“Whoa!” Nessa looked toward the door as if someone might hear them and come in.

“He can’t treat people like this!” Sophie’s voice escalated to a low growl. “Did you know he lives in one of the biggest houses in Glisgold?” Her leg began to bounce as if she’d had too much pop. “He has a game room. And three TVs. Maybe more, actually. His dad’s bedroom? I mean, it’s like its own house. Oh, and he has a dog room! A room where the dog sleeps! And Brody gets everything he wants. And you should hear the way he talks about girls.” Sophie scooted in closer to Eve on the bench, speaking in a near whisper now, as if the worst parts about Brody were a secret. “It’s like if a girl isn’t pretty—”

“By his standards,” Nessa interjected.

“Exactly. If a girl isn’t pretty in his opinion, she’s just a waste of time. Unless she’s good at homework or something and he’s on a group project with her.” Sophie put a hand to her heart. “Oh my God, is that why he asked me to study? No. No. It couldn’t be that.”

Eve reflexively shook her head to signal “No, of course not,” but she didn’t quite know what Sophie was referring to. Brody sounded so much crueler than the boy who’d spoken to her earlier that day. But still, she didn’t forget the Brody of fifth grade, who had once taken her favorite book and thrown it in the mud.

“The thing is,” Sophie went on, “it’s not like he’s not smart. He is, kind of, but only in that way where your parents have helped you with homework your whole life. And he’s always giving attention to one of my friends one week, and another the next. Yeah, it’s been me recently, but maybe he’s changed his mind again. It was Amina before me! He’s really … He is a jerk. You know what?” Sophie declared. “I despise him.”

“Well.” Nessa strummed her nails on the top of the piano. “I agree! Evie, do you remember how he constantly called the one boy in fifth grade dance class ‘twinkle toes’?”

“He was a classic bully back in elementary school,” Eve told Sophie, who had only come to their school in the middle of sixth grade. “Like out of a bad movie.”

He never got in trouble, though. Eve remembered that part well.

“Not just elementary school,” Nessa said. “He made a joke about Erin O’Brien’s wheelchair last year, do you remember? Before the show he said, ‘I heard about Special Olympics but never Special Broadway.’”

“Gross,” Sophie murmured.

“Yeah!” Nessa nearly hollered. “A little more than ‘gross’!” She put on her theater-trivia voice and continued, “Also, has he not even heard of Ali Stroker, the Tony Award–winning Broadway actress who happens to use a wheelchair? Like, he’s not just mean and macho or whatever, he’s ignorant!” Nessa paused. “I wish I had brought that up when he said it. I didn’t say anything.”