“Two weeks ago, Chicken Little asked Candy and Darlene if they ever thought about kicking Lookout from the team and what would happen if they did. Nine days ago, he brought up some things with me, asked me if it was why I was always saying stuff about Lookout. I remember that conversation.”

This wasn’t what Kenzie needed right now.

“Three days ago, four different times five days ago, I could go back further… mean jokes and comments from her team. Mean might be understating it. Gutting.”

I nodded, though I was unsure if Tattletale could see. Probably. Kenzie stuck cameras on a lot of her stuff even when there wasn’t an explicit need for it.

“They’re kids, you know,” Tattletale said. “They love her and she… she’s so head over heels for them she doesn’t know where her head or heels are. I’m not going to pretend my kids are saints or their coping mechanisms are all great. Darlene’s a mess romantically. Candy’s a ticking time bomb. But that’s beside the point. They’re kids. When they get uncomfortable and they don’t know how to process it, they push back, they band together, they can act a little shitty, poke fun, say things that would devastate someone if they heard it out loud. It’s part of the process of figuring things out. Even for good kids like Chicken and messed up kids like Darlene and Candy.”

“I don’t think Kenzie’s the type to be especially mean to anyone behind their backs.”

“Maybe not. Maybe it’s because Imp and I have our shittier sides and we rub off on them.”

“Or Heartbreaker. Or trauma. I don’t know. I meant that she wouldn’t understand it like you describe it.”

“Yeah.”

There was a pause.

“She’s going to be back any second—”

“I see her at the stairs.”

“Can you look after her? We can’t handle this just this minute. She was wanting to go for a walk to get away—”

“Her team’s here, she’s trying to put on a brave face, and she’s doing a damn good job of it. She wants to get away to freak out where nobody can see, I think.”

“Can you give her a chance, or relieve her of her duties for a bit, or… I don’t know?”

“Sure.”

“Give her a hug and say it’s from us?”

“She’s here. I’ll see if there’s someone better equipped for that job than I am. Headphones unplugged, Lookout plugging in.”

“Hi,” Lookout said. She sounded out of breath.

“Hi, Lookout. I’m hearing a commotion. I should probably go.”

“I hear the commotion too. Okay. Thank you for checking in. It means a lot.”