This Is Me From Now On (21 page)

Behind me, I could hear Nisha give a little disbelieving sniff.

Francesca peeked over my shoulder. “Anyway,” she said cheerfully, “what's been going on?”

“Not much,” Lily answered politely. “We're just, you know. Hanging out.”

“Oh,” Francesca said. “Sounds like fun.”

There was a weird pause.

“Hey, we got back our Attic Project,” I said. “We did great.”

“We did?” Francesca's face lit up. “Oh, Evie, we should celebrate!”

“How?”

“I'm not sure. Wait, I just had an absolutely
epic
idea: Why don't we all go to I Scream and get big embarrassing sundaes? My treat.” She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out two crisp twenty-dollar bills. Something told me the money was from Mimi, as a parting gift.

“That sounds perfect,” I said.

“I don't know,” Nisha said slowly. She glanced at Lily.

“Why not?”

“Well for one thing, Evie, it's too cold for ice cream.”

“There aren't any rules when it comes to ice cream,” I said firmly. “Besides, if I'm going to see Zane, I need my best friends with me. And that means you.”

Nisha sighed. Then she nodded. “All right,” she said. “Sure.”

Lily smiled at me. “Okay if I check on Jimmy first? It's on the way.”

“Who's Jimmy?” Francesca asked eagerly.

“A hairy old guy with a smell issue,” Nisha said.

“Lily's dog,” I explained. “A real sweetheart.”

“Oh, lovely, I absolutely
adore
old dogs,” Francesca cried. She did that heart-attack thing. “Old dogs are like poets, don't you think? They have such deep, deep souls.”

Nisha gave me a look like,
Please tell me she didn't say that.
But I just grinned back at her and shrugged. It was hard to imagine LilyNishaEvieFrancesca, but who knew, maybe it could work. And now we'd be going out for big, embarrassing sundaes. That was definitely a start.

I grabbed my cell phone and my Bubblelicious, and checked to make sure my amber necklace was clasped tightly around my neck. Then all four of us ran down the steps and out the door into the freezing sunshine.