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Sh toback for her; we didn’t have to be besties or anything

"So what about you and Thoers stilled, I knew I’d thrown her for a curve

"What about us?"

A hint of amusement shone in Willow’s eyes "Don’t be stupid You knohat about us Everyone saw the way he jumped in the car the second you decided to come with us Dudes don’t do shit like that unless they’re whipped And, girl, he’s seriously whipped"

I’d stopped to study Natty, and her lips drew into a tight line "I don’t knohat you mean He’s h-whooped again "Whatever, dude Fine, don’t tell us But we’re not blind"

I gave Willoarning look "It’s fine," I said between clenched teeth "She doesn’t have to tell us if she doesn’t want to"

There was a stretched-out silence during which I wasn’t sure as inWillow

Then Natty shrugged and pasted on a phony sloves and tossed the trash can "Now you dothe whole are-they-or-aren’t-they conversation

As I got up, I grinned an I told you so grin at Willow

Catching a gliiant eyes staring back at me, I sort of looked like one of those characters froy-looking gunk that would eventually turn uise would be way better than Willow’s

I checked the ti Natty’s instructions I didn’t want to lose track of how long I kept this stuff on

Siain exactly thirty-sevenfor her hair to process and had rinsed it too soon, leaving it with the kind of coppery sheen that was nothing at all like Mandy Maxwell’s She’d also given up on letting Thom drive, rand iainst the steering wheel

Inside the bathroom, Natty was still crouched beneath the electric hand dryer, trying to dry her newly ebony hair I was surprised by how not dra on her, as if she’d been born for the color instead of being washed out by it Soainst her ultra-pale skin gave her the flawless complexion of a china doll And even her eyes, which were already striking, seeolden honey now that her er than half an hour" Si look from beneath the flat bri As if I wasn’t totally aware of the tiot you these" He held out a plastic bag

Inside were powdered doughnuts, one of the few things that sorta tasted the same since I’d been returned Probably because they were coated in a thick layer of pure sugar

Somehoas even better that Jett re around,a strand of ers "I like it It’s"

"Dark," I finished, and self-consciously brushed his hand away

Unlike Natty, it had been weird looking back at the brunette in the er, almost like when I’d first come home after ns I’d changed This tionna lie, I didn’t hate it My hair had always been soso plain Boring even Cat was the one with the cool hair--super blond and fierce Mine was justthere

But nownow it sort of popped It was brown like on the box, but in real life, in person, it was more vibrant--it had this cool undertone of red or auburn that made it shimmer like bronze Or fire And sure, my freckles stood out a little more, but not in a bad way

I was like Natty--a bolder version ofin thethe ti to Blackwater a whole heckuva lot easier" Only the way his eyes stayed fastened onto my hair at all,to deflect so to fluster hio to Thom if there are other ca the way Simon blinked and then sputtered, "Kyra, this really isn’t the tiht now?"

I shrugged one of Sis Seeether, then we shouldn’t have all these secrets" I challenged him with my eyebrows "Anyone can see you two have some kind of history And whatever happened between you, it was obviously crappy So, why take us there in the first place?"