Abe had just passed his driver’s test, and he’d spent the past twenty-four hours convincing their parents that if the law said he could drive, then who were they to say he couldn’t pick up his sisters from school?

“We’re nervous parents, okay?” his mom had said.

“Not a reasonable argument!” he’d fought back.

Eventually, they’d relented.

“Hi!” he practically sang as Eve got into the car.

“Hey.”

“Okay, we have like half an hour before Hannah gets out. So I need you to tell me what’s going on, Britt Reid.”

“Who?”

“Ha. The Green Hornet’s alter ego. You need to read up.”

Abe drove them to a spot near an outlet mall down Greer Road, and they bought hot chocolates. They sat in the car, their drinks steaming, and watched passersby go in and out of shops.

“Isn’t it wild that tomorrow we’re celebrating a holiday with the rest of the kids in town?”

“Yeah, actually,” she said. “I never really thought of it that way.”

They missed so many days of school for their holidays in the fall, and had to spend tons of time catching up on schoolwork, but on Thanksgiving everyone else went home, too. Weird.

“So, how’s the whole being-called-the-prettiest-girl-in-eighth-grade thing going?” he asked.

“Did Mom and Dad ask you to talk to me?” Eve scowled at him. “God, they’re involving the whole world in my life!”

“Mom just worries!” He sounded so much like their dad that they looked at each other for a moment and then broke out into laughter. It felt good to laugh like that with him again. It was almost like they were back in one of their pillow forts playing cards.

“So really, though,” he went on as their giggles died down, “what’s going on?”

Eve told him. Well, she told him the most important bits—the makeover, Brody’s horrible costume, the so-far fruitless plan to expose him, everyone saying she wrote the list, and why she initially put on the mask.

“So other people are wearing the masks, too?”

“Yeah. Even my guy friend, actually.”

“Oh yeah? So this guy is wearing his mask in solidarity with you, huh? Cool.”

“Yeah?” she answered, unsure.

Abe smiled. “It’s very cool he’s willing to join ranks with the girls and that he’s on your side; that he’s supporting you.”

She thought of how the morning after she’d texted Winston, he’d brought his Halloween mask to school for her. The way he smacked his lips in concentration as he scrubbed the paint off her locker. His grin as he put on the Green Hornet mask.

“Yeah, he’s on my side.”

“Sounds like a good guy.”

“I think so.” Eve took a sip of her drink and felt her body begin to warm.

“And you’re making some other friends these days, besides Nessa. Yeah?”

Eve nodded.

But all these questions felt strange. Abe had hardly spoken to her for two years, yet ever since the list had come out, he seemed so invested in her life.