She’d noticed it last week, on a day he’d invited her over to do homework, back when she’d been the prettiest. A day when he’d leaned toward her, his mouth all puckered and hopeful. And pushy.

As they passed by his mansion, Bella elbowed Sophie and made smooching noises.

“Oh, shut up.” But Sophie smiled.

Bella did this nearly every day.

Would she stop doing it if Brody started ignoring Sophie? Would he ever ask her over again? Would he be too embarrassed to go to the Halloween dance with number two?

Sophie pulled out her cracked pocket mirror and checked her face. She swiveled her profile side to side. The full inspection. Perfectly even foundation, blended down to midneck. Perfect, bright eyes. Lips painted a perfect pink. Perfect.

She ruffled Bella’s hair as her sister hopped off at the elementary school.

And as the bus pulled up to Ford, she gave her reflection one last glance in the window and headed into battle.

5

EVE

The crowds parted for Sophie Kane, like a queen among peasants. Eve could see the back of her yellow hair, bouncing behind her. Was it possible for hair to sparkle? Sophie’s did.

And then, as Eve and Nessa waved bye to Eve’s mom and climbed out of the car, something strange began to happen. The crowd parted for them, too. Small groups split off and tightened, whispering to one another as Eve and Nessa walked by the bust of Henry Ford and through the school’s enormous front doors.

Eve slouched her shoulders forward, attempting to sink in her chest and disappear into Abe’s Detroit Pistons T-shirt.

“What do you think they’re saying?” she murmured to Nessa. “Do you think they think I wrote the list? It really bugs me that Curtis thinks I wrote the list.”

“Who cares?” Nessa answered. “This, too, shall pass,” she mouthed to Eve as they parted ways for homeroom.

Easier said than done. Why didn’t Nessa get that?

As Eve headed down the hallway, she felt her phone buzz and saw a text from an unknown number. It read: u look real good today

Eve checked all around her. Who had her number? Who was watching her?

Inside Mr. Flynn’s class, the bright overhead bulb made it feel like an interrogation room. No one was crying this morning. Instead, they stared at Eve. Miranda Garland smiled and waved. Eve saw that Miranda wore a necklace with a gold hamsa on it. How’d she get one so fast? Why’d she get one?

A woman in a tight pencil skirt and a white blouse stood at the front of Mr. Flynn’s desk. Behind her, Eve saw a PowerPoint presentation had been set up.

WHAT IS SEXUAL HARASSMENT? it read.

The boy next to her jiggled his knee and bit his fingernails.

The woman introduced herself and launched into her routine. “I’ve been brought here today, along with my colleagues currently in the other classrooms, to talk to you all about an incident that occurred yesterday. Who here knows what sexual harassment is?”