“That is the question,” he said. He thought for a minute. “Love yourself,” he said. “Love others. Be kind. And remember how strong you are.” He squeezed her knee. “I hope that for Evie, too.”

“Evie has no idea just how strong she is.” Nessa laid her head on her pillows.

“She will one day.” Her dad got up. He leaned over, kissed her forehead, and headed to the door. “Oh yeah.” He turned back around. “You know some other wisdom I like?”

“What?”

“‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’”

With that, he shut the door.

Nessa wasn’t so sure about that one, either. Sometimes it seemed like they knew exactly what they did.

And look what they’d done to Eve.

36

EVE

A few more girls started to wear the masks. Eve and Winston had biked to the dollar store and picked up packs and packs of them.

“You’re my trusted accomplice,” she’d told him.

“Your Kato, if you will,” he’d answered, informing her that Kato was Green Hornet’s brilliant sidekick.

That next morning at school, Winston had reached into his back pocket and pulled out a mask of his own. “Feel the sting of the Green Hornet,” he said as he slipped it on his face. Then he added, “Green Hornet catchphrase,” before trotting off to class.

Eve left the masks on hallway window ledges all over the school.

“So you’re trying to convince everyone to deal with bullies by wearing masks?” Nessa asked her once.

Nessa had seemed annoyed about the masks from the very first day that Eve wore one. What Nessa didn’t seem to comprehend was how free Eve felt with the mask on. Instead of wondering what each person thought about her, or what each person wanted from her, or if a given person would text her something awful later, she could look all of them in the eye and silently say to them: I’m no longer in the running for your lists or comments or judgments. The mask screamed out, “Whatever you thought I was, you were wrong. You don’t know me at all.”

She tried to write this explanation out to Nessa, but Nessa just texted her back:

o why didn’t I think of that all the times anyone made fun of me.

o yea that’s right. cuz it wouldn’t have helped me AT ALL.

Eve planned on apologizing to Nessa the next day, but she didn’t know what to say sorry for. So instead, she just let Nessa be frustrated with her.

Then one day, Eve saw a seventh grader wearing one of the masks.

“Hey, take that off!” a teacher scolded the girl.

The seventh grader pulled it off, but as the teacher moved away, she put it right back on. As she walked by Eve, the girl held her hand out for a high five.

Under her mask, Eve’s eyes crinkled in a smile.

If Nessa could have seen that, maybe she would have changed her mind.