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"Hey, what are you guys doing here this early?" Violet asked, sliding into the booth beside Chelsea and giving her a strange look "And what’ve you done with the real Chelsea?"

"You’re ha-ha-larious, you know that, Vi?" Chelsea retorted, staring back at Violet through the thick lenses of eyeglasses she almost never woreespecially in public "My eyes were killing et my contacts in"

"Are you sure you don’t have pinkeye?" Claire asked, her voice skeptical as she scooted closer to Jules

Chelsea scowled at her "I told you, I’-lax, Claire Do you think I’d be here if I was contagious or anything?"

The waitress arrived then, balancing their orders on a black tray She flashed Chelsea a si what Claire had said, and she apprehensively slid Chelsea’s plate in front of her Chelsea ignored the girl completely

"Softball tourna her earlier question "Claire’s just along for the ride We tried calling you like a , but obviously we don’t rate"

"Three," Violet corrected, ignoring the wave of guilt she felt for ditching theain "You called oan appointment," she said evasively

"Yeah, an appointht grin and tried her best to sound breezy "Well, I’ht over to see us"

Violet perused one of thelike it didn’t suck to lie to her friends, and then turned to the waitress "Can I just get a hot tea, and a toasted bagel with creaht back with that," the waitress answered, still eyeing Chelsea suspiciously She didn’t bother asking if anyone needed anything else before turning on her heel and disappearing back into the kitchen

Making a dubious face of her own, Chelsea glanced down at her plate She picked up a fork and prodded her runny eggs,sound Violet kneasn’t a real gag because Chelsea had the strongest stomach of anyone she’d ever met

From the other side of the booth, Jules’s head snapped up and she glared at Chelsea Chelsea’s eyes flared behind her glasses,She flashed an apologetic grin at Jules before closing her lips tightly, a silent vow to stopthe obnoxious sounds