15 
15 LATER THAT NIGHT I WANDERED DOWN THE hall toward Heather’s room. We’d finished dinner, and Heather had invited me to come to her room to watch movies and talk about what we were going to do tomorrow.
Heather was sitting cross-legged on her bed in flare-legged gray sweat pants and a baby-doll T-shirt. She was typing on her laptop, looking focused.
“Ooh,” I said, folding my arms and grinning. “Are you e-mailing a certain guy?”
Heather looked up as if I’d startled her. “What?”
I headed for a chair. “Hmm . . . I wonder. Troy! Are you e-mailing him?”
Heather closed her laptop lid. “No, I was IMing Julia.”
“Oh. How’s her break going?”
Heather got up and put her laptop on her desk. “Fine. She’s having fun. So let’s see what’s on TV before we start a movie.”
“Sure.”
I relaxed in the chair, putting my feet up on the ottoman. My dorm room was going to feel so small compared to this.
Heather turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. The Food Network for Kids popped up, and Paige’s green eyes and red hair filled the screen.
“And now,” Paige said, “I’m going to teach everyone how to make ten-minute quesadillas. They’re fast, fun, and supereasy to make.”
I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. Just hearing Paige’s voice, even through the TV screen, made me sad and angry at the same time.
“Nothing good on TV,” Heather said, switching on the DVD player. She glanced at me. “Has Paige texted you or anything since your fight?”
“A bunch of times,” I said. “She keeps saying that she wants to apologize. I don’t know—I mean, she’s my best friend and I miss her. But I’m not ready to hear her apology yet. I know she’s sorry, but I need time first.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Heather said. “What she said to you at the dance was awful. And this probably sounds harsh, but she needs to take some time too and come up with a really good apology.”
“I agree,” I said. “I don’t want her to apologize if she doesn’t completely understand why I was so upset. I know she didn’t mean what she said, but she still said it. The fact that she would just makes me wonder if we’re not as close as I thought we were. And I really, really hope that’s not true.”
“I think your friendship with Paige will be fine,” Heather said. “When you’re ready, you’ll listen to her apology, and then you can decide for yourself if whatever she says is enough.”
I nodded.
“Thanks for talking to me about it,” I said. “I’d probably go crazy if I didn’t have anyone to talk to.”
“We’re not making this, like, a regular thing,” Heather said, looking at me sideways. “Call a hotline if you need to vent.”And the old Heather was back.