“You’re so, so beautiful,” Nessa told her. And it was true. It was why Nessa had worried that Lara might get the part of Marian. It was also why, Nessa realized, she’d always assumed that Lara thought she was better than her.

Lara ignored her. “I just don’t understand what happened to make everybody not like me. I used to think that when boys were looking at me it was because they liked me, but now I know it’s because I’m a joke.” Lara hid her face inside the tissue, and Nessa saw a droplet of an inky mascara tear hit the bathroom floor.

A flush came from one of the stalls. “Yeah, it’s not so great,” they heard someone say. A few moments later, Erin O’Brien came out. She handed Lara some more tissue paper and washed her hands. “But some of us never expected to be in the top fifty, fair or not. Some of us don’t have famous parents and models for sisters.”

“No! I didn’t mean to complain, I—”

Erin left the bathroom without responding.

Lara looked toward Nessa for backup, and she seemed to take in Nessa for the first time. Maybe she thought about how Nessa wasn’t on the list, either. “I’m not trying to say I have it worse than anyone or anything. But I can’t help who my parents are! God!” She let out a sob.

“Look.” Nessa held her shoulders. “Nothing is wrong with you or me or Erin. What’s wrong is that stupid list. Like my mom says—it’s cruel.”

She grabbed some paper towel and helped Lara fix her makeup.

“Yeah,” Lara said, though she didn’t seem like she believed it. “Do you really think Hayley Salem is prettier than me?” she asked.

Nessa decided to stay with Lara for a little bit. Maybe Nessa owed it to her, for always having assumed Lara was full of herself, just like Lara had said.

Apparently, she could have benefited from being a bit more full of herself. They all could have.

23

EVE

Brody Dixon sat with her on a bench outside the front of the school.

As they spoke, Eve could see their breath, billowing out in white clouds.

“How’d you think we sounded?” he asked her.

“So good!” Eve heard her voice become airy and high- pitched.

Nessa had sounded perfect. Brody hadn’t been great, but something about the way he performed the song … well, it made her feel what the song was trying to say. If that made any sense.

“It’s sort of my biggest secret that I want to be an actor. I mean, everybody probably thinks I want to do sports, right? I mean, I’ll do that, too. But I love movies. I want to be like that guy Hugh Jackman, you know? He plays Wolverine? He does action movies and stuff, but he also does really intense movies. I like that intense stuff. He even does musicals. I saw those movies, and that’s why I tried out for the show. Oh, for my biography this year I’m doing Humphrey Bogart. You know that guy?”