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  “I may have said something to that effect,” Tig admitted. The girls gasped.

  “And you thought I engineered this whole thing with Paris playing the bass?” Robbie said. “Don’t you know me better than that? It was just the way things played out. I didn’t plan any of it!”

  “I’m sorry,” said Tig.

  “Sorry only goes so far,” said Robbie.

  “Kyra!” Uncle Nick called from the driveway. “Let’s roll!”

  “Wish I could stay longer,” Kyra said. “But you girls have a great time.”

  When Kyra was gone, the girls stared at Tig.

  “I can explain,” she said.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  It was a good thing the girls were spending the night at Tig’s and had no means of a fast getaway; otherwise, they might not have agreed to hear her out.

  They all went inside and sat on the floor and on the bed in Tig’s room. The tension was palpable as they waited for Tig to explain herself.

  Tig took a deep breath before she began. “First, I need to say that I’m sincerely sorry.”

  “Then you did say those things,” Robbie said.

  “Yes,” Tig said. Sure, for a second she’d considered denying everything and saying that Kyra was lying. But she knew from the lies she’d told to cover her true feelings for Will that lies could easily turn into a spark that starts an inferno. She also knew that if she got caught, everything would just be ten times worse.

  “I thought maybe Kyra was lying,” Claire said. “I can’t decide which is worse—Kyra lying or you saying such awful things. Tig, why would you do something like that?”

  “Because . . .,” Tig said. She looked down. “Because I was jealous, okay? I admit it. I was jealous.”

  “Jealous of what?” Paris asked.

  “Of everything!” Tig replied. “I mean, look at you! Do you own a mirror? You’re all, like, perfect and stuff, and to top it off, you just took to the bass like a duck takes to water, and . . . well . . . most of all, I was jealous of your friendship with Robbie.”

  “Why would you be jealous of that?” Robbie said.

  “I guess I kind of thought of the two of us as best friends,” Tig said.

  “I thought we were all best friends,” Olivia said. “All of us.”

  “We are,” Tig said. “But . . . I don’t know. I just . . . Robbie has always seemed to really get me, and we’ve always gotten along so well, and she’s so cool . . . the coolest person in school.”

  “I’d have to agree with that,” said Claire.

  “And it made me feel cool that Robbie was my friend. And, well, I kind of thought . . . It sounds so stupid. . . .”

  “Thought what?” Robbie said. “Spit it out.”

  “I thought I was your favorite,” said Tig. It sounded even more stupid out loud than it had in her head, which was probably why Robbie started snickering. “Don’t laugh,” Tig said. “I feel ridiculous enough already.”

  “You’ve got to admit it’s pretty kindergartenish,” Robbie said. “I’m not supposed to be friends with anybody but you?”

  “No, you can still be friends with us,” said Olivia. “As long as Tig’s your favorite.” Everyone started giggling. Even Tig.

  “Okay, okay, okay,” Robbie said, and everyone got quiet again. “So now we know your motive. But I still don’t like that you had it in for Paris.”

  “I know,” Tig said.

  “You said I set your teeth on edge?” Paris said.

  “Something like that,” said Tig. “I don’t remember my exact wording.”

  “I’m sorry, P,” said Robbie.

  “Well, it’s kind of hard to be mad at her for hating me because I’m so beautiful and talented,” Paris said. She laughed. “I mean, I’m just sayin’.”

  Everyone giggled again. Tig was shocked. Paris was being so cool about it all and was letting her off the hook. She didn’t have to. Paris had every right to be angry and could have easily used this opportunity to turn Robbie against her.

  “Now I really feel bad,” said Tig. “Paris, I didn’t give you a chance, and I was wrong. I hope you can forgive me, and I hope we can be friends.” She looked around at the other girls. “All of us. No favorites.”

  The other girls smiled. “Works for me,” Olivia said.

  “Me too,” Claire said. “Robbie and Paris?”

  Paris shrugged. “Shoot, far as I’m concerned, it’s yesterday’s cornbread.”

  Everyone looked at Robbie for the translation. “She means she considers this whole misunderstanding ancient history.” The girls nodded.

