“Look at me! I’m rubber too,” Lindy said, and she started to shake her body back and forth. Her lips and cheeks did look rubbery, as though she weren’t quite human. “Try it!”

Jillian hesitated, afraid Lindy would stop shaking the moment she started, and laugh at her, but Lindy kept at it. Jillian joined her. They shook, laughing, until Lindy eventually did stop short. Jillian did too.

“So Mark’s hot, huh,” Lindy said.

“He’s got a nice smile.”

“And nice pecs.”

“Lindy!” “Pecs” sounded dirty.

“What-y?”

“It sounds . . .”

“Pecs not pecker! Did you think I meant pecker? Oh my God! You have a dirty mind.”

“No . . .” Sofia would know what it meant. Jillian felt a sudden longing for her.

“Want to explore the new house my dad’s building?”

“Are we allowed?”

“Why not?”

“Isn’t it dangerous? Like, nails and boards and stuff?”

“I go there all the time. I have a fort.”

“How?”

“How? I just walk in. I have a key,” she said, sly. “I stole it. Come on! Let’s go!”

“Not right now . . . ,” Jillian said, meaning not ever.

“Chicken.” Lindy started playing a Chipmunks song on her phone. The Chipmunks sang Christmas carols in high-pitched voices. Lindy sang along. Jillian watched her until Lindy pinched her and made her join in. Jillian could get sick of the Chipmunks pretty fast, but not Lindy, it seemed. They all kept singing and singing.

Suddenly she turned the music off. “Okay, now,” Lindy said.

“Now what?”

“Now we’re going to the fort.” She got a key out of her night table and slid open the window above it. Then she dug out a contraption made of metal and rope from under her bed. She hooked the two metal arms over the windowsill, and unfurled a rope ladder toward the ground.

“Your parents let you have a rope ladder?”

“In case of fire, duh.” She climbed out the window and down the ladder. She landed on the ground with a thump. “Your turn!”

Jillian wasn’t sure what to do. She could just leave. That was an option. She could just walk downstairs and out the front door and go home. That would be that. Safe and sound. No friendship with Lindy—but that seemed like a long shot anyway.

“You coming, Miller?” Lindy called up.

Miller. No one had ever called her that. It sounded kind of cool. Kind of tough.

A girl named “Miller” could climb out windows and sneak into houses. Maybe.

“Hurry up,” Lindy called.