Abe thought for a moment and shook his head. “I should have.”

The giant inflated turkey in front of the café flapped about in the wind.

“You’ve found some friends who aren’t like I was, though,” he said. “Stick with them. And don’t put on eyeliner or whatever, or wear that mask, just because of the mean kids. If you want to, that’s different. But only make decisions for yourself. Don’t let the kids who haven’t figured out how to be kind yet get to you so much. Forget ’em. I wasted a lot of time worrying about other people judging me before I figured out it didn’t matter. Be better than I was.”

Eve looked up at him and saw his earnest smile and pulled the mask back down over her eyes. “You’re being cheesy,” she said. She buried her face in her palms in embarrassment, and the mask squished up against her skin. It smelled like her mom’s lavender oil, which she’d put on the green cloth when it had started to give off the stench of sweat.

Abe chuckled. “Sorry. Had to say it. Now let’s go pick up our little sister, who is gonna need a lot more help than either of us, let me tell you.” He turned the key in the ignition. “And hey,” he added as they pulled out of the parking lot, “you’re freaking out Mom and Dad so much with the Green Hornet thing. They might make you start seeing a counselor or something.”

“No, they can’t be that upset!” Eve insisted. “Really?”

“Not as upset as Mom’s gonna be when I tell her I’m an atheist!” Abe swerved out into the street.

Eve almost dropped her drink. “Wha—!”

As they pulled up to the curb at the elementary school, Hannah threw her backpack into the car and groused, “Abe, don’t get us killed.”

Eve smiled at her little sister.

“What?” Hannah asked, weirded out by the friendliness.

“Nothing,” she said. But she felt truly okay for the first time in weeks, like her insides weren’t jumbled all about.

After they picked up Hannah and headed home, she texted Winston, Hey. Thanks for the help today, fellow Hornet.

37

SOPHIE

Sophie had to admit that she had really taken to the whole makeup-and-costumes thing.

Could she be a Broadway costume designer one day? Or the editor of Vogue?

After Sophie’s meeting with the tech crew for The Music Man, she’d been shocked at their disregard for detail. They were planning on dressing everyone in the same costumes from Oliver! the year before, which took place in an entirely different time period and country! Sophie told them she’d take over. They could easily piece together costumes from thrift stores in town on a reasonable budget; they just needed to think it through a bit more. Was Sophie the only kid in school who knew how to work on a dang budget? Probably.

After Thanksgiving break, she began working on costumes during rehearsals.