Husky by Justin Sayre

ever.
    â€œIt’s not my birthday party. It’s so not. It’s just a thing to do with the girls for my birthday. It’s, like, a girl thing.”
    â€œI totally get it,” I say. But I totally don’t. What isa girl thing? Haven’t I been doing girl things with you my whole life? So why can’t I go now? What makes this girl thing so different? Why can’t I be made over with everyone else? If anyone needs it, it’s me. Honest.
    â€œYou’re my best friend,” Sophie says, finally looking at me. And for some reason I believe her. I am her best friend, just not her actual best friend. That’s Allegra. Everything seems so loud all of a sudden. The music still blares and makes no sense. I wish I had the quiet again. “It’s just a thing I’m doing with Allegra. It’s not a big deal.”
    But it is. It’s the biggest deal. It feels like the end of something right here in my living room and I hate it. And I don’t know if Sophie feels like that, I can’t see it on her face. But maybe that’s how she wants it. I look so hard at her, trying to figure her out, but she just looks away.
    â€œAllegra does this thing, when you talk to her, if you get a chance, where she sort of mouths the words you’re saying while you’re saying them.”
    â€œLike her mouth can’t stop moving or she’ll die?” I ask.
    â€œYes. Totally.” Sophie laughs. “It feels like she already knows what I’m going to say. Sometimes hermouth matches up exactly with the words. It’s so nuts.” Sophie laughs again.
    â€œWell, what do you guys talk about?” I ask. I guess I need to know why I’m being replaced.
    â€œI don’t know. Stuff,” says Sophie, playing with her hair.
    â€œLike us stuff?” I ask.
    â€œWhat’s us stuff?” Sophie says, looking right at me. And I wonder if she does this with Allegra. Tells her about something weird that I do so they both can laugh. And I hate the feeling of being lied to and having to listen to Sophie’s crappy music. Her phone rings, and the sound of it dings so loudly through the room. She runs over to answer it. It’s Allegra. This is awful. Sophie answers it like she’s been waiting for it, which she probably has, and I just sit there and wait. It’s worse than the music.
    At one point she looks over and says, “Hey, we’re all going over to Ellen’s tomorrow, will you come with?” I don’t answer, because at first I don’t know if she’s talking to me. But when I figure it out, I say of course. I have to go. I have to try, don’t I? If there isn’t any us stuff, what else can I do?

CHAPTER 6
    By the time I get up the next morning, Ellen has messaged me at least four
HELP!
s and one
please
. She doesn’t want Allegra around either, but I guess she’s trying to make an effort for Sophie. I see the messages, but I don’t answer. I don’t know if I want to go. I keep thinking of what to type back, and then stop. Then she says Hannah asked if I was coming. That’s just mean. She knows I can never say no to Hannah ever. Ellen’s the worst. The Worst Evah. So now I have to go.
    Ellen knows I’ll want Hannah there because I’ll need a buffer. She has her friend Charlie from soccer camp. Charlie is a nice guy, I guess, but he doesn’t really say much, so it’s sort of hard to tell. He seems nice and he’s almost always smiling. He smiles a lot at me. Everything Isay to him is super funny, funnier than I ever even thought it would be. I never get why Charlie hangs around with Ellen. They’re total opposites. Also, Charlie’s crazy tall now. In the last few months he grew at least a foot. So now it looks like he’s babysitting Ellen when they’re around together. He bends his really long neck and listens to all the mean things she barks out the side of her mouth,