Plum took a deep breath.
“I’m here—we’re here—because I wanted to do something fun.” Plum made herself look up from the floor even though it was where her eyes wanted to stay. “I wanted to be important. Like my sister, Peach. I wanted to see what it felt like to be her.” Plum sighed. “If I’m being completely honest, I wanted to pretend to be her. You know. For a change.”
“What’s wrong with the way you are?” Marlowe asked gently.
“There’s nothing more valuable than being yourself!” Jude exclaimed. He hopped on one foot and pumped a fist. “Be authentic! That’s what I always tell my fans!”
Plum smiled at his attempt to cheer her up and didn’t call out the fact that he seemed to vacillate between personalities when he was “on” versus when he was “off.”
“Thanks, Jude.” Plum turned to Marlowe. “And, yeah, I know I’m supposed to be happy with who I am. It’s just it’s hard when you feel like you’re left out of everything. And you go online, and there’s your sister . . .” Plum didn’t know how to express it. The feeling of looking in through a window. Of being invisible. The empty feeling inside, even as she could scroll and scroll and feast her eyes on the life Peach had created for herself.
Away from her.
“And I miss her, too,” Plum went on, glossing over the hardest part. “She doesn’t miss me though. Why should she?” It was hard to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
“Oh, Plum, I’m sure she misses you!” Sofia said. She put a hand on Plum’s arm.
Plum felt a surge of reassurance, but she still mumbled, “Sure doesn’t act like it.”
“Well, when she arrives, I bet it’ll be tomorrow, you can talk it out with her!” Cici said firmly. The petite YouTuber walked over, followed by Shelley.
“Yeah,” Shelley said. “You can tell her how you feel! She’s an Aries, right? Tomorrow is a good day to make a new start for Aries. And then we can all leave on the boat!”
“I . . . I don’t know,” Plum stammered, trying to avoid actually lying, since she and her friends had agreed that they wouldn’t reveal that Peach wasn’t actually going to be joining them on the island.
“No, we’ve got your back!” Jude walked over to join the group of girls standing in a loose circle around Plum.
“Um, thanks, but I don’t know if—” Plum began. “Anyway, the point is, my friends shouldn’t be here. They don’t deserve any of this. So, um. Yeah. I guess pressuring them into coming with me is officially the worst thing I’ve ever done.”
“Besides start a fight in eighth grade and get sent to the principal’s office?” Sofia wore a slight smile. Plum felt the knot of tension that Sofia was mad at her loosen slightly with the memory and the smile.
“Nah, that doesn’t count,” Plum said. “I’d do that all over again.”
Sofia laughed and bumped into Plum’s side. “Dork.”
Plum bumped her hip back into Sofia’s. “Goober.”
“I’ve never been sent to the principal’s office,” Marlowe interjected in a slightly haughty tone.
Since she’d been feeling it herself, Plum had no trouble spotting the tone underneath. Marlowe was jealous. She felt left out.
Plum lunged over and drew Marlowe into a one-armed hug.
“Aw, poor Lowe!” she cooed. “If we get out of this—no, when we get out of this—we’ll make that a goal when we get back home.”
Sofia snorted. Her sharp chin jutted out as she pursed her lips in a teasing yeah, sure pout. “Don’t act like such a badass, Plum,” she said. “I still remember you freaking out about getting grounded.”
“Well, so were you,” Plum said.
“What’d you do?” Jude asked curiously. “I got sent to the principal’s office once for leaving campus without a pass. But it was to do a fan meet at the mall, so it was worth it.”
“Oh yeah?” Cici asked. “How many fans?”
“Five!” Jude chirped. “We got pretzels and walked around! It was great!”
“Well, this one here,” Sofia said, jerking a thumb at Plum, “got into a fight with two girls who were giving me a hard time.”
Plum actually felt herself standing taller. Yeah, sometimes she did things right. It could happen.
“I dumped my water bottle on that one girl’s head,” Plum said, laughing. “She was being such a bigot, trying to cause trouble.”
“You dumped water on her head? That’s so cool!” Jude exclaimed, swooping his hand toward his crotch.
“Yeah, it was, actually.” Sofia gave Plum a soft smile. “Although I didn’t need any help. For the record.”
“Yeah, you’re both regular badasses,” Marlowe teased them.
Plum felt the warmth from her two best friends, and even a reflected warmth beyond that, as Cici, Shelley, and Jude were also smiling.
Then she looked out to the remaining group, watching them.
Sean and Jalen looked bored.
Warix looked annoyed. “Are they going to start braiding each other’s hair now?” he asked. “’Cause if so, note to the killer”—he looked around the room, open pleading in his eyes—“go ahead and kill me now. Seriously.”