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Inside, she slipped out of her shoes, seeing a second too late that her socks had holes in the toes Enificent house There alls of glass that fra floors She was afraid to touch anything
Mia grabbed her hand and dragged her into a huge kitchen There were glea above the eight-burner stove and fresh flowers in several places around the rooranite counter while Jude made quesadillas
She just walked right up to me, Madre And I told her it was social suicide to sit with me, but she didn’t care Is that cool or what?
Jude s, but Mia kept talking Lexi could hardly keep up with Mia’s steady strea observations and thoughts inside of her for years, and now they were cos inside and being afraid and trying to stay quiet She and Mia coh school, boys, classes, reed on everything The reed on, the more Lexi worried: ould happen when Mia found out about Lexi’s past? Would Mia want to be friends with a drug addict’s kid?
At about five o’clock, the front door banged open and a group of kids burst into the house
“Shoes,” Jude yelled fro up
Nine or ten kids surged forward, boys and girls Lexi could tell they were the popular kids Anyone would have recognized the T-shirts, and boys in PIHS blue and yelloeats They’d probably come here from football and cheerleader practice
“My bro is the one in the gray sweats,” Mia said, leaning closer “Don’t judge hiirls have the brains of breath mints ”
It was the guy from first period
He peeled away from the croith the ease of one who kne popular he was and sidled up to Mia, putting an arm around her shoulders The rese; Mia’s face was a fe to his sister, and then he noticed Lexi His gaze sharpened, grew so intense that she felt that fluttering start in her chest again No one had ever looked at her like that before, as if everything about her was interesting
“You’re the new girl,” he said quietly, pushing the long blond hair out of his eyes
“She’sso wide her braces were a multicolored blur
His smile faded
“I’h he hadn’t asked her her name
He looked away from her, disinterested “I’m Zach ”