“Maybe,” she says, and it’s impossible to tell whether or not she’s serious. “You never know.”

After school, I wait in the parking lot for Wendy. We’re going back to my house to study for a Jane Austen exam in Phibbs’s class. I can’t help but locate Christian’s Avalanche, parked in the back like always.

Wendy walks up and playfully punches me on the arm. “Tucker told me you were a queen today,” she says.

I drag my gaze away from Christian’s truck. “Yeah, I ruled. Literally.”

“I wish I’d seen you in your costume,” she says. “You should have come and gotten me at lunch. I could have helped you get ready.”

“Oh, you didn’t need to help me with the history class stuff,” I reply as if I hadn’t wanted to impose on her. But the truth is, I don’t know how to handle Angela and Wendy in the same space. How weird would it be to talk about normal things like school and boys now when I’m so used to talking about angel stuff with Angela? The last couple weeks I’ve mostly seen Wendy in class and at lunch, where I still sit at the Invisibles table. I’ve been busy with Angela working on our project most days after school.

“Ready for Jane Austen?” I ask.

“You know I’m crushing on Mr. Darcy, big-time,” she says.

“Oh, right,” I say distractedly, because I’ve spotted Christian and Kay.

They’re standing next to the silver truck, talking. Kay is smiling up at him. She leans into him as she talks, practically draping herself over him. He doesn’t seem to mind. They kiss, not a little peck, but a long, lingering kiss where she twines her arms around his neck and he curls his arms around her waist and pulls her close and lifts her up. Then he steps back and brushes his hand across her cheek, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. He says something. She nods. He opens the driver’s side door of the truck, and she climbs in. He hops in after her and closes the door. I don’t have a good view of what happens next, but the Avalanche doesn’t move. They aren’t driving anywhere.

They don’t look like a couple whose expiration date is almost up. They look happy.

“You’re not listening to me, are you?” says Wendy then, loudly.

I jump, startled, and look over at her. She has her head cocked slightly to one side, her blue eyes narrowed.

“Sorry,” I say quickly. I smile. “Did Tucker tell you that I had him executed today? It’s good to be queen.”

I expect her to lighten up, make some smart-aleck remark, but she just shakes her head.

“What?”

“Christian has a girlfriend, as you might have noticed,” she says. “I suggest you get over it.”

My mouth opens, then closes, then opens again.

“Hello, rude!” I finally sputter.

“It’s true.”

“You don’t know anything about it,” I shoot back.

“Well, maybe I would, if you ever bothered to talk to me anymore,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh, I see, you’re jealous now. Hence the rudeness.”

She looks away quickly in a way that confirms it—she’s jealous of Angela and all the time we’ve been spending together. “I’m sick of watching you drool over Christian Prescott like he’s a piece of meat, is all.”

It’s been a long day. And so I lose my temper.

“What’s it to you, Wen? It’s my life. Why don’t you stop being invisible for once and get your own?”

She stares at me for a long moment, her face slowly reddening, her eyes shining with the beginnings of tears that she’s too stubborn to let fall. She turns away. I can see her shoulders starting to shake.

“Wen—”

“Forget it,” she says. She picks up her backpack and slings it over her shoulder. “I thought I was your friend, for real, not just until you found somebody better. My mistake.”

“Whoa, Wendy, you are my friend,” I say, taking a step back. “I—”

“No offense, Clara, but sometimes it’s not all about you.”

I stare at her.

“I’m going to catch the bus home,” she says, pushing past me.

Chapter 10

Flying Lesson

I wish I could have had a fun spring break, some wild trip to Miami or even a simple road trip with my friends. But Wendy was still not talking to me (boy, can that girl ever hold a grudge!) and Angela was busy helping her mom with spring cleaning at the Pink Garter. So spring break consisted of seven fun-filled days cooped up in the house with Jeffrey, who was grounded because he’d won the Regional Wrestling Championships. Two weeks with no TV, no phone, no internet. I thought this was a bit excessive. Jeffrey was furious, Mom was cranky, and no amount of standing on the porch soaking in the sun could take away the chill inside the house.

It’s a relief to be back at school. At lunch I sit waiting for Angela to show up. I’m using a napkin to sop up the extra grease on a slice of pepperoni pizza when Wendy practically skips into the cafeteria. She gets in line for the fish and waves at the girls at the Invisibles table a little spastically. She’s wearing her I-can’t-wait-to-tell-you face. I’m guessing it involves prom.

I take a bite of soggy pizza and remind myself that I don’t want to go to prom. I’d so much rather stay home with Ben and Jerry and watch chick flicks with Mom, who needs some major R & R.

Why does this plan depress me so much?

“You’ll never guess what happened,” I pick up from Wendy as she flops down into the chair at the Invisibles table a few feet away. For a moment she meets my eyes, and I know that we both wish that we could get over our stupid fight and make up and then she’d be telling me all her exciting news.

“You got a date for prom?” asks Emma.

Wendy’s blue eyes sparkle. I wonder if a BFF victory squeal is going to be required in this situation.

“No,” she says. “Well, yes. I’m going with Jason Lovett. But that’s not my big news. I got the internship!”

“The internship,” Lindsey repeats blankly.

Of course! The internship in Montana that she’s been talking about nonstop since she found out about it! The one where all the vets graduated from Washington State. Come on, people! And you call yourselves her friends?

“At the All West Veterinary Hospital,” she explains.

“Oh, right,” says Lindsey vaguely. “The one in Bozeman?”

“Yes,” she says, sounding a bit out of breath. “I would have killed to get that internship. Practically all of the vets graduated from Washington State, which is my dream school, as you know.”

She glances at me again. I smile faintly. She looks away.

“Congrats!” the girls at the table are all saying practically in unison.

“Thanks.” She looks genuinely happy and proud and excited for the future, even without the victory squeal.

“Wait, does this mean you’re going to be gone all summer?” Audrey asks, frowning.

“June through August.”

“That’s great,” says Emma. “Now tell us about how Jason Lovett asked you.”

I can almost hear Wendy blush.

“Actually, I asked him.”

I lean forward and rest my chin in my hands, like I’m really bored and not listening in to everything that’s going on. I’m glad for Wendy. Jason seems like a good guy, a bit on the short side, big, hopeful brown eyes, a soft tenor voice that I hope for his sake deepens as he gets older. But nice. Somebody who will treat Wendy right.

Angela finally shows up. She tosses her brown paper lunch sack down on the table in front of me and slides into a chair. Intuitively her eyes flicker over to the Invisibles table, where Wendy and her friends are still going on about how she asked Jason.

“You should make up with her,” says Angela. “She’s over it, whatever it was. What was it, anyway, that got her panties in a bunch?”