When Alyssa’s alarm went off an hour earlier than usual on Thursday morning, she wondered for a moment why she’d set it so early before she remembered: She was waking up early to knit, just as she had done for the past two mornings. Her early-morning knitting sessions were paying off—she was almost halfway through one scarf so far. It was a simple stitch she was doing, but she was using different shades of red and pink to create an ombré effect. The ombré design had been Ryder’s suggestion. They had FaceTimed on Monday night after Becca had left, and Alyssa had filled him in on her new project. Ryder had been full of ideas for ways that Alyssa could design the scarves so they looked special without a ton of extra effort or complicated patterns.

It was great to talk to Ryder about what’s going on with Becca, Rachel, and Elle, too, Alyssa thought. He really understood why it’s so important that I help the three of them get back together.

“I would have hated to feel like I had to choose between you and Lauren,” Ryder had said. “I think you’re right—these girls just need a little push from their new friend, Alyssa, to help them see they belong together!”

Ryder’s advice had been to try to come up with ways for everyone to spend time together. “That’s kind of what happened with you and Lauren,” he’d recalled. “Remember? I met you after I was already friends with Lauren. Then the two of you got really close after I started knitting club and you spent so much time together learning how to knit from the master,” he’d joked.

Alyssa rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and smiled at the memory of her conversation with Ryder. Stretching, she glanced at the calendar on her desk. December 13. Just twelve days until Christmas. Eleven days until Becca’s aunt needed the scarves for her store. Eight days until the holiday-wish essay for Mrs. Ramirez was due.

Don’t get ahead of yourself, Alyssