I turned, startled to see Lily in the doorway with Ellen Hendricks, backpacks slung over one shoulder. Ellen clamped her hand over her mouth. A giggle escaped.

“What the hell is that?” Lily asked.

“Watch your language,” I said, but it was drowned out by Lily’s bark of laughter.

She picked up the packaging from the floor with two fingers. “Hooty? Seriously?”

“More like Hooters,” Ellen said.

I grabbed the cape and wrapped it around me. Why hadn’t I closed the bedroom door? “I didn’t know it was going to look like this,” I said.

“Why an animal at all, though?” Lily asked. “I mean... I could think of much cooler things, Mom.”

“It’s for the block party,” I said.

“All the moms are doing it,” Ellen said in a strange voice. Was she mocking me? She plopped down on the edge of my bed and leaned back on her elbows, studying me. “You guys are like a cult or something, you know?”

I saw it again, that flick of something behind her eyes. A judging, a bitterness. I pictured us from her perspective, our pins and our party. Old and out of touch. I wondered if Ellen had said anything to Lily about seeing me in the woods that night with Greg. Probably not—teenagers were too self-absorbed.

“It’s just for fun.” I caught my reflection in the mirror. “Oh god, it’s really horrible, isn’t it?”

Lily circled me. “I don’t know. I think it’s fixable. I mean...” She looked thoughtful. “If you wore a turtleneck under it and really dark tights and your cute ankle boots, it wouldn’t be that bad.” She held up the mask. “And the mask is kind of cool.”

“I guess. I just can’t sit down all night unless I want to flash the neighbors.” We both looked at each other. Then burst into laughter.

It felt good to joke with Lily. She’d been a bear to deal with lately, but underneath the hormones, she was still my girl. And she was right. I’d make it work.

“I should probably go,” Ellen said, getting up from my bed.

I suddenly saw us through Ellen’s eyes. Here we were, goofing off and making her feel left out. She was just a kid, after all, a kid who’d grown up without a mother and had only Greg as a role model. It was a wonder she was as successful as she was.

Lily’s smile faded. “But I thought we were going to watch Amityville?”

“I can’t,” Ellen said. “I’ve got to study for my chemistry test.”

“Oh don’t leave,” I said. “It’s early. I’m sure you can watch the movie and still have time to study later, right? The kinetic formula bonds and formula test tube whatever-they-are equations can wait.”

Ellen stared at me like I’d grown a third head. “Thanks, but another time.”