Maggie looked around, confused. On top of the filing cabinet, in two corners, on the desk, on the table, under the table—books, books, books, hundreds of books, new and old, peeking out of boxes, loosely piled, and forming book versions of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But where Ran sat, there were only four hardcover selections.

“That’s it?” Hope stood over the short stack, hands on her hips.

“Yeah, well, to save time, I thought I’d give you options.” Ran patted the floor on either side of her. While Maggie and the other girls joined her, she continued, “It’s not like we have forever to make a decision. These are the ones I figured we’d like the best.”

Under her breath, Hope muttered, “Options.”

Ran arranged her crossed legs into a lotus pose and drew the stack closer to her.

Hope, hunching over her own loosely crossed legs, rolled her eyes. “We know, we know. You’re super flexible.”

Ran drummed the cover of a book. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Hope thumbed the frayed end of a black bootlace and shrugged. “You’re competitive.”

“Nonsense.” Ran sniffed.

Maggie and Julia, sitting next to each other, shared a smile.

Colleen suggested diplomatically, “She’s just a perfectionist.”

Hope blew a raspberry. “She wants to win. At everything.”

“What a flattering observation.” Ran glared at her. “Since you’re done pointing out my failings, why don’t we—”

“Who says I’m done?” Hope held up a finger. “And you’re controlling.” Then she knitted her hands in her lap and grinned. “Okay. Now I’m done.”

“How about you pick our next read?” Ran said through her teeth.

“Sure.” Hope leaned forward and raked the books her way. “Then I’ll check the time”—she held up her wrist, where what looked like a genuine army multifunction watch hid part of a tattoo—“and we’ll see how many minutes pass before you tell me why I made the wrong choice.”

Ran and Hope continued to bicker. Maggie would have found this exchange worrisome if Colleen and Julia (chatting and laughing about something Samantha Bee had said) didn’t look completely unfazed. Since Hope wasn’t paying any attention to the books, Maggie drew the stack her way.

The first novel was by Jodi Picoult, Small Great Things. Maggie read the description. It sounded interesting. And the next one, News of the World by Paulette Jiles, sounded great, too. She picked up Jennifer Niven’s Holding Up the Universe, but as she opened it to check the synopsis, the bottommost book caught her attention—Something Else by Trinity Haskins.