“She told me. In a way,” Stella said. “I’m still deciding if I’m okay with that or if I’m going to beat Jewel to prove a point. I don’t know which one is more important to me.”

Nicole paused for a beat to collect her thoughts. She still had some difficulty reading Stella. Almost everything she did was so erratic and unexpected, pinning her down anytime soon seemed unlikely. Sure, Nicole could tweak the pitch of her voice, speak faster with long-winded sentences, casually insult everyone around her in a baffling, endearing way, but the heart of who Stella was wouldn’t be there because Nicole still hadn’t seen it.

If Nicole were going to lose to this girl, she’d better be worth it.

“I think the fact that there’s even a choice says something,” she said, keeping her voice soft, contemplative. “You don’t owe Luna anything.”

“And I owe myself everything. I’m very selfish. Can’t you tell?”

Nicole laughed. Stella did have a selfishness about her, but it didn’t feel malicious. What had she said to Nicole before? She was an only child who never learned how to share? The Cruelest Jewel had given her a crash course in that lesson. She thought Stella had risen to the challenge beautifully. “I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”

“Excuse you, I give myself all the credit. I’m incredible. Haven’t you been watching me sleuth everybody under the table all weekend? That was for show.”

“That’s why you’re our leader. The way you hopped out of that bathtub and backed Luna up? I hope you were serious about being her sister. That really meant a lot to her.”

“I am a good leader,” Stella said. “Iron fist all the way.”

“Iron fist. Heart of gold.”

Stella nodded, rolling onto her side and taking the tiles from Nicole. She shuffled them quickly, spelling out the words Nicole had made in rapid succession. “I was serious about being your sister too, you know.”

“Oh. I wasn’t sure because…” She trailed off.

“Mmm, yeah. I figured your type was short brown boy with nice hair. I adjusted my course,” she said. “That’s all.”

“I like him,” Nicole admitted.

“I object.”

“I like you.”

“Sustained.” Stella laughed. “One door closed for me, so I opened the window.”