Whitney was at a loss. Amelia had always been the happiest kid. Whitney joked that she came out smiling and talking. It never took much to get her to smile and laugh as an infant. Just one look could get her going. She’d started talking before she was even a year old, and she never stopped. When she was in elementary school, she would talk constantly from the time Whitney picked her up until she went to bed. Some days it gave Whitney a headache. Every once in a while, Whitney couldn’t take it and she’d make her play the “quiet game” just to give her ears a rest.

But the last couple of months she’d changed into this quiet, sullen, angry girl.

Whitney had tried to have conversations with Amelia about it, but that only pushed her further away. It was like she had no idea how to communicate with her own child anymore. She’d asked her friend Natalie about this the other day, but she assured Whitney it was normal. Natalie had two kids—a boy and a girl. They were both adults now, and she had great relationships with them. She encouraged Whitney to take a lot of deep breaths during this time.

At this rate, Whitney was breathing so deeply she might hyperventilate.

It will get better, she’d been saying over and over in her head. A silent mantra. Some days it was the only thing that got her through.

But now Whitney wasn’t so sure it would get better. It was one thing for Amelia to be weird at home. All kids went through that phase where they pushed their parents away in an effort to find their own identities. God knows, she’d done that with her own parents. But nobody had said anything about pushing best friends away too.

“Can my friend Lauren spend the night Friday?”

“Lauren?” Whitney repeated, grateful for any foray into conversation. “I don’t think I’ve met her before.”

“Yeah, she’s a new friend.”

A new friend? Since when did Amelia need new friends? She already had a friend group. And Whitney had put in all the necessary time and effort to feel comfortable with that friend group, getting to know all the kids and parents. Becca’s mom she knew especially well. Whitney had taken great comfort in that over the years. And since Amelia was a junior, she’d assumed her friend group would stay intact until graduation. Her mind spun with all the things she had to do now. Get to know the new friend’s parents. Look her up on social media. She could already feel the tiredness settling into her bones, thinking of the late nights she’d spend worrying about this new friend. If she was a good influence. If she was safe.

“Well, that’s nice,” she said, careful to keep her tone calm. “Is she new to the school? The area?”