Taylor said again. “You know, in honor of our former friends. Or enemies. Sometimes it’s hard to know what category to put them in.”
“Devils? Isn’t that kind of harsh? They’re not devils,” I said.
“Well, they’re certainly not angels,” Olivia said. “We must have been on the same wavelength. I brought deviled eggs.”
Taylor held her nose as Olivia pried open the red Ziploc container. “I hate deviled eggs.”
“Really? I love them.” I leaned in to pick one up.
Taylor spoke in a nasal tone, still holding her nose. “They smell funny. Plus, they have weird orange powder sprinkled on top.”
“Paprika.” I swallowed the deviled egg and looked around the kitchen sheepishly. Olivia and Taylor were staring at me. “What? Are we not eating yet?” I asked.
“If you’re so worried, don’t have any,” Olivia said to Taylor. “We’ll save them all for Madison.” She snapped the cover back on and slid the container to me. I put them into the fridge.
Taylor reached into her canvas tote bag and took out a large jar. “I also brought dill pickles. I was thinking that what we do tonight will get us out of a pickle.”
Olivia licked a gob of marshmallow off her thumb. “I eat pickles like five times a week. It hasn’t helped.”
“Yes, but that was before you were trying to focus,” Taylor said in a very serious voice.
Olivia started laughing. “You sound crazy.”
“Oh, and you don’t?” Taylor teased back.
“Pickles, deviled eggs, and marshmallows. We’re going to get so sick. Aren’t we?” I asked, laughing. “I made Cassidy’s favorite snack. So, we’ve got all the bases covered. We can eat their favorite foods and really rich food with a devilish aspect to it. Or we can just, like, eat nothing and not get sick. Come on, let’s get started.”
“Eating?” asked Olivia.
“Meeting. Let’s get what we need. The sun’s going down,” I said.
“Do your powers run out at dark or something?” Taylor teased. “We have all night, right?”
“So what do we do first?” asked Olivia.
“First, let’s go in the living room. I have a box there—did you guys bring things to put in storage?” We’d planned to take something important from eachof us that represented that time in our lives when we were pals with the mean girls, and put everything into a box, to cut those connections, too. We wouldn’t burn them, though, just in case there was a time when we got nostalgic and wanted to have them back. Somehow I didn’t think that would happen, but you never knew. Besides, I was sure some of the things in the box would stink up the house if we tried to burn them.
Taylor took off her Shawn Johnson pendant. “Kayley and I bought matching ones after the Beijing Olympics. I still love Shawn Johnson, but …” She placed the pendant in the box.
“Olivia, you’re next,” I said.
“This is good. Really, really good.” Olivia reached into her brown shopping bag and pulled out a towel. She unwrapped the towel, and lifted out a brightly colored ceramic plate. “For Alexis’s tenth birthday party, we made plates at Paint Your Plate. Look at all the little messages we put on there. And I drew a picture of her dog. Of course, now her
dog
won’t even talk to me.” We started laughing, but as Olivia handed the plate over to me to put into the box, it slipped from her hand.
The plate fell onto the tile floor surrounding the fireplace and smashed into a dozen pieces. “Oh, no—I’m so sorry!” I said.
“It’s not your fault—I’m the one who dropped it.” Olivia leaned down to pick up the pieces; there were three large pieces, and several small ones.
“I think that’s bad luck,” Taylor said. “Seven years?
We’ll be in college by the time it wears off.”
“No, that’s mirrors. Besides, I wasn’t going to be using the plate anymore, right?” Olivia laughed as she put the three big pieces of the plate into the box. I grabbed the small broom we kept by
Susan Hill
Ann Bryant
Natalie Dae
Jasinda Wilder
Dean Koontz
JT Sawyer
Hubert Selby Jr.
Harlan Coben
Kit Morgan
Lj McEvoy