  “What about you, Robbie?” Olivia said. “Can you look at it as old cornbread too?”

  “I don’t know,” Robbie said. “Tig, I still can’t believe you would think that my bringing Paris into the band was some sort of evil plot to take over the world. That ticks me off.”

  “I know,” said Tig. “That wasn’t fair. But it did all fall into place rather neatly. You can see where I might have wondered, can’t you?”

  “Maybe. But you should have just asked me instead of talking about me behind my back. And what’s this ‘showing us who’s boss’ business?”

  “I don’t think those were my exact words,” Tig said. “But whatever words I used, just know that they were said in anger. I should have just come to you and been honest. Can you forgive me?”

  Robbie paused a moment before saying, “I guess I don’t have much choice. I mean, seeing as how you’re the boss and all.”

  Tig threw a pillow at her. Robbie threw it back. Then Paris picked one up and threw it at Tig also, followed by Olivia and Claire doing the same. “I give! I give!” Tig said. “I’m so not the boss!”

  “Can we eat now?” Olivia said. “Tension makes me hungry.”

  “Everything makes you hungry,” said Robbie. “And yet you’re still a stick.”

  “I know,” said Olivia. “So let’s eat!”

  As they gorged on the pasta dish Mrs. Ripley had prepared for supper, Tig wished she could just erase everything that had happened that night with Kyra. She was so relieved that her friends had forgiven her, and she was especially blown away by Paris’s generosity about the whole thing. She hated to bring any of it up again. But just because the girls had been willing to sweep her mistake under the rug didn’t change the fact that something had to be done about Kyra.

  “Guys, what about Kyra?” Tig asked. “What’s our next move there?”

  “Yeah, that’s a tough one,” Olivia said. “I mean, I know I was all, ‘Let’s try to see things from her point of view,’ but sheesh! She was so vindictive tonight. It seemed kind of like she enjoyed the whole scene.”

  “I agree,” said Claire. “I’d never seen that side to Kyra before. It kind of makes me afraid to be friends with her.”

  “Yeah,” said Robbie, “I’m not a fan of temper tantrums. That was not cool.”

  “So what do you suggest we do?” Tig asked.

  “Ignore her,” Robbie replied. “Like a mom who walks off from a kicking and screaming toddler.”

  “Aww, I think y’all need to cut the girl some slack,” said Paris. “If my parents were splitting up, I’d be pretty messed up too.”

  “I guess you’re right,” said Olivia. “But I’ve got my own problems without Kyra’s drama.”

  “What problems?” asked Paris. “Is everything okay?”

  “It’s my boyfriend, Will,” said Olivia.

  Tig tried not to look too interested, but her stomach flipped when Will’s name was mentioned. Tig thanked her lucky stars she hadn’t told Kyra or anyone else about that day in the hall last year. Before Will had asked Olivia out, he’d all but told Tig he couldn’t stop thinking about her. And thank goodness she hadn’t confessed to Kyra that, ever since school had started this year, she couldn’t stop thinking about Will, either.

  “What’s up with Will?” asked Robbie. “You guys break up?”

  “No,” said Olivia.

  �
��What, then? Is he being a jerk?” Paris asked.

  “Not at all,” Olivia replied. “He’s as sweet as can be.”

  “Then what’s the problem?” asked Claire.

  “That’s just it,” said Olivia. “I don’t really know. I can’t put my finger on it. I guess it’s woman’s intuition. I can just feel that something’s not right. Things are sort of weird with him.”

  “Weird how?” asked Tig.

  “I don’t know if I can point to any specific thing,” said Olivia. “I just have this strange feeling that he’s not as into me as I am into him.”

  “And you don’t know why you feel that way?” asked Robbie.

  “No, and that’s what’s so strange. It’s not that he’s ever rude or even distant. But I’m just so crazy about him, you know? I mean, I think about him all the time! And when we’re together, I can hardly stop looking at him, he’s so gorgeous. And I want to hold his hand or touch his arm or tell him how much I like him constantly!”

  “And he doesn’t feel the same?” Claire said.

