Nessa missed Eve’s curls.

Right as rehearsal ended, Nessa pulled out her phone and texted Sophie: brodys voice sounds like the sound cats make before they vomit, but guess who seems to like it, anyway?

To which Sophie responded ew. And more ew.

Sophie may have been incredibly stuck-up, but at least she saw Brody for what he was.

As Nessa headed out of the auditorium she mouthed to Eve, “Record it!” Eve was supposed to try to get him to confess. Somehow.

Eve’s befuddled face confirmed that she didn’t know how to lip-read. This was hopeless. Did Nessa always have to be the one in their friendship who knew how to get things done?

And if Sophie’s plan did work, and Eve did get Brody to admit to writing the list, if she didn’t record it for proof, who would believe Eve Hoffman over Brody Dixon?

No one.

Nessa was on it, though. She’d keep pretending to ignore him, but she’d watch his every move. She’d find a clue, a hint, a something.

As she waited for Eve to mess it all up, Nessa headed to the bathroom next to the auditorium.

Inside stood Lara Alexander, dabbing under her eyes with crumpled toilet paper.

“Oh, hey.” Lara tossed the toilet paper into the trash and faced the mirror to reapply some eyeliner.

“Hey.” Nessa stood by her and pretended to fix her hair in the mirror, even though it already looked good. “You were awesome at the read-through the other day.”

Lara gave her a closed-mouth smile. “Thanks.”

So what was Lara upset about? Still this stupid list thing? Nessa wasn’t on it, either, and it didn’t ruin her life. Couldn’t Lara talk to the counselors?

“You really are better than me.” Lara nodded vehemently as she sniffled.

“No, no, I’m not!” Nessa was better overall. But Lara was still great!

“You are. And that’s okay.” Lara pulled out some mascara. “It’s okay,” Lara repeated as if to convince herself. “Ya know, it’s just…” Lara took a breath and strengthened her voice. “I think I’m probably going to switch schools.”

“Oh. Wow.” So the rumors were true. This could really hurt the production. They needed her! “Before the show or…?” Nessa tried to sound casual.

“I can’t be here anymore!” Lara spat out. “People are laughing at me, like they think I think I’m pretty, they think I’m full of myself, and they’re just so happy to see that no one would choose me for the top fifty prettiest. Well, they’d be happy to know I’ve never thought I was pretty and I’ve never liked how I looked. So they don’t have to feel like it ‘brought me down a peg’ or whatever.”

“I don’t think people feel—” Nessa tried to say what she knew she should say, but Lara cut her off.

“Because guess what?” Lara turned to face Nessa. “I hate everything about my face. Except my eyes. I like those. I used to wonder if I could be an eye model, like in ads where only eyes are seen. Like for mascara. Models start really young, like sixteen. My sister might end up modeling. She’s almost sixteen, you know. And she’s perfect. I’ve always hoped one day I’ll look like her. But I look like me.” Lara’s voice cracked. She went into a stall to grab another chunk of toilet paper. “I’m so ugly.”