“Please,” Liv snorts, “Like you’d get a mohawk.”
“But if I did, you know it’d be purple.”
That gets a little smile out of her. “Well, yeah.” She arranges herself cross-legged on her bed and looks at me with big, sad eyes. “It’s because of me, isn’t it?”
“No. Not in the way you think.” I cross the room and sit down next to her. She’s picking at her chipping nail polish, showering her lap in little blue flakes. “I admit the way you’re being treated—by grown women—is a pretty big turn off.”
“But that was because I…”
“Because you what? Hooked up with a guy that another girl liked? That happens every five minutes. It’s not an excuse for them to act like middle school mean girls.”
Liv dusts the polish flecks off her lap, then goes right back to picking her nails. “Okay, I admit Peyton’s a bitch, but some of the other girls were nice.”
“And so are a lot of girls who aren’t in a sorority,” I say. “Like you and me.”
She grins for a moment before her face droops yet again. “Butyou—you were made to be in a sorority.”
Ugh. Not what I want to hear. “You mean made by mymom. This week showed me it’s what she wants, not what I want.”
“Speaking of your mom, how are you gonna break it to her?”
I groan and flop onto my back on her bed. “Can I just lie and pretend I joined GKA?”
Liv barks a laugh. “You can try.”
Yeah, Mom knows every detail of sorority life. She’d be on to me within a week.
From Liv’s bed, I have a full view of my neglected faerie wings on the top shelf of my wardrobe. A sudden shot of energy brings me to my feet and sends me across the room to retrieve them. They nolonger smell like beer and smoke, but they’re bent beyond all recognition.
Liv flops onto her side. “What are you doing?”
I turn the wings this way and that, inspecting them from all angles. “I’m gonna fix these.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” I use my desk chair as a step stool so I can hold the wings up on the wall between the bookshelf and my bed. “What do you think?”
She props up on an elbow. “Actually, that’s kinda pretty.”
I fiddle with the height and position. “If they’re here, they’d catch the light from the window.” There’s a silver thread woven in the tulle that would sparkle in the afternoon sun.
“I’ll bet the art supply shop has craft wire,” Liv offers. “Let’s go this weekend.”
I set the wings atop the bookshelf, arranging them carefully like they’re already mended. “Alright, it’s a plan.”
The next night, Mom calls me, all fired-up to hear which sorority I’ve joined. Over the past twenty-four hours, I’ve been rehearsing this conversation in my mind. I’ve considered telling her I went through the process but didn’t get any bids from my top choices. I’ve also been tempted to say I joined DRB, hoping it will dampen her enthusiasm for sorority talk. But mostly I’ve been trying to find the right words to use so she can understand the truth.
“So what are you?” She’s breathless with excitement. “KPT? DAE? GKA?”
“Ummm.” I can’t remember a single phrase I planned to use.
“None of those?”
“No.” I bite the bullet. “I dropped out.”
“Of school or Rush?”
I’m aghast. “Not school!”