  “I don’t think so,” said Olivia. “I think he likes me just fine, but he’s not crazy about me. Like, I mean, I can’t see him standing out in a rainstorm and telling me it’s not over and then passionately kissing me and refusing to ever let me go.”

  “For crying out loud, this is middle school, not The Notebook,” said Robbie.

  “Maybe I expect too much, or want too much,” said Olivia. “Maybe I just don’t know how guys are supposed to act with their girlfriends because I’ve never had a boyfriend before Will. But I just don’t think he’s at the same level about me as I am about him. I wonder sometimes . . . do you think maybe he likes someone else?”

  Tig almost choked on her pasta. “Went down the wrong pipe,” she said when everyone looked at her.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing like that,” Claire said.

  “Yeah, some guys are just not capable of being swept away,” said Paris. “My sister, Jade, is seventeen, and she’s had a lot of boyfriends.”

  “Are her boyfriends like Will?” Olivia asked. “Nice but kind of . . . distant?”

  “I wouldn’t say distant,” said Paris. “But some guys are less showy about how they feel. That’s not always a bad thing, though. “You really don’t want a guy who can’t live without you. Those guys are clingy and needy and it’s just not good. Not good at all.”

  “Ooh!” said Robbie. “Like that guy who got down on his knees and begged Jade not to break up with him?”

  Paris groaned. “How uncomfortable was that?!”

  “You guys were there?” Claire said.

  “Yes,” said Robbie. “It was the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. Big linebacker, sobbing like a baby in their living room, begging Jade to take him back. Promising he’d do anything she said if she’d give him another chance.”

  “Eww,” said Tig. “Did she take him back?”

  “No way,” said Paris. “I think all he did was remind her why she broke up with him in the first place.”

  “Why are some people so desperate to be loved?” asked Claire.

  “We could ask Kyra that,” said Tig. “I swear, at least once a week with her, it’s ‘I wish I had a boyfriend’ or ‘Why doesn’t Crush of the Week like me back?’ Not hearing all that constantly may be the one upside of her not speaking to us.”

  “And to think, Olivia,” said Robbie, “you were going to find the perfect guy for each of us. Kyra really blew her chance, huh?” She laughed.

  “Wait a minute,” said Paris. “Maybe that’s it.”

  “What’s it?” asked Robbie.

  “Look, I know y’all are mad at Kyra,” said Paris. “And to be a hundred percent honest, she hasn’t exactly won me over with her carrying-on tonight. But she’s going through a terrible time right now. And when it comes down to it, blood’s always thicker than water, and she’s Tig’s cousin. No matter how mad Tig is right now, there’s no changing that. This has to get resolved; they can’t feud forever. Robbie, you said Kyra’s acting like a toddler, and you know what all toddlers want? Attention. Tig, you said she’s dying to have a boyfriend. So it seems to me like all we need to do to get her to straighten up and fly right is to find her a fella.”

  “Problem is,” said Tig, “all the guys at school kind of know what Kyra’s like. They can smell the desperation on her. It’s not attractive.”

  “All the guys at your school know what Kyra’s like,” Paris said with a raised eyebrow and a grin. “But not the guys at my school.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The girls spent the next hour logged in to Paris’s social media accounts as they launched Operation Find Kyra a Boyfriend.

  “What about this one?” Paris asked. The girls looked at his photos and read his profile.

  “He’s cute,” said Tig. “But all these pictures are of hunting and fishing. Kyra’s an animal lover. She’d hate that.”

  “I’d bet money that if she thought he was interested,” said Robbie, “she’d be out in the deer stand with him.”

  Tig smiled. “You’re probably right,” she said. “But if this plan is going to work, we’ve got to find Kyra the perfect guy. Then she’ll forget about being mad at us, feel better about her parents, and get happy again. Then we can put this drama behind us once and for all.”

  “What about this one?” Paris asked.

  Tig looked at the photo. “He looks all right,” she said. “What’s his story?” Tig read his profile. “What is he, a genius or something? Looks like he’s the president of every academic club in your whole school.”

  “Pretty much,” said Paris.

