, but she had hoped he would. Worry hadn’t stopped gnawing on her insides, giving her a stomachache for the ages. Why did she always end up being the only one who cared too much?

“Do you think Jewel hurt them on purpose?” she asked. “I can’t believe she really put Harlow through that.”