  “What makes you think he’d be a good match for Kyra?” asked Robbie.

  “For starters, I think he’d be interested in her,” Paris said.

  “Why’s that?” asked Tig.

  “He’s kind of girl crazy,” said Paris. “I think he’s asked out almost every girl in eighth grade, and even a few seventh graders.”

  “So he gets around a lot?” Robbie said.

  “No, that’s just it,” said Paris. “He asks, but they say no.”

  “Has he asked you out?” said Olivia.

  “Oh yeah,” said Paris.

  “And what did you say?” asked Claire.

  “I told him no way,” Paris said. “It was the homecoming dance last year, and I said no for a couple of different reasons. First of all, my daddy’s not about to have me going on dates in middle school. So I couldn’t have gone even if I’d wanted to.”

  “And why didn’t you want to?” asked Claire.

  “Because,” said Paris, “he’d already asked four other girls ahead of me. I couldn’t have said yes; it was a matter of self-respect. I don’t play second fiddle.”

  “Or fifth fiddle, apparently,” said Robbie.

  “All right, let’s say your dad would’ve allowed you to go to the dance with him and he’d asked you first. Would you have said yes then?” asked Tig.

  “No,” Paris replied.

  “Why not? What’s wrong with him?” Robbie said. “He’s not uncute.”

  “Milo’s . . . I don’t know . . . different,” said Paris. “I just don’t need a guy who tries that hard. Besides, he’s hard for me to talk to.”

  “What does he do, sit there and talk about nuclear physics?” said Robbie.

  “Not exactly,” said Paris, “but I’m sure he could if he wanted to. It’s more like he just can’t help but put some geniusy spin on everything. Like one day, somebody was talking about some murder story he’d seen on the news, and Milo started comparing it to some novel the seniors in high school have to read for the advanced placement class—something Russian, a hard-to-pronounce writer’s name.”

  “Dostoyevsky? Crime and Punishment?” Robbie asked.

  Tig laughed. “Maybe somebody else we know would be a better match for him,” she said. Robbie lightly shoved her.

  “Yeah, I think that was the name of it,” said Paris. “And nobod
y knew what to say, because, of course, none of us knew what he was talking about. So everybody just kind of stopped talking after that and wandered off in different directions. I mean, the guy knows how to clear a room.”

  “So does Tig!” Robbie said. “Hey, maybe she’s the better match! Tig, you could play ‘Gotcha’ for him!”

  “Burn!” said Olivia.

  “Shut up, Chan!” Tig said, even though she couldn’t help but laugh a little.

  “Oh, you guys, it’s too soon,” Claire said. “Don’t make Tig feel bad about that again!”

  “What are y’all talking about?” asked Paris.

  “Just my public humiliation last spring when I tried to throw together a show when Claire was sick and Robbie was out of town. It didn’t go well.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Robbie. “I couldn’t resist.”

  “You owed me one,” said Tig. “Fair is fair.”

  “Anyway, back to this Milo fellow,” said Claire.

  “Yeah,” said Paris. “So he’s super-intellectual—there’s that. But also, he’s so honest.”

  “Honest is good, isn’t it?” asked Olivia.

  “Not always,” said Paris. “See, Milo’s really good at math. I mean really good. He’s gotten a perfect score on the math section of every standardized test we’ve ever taken. One time the governor even came to present him an award because of it. And I think because he’s so good at math, he thinks everything is just a problem to solve. He doesn’t know how to leave well enough alone, so he keeps on running his mouth even when he oughta hush up. Like that time he called me and asked me to homecoming. Do you know what he told me?”

  “What?” the girls asked.

  “He said, ‘I’ve already asked four other girls who said no, and you were the next girl on my list.’”

  The girls started giggling.

  “No, he did not!” Olivia said, aghast.

  “Oh yes, he did,” said Paris.

  “And yet you were able to resist him?” Robbie said. “A charmer like that?”

  “See? That’s what I mean,” said Paris. “He doesn’t know how to play it cool or flirt or hang back. His brain is so big, it’s like everything is an equation, and he’s got to solve it the quickest way there is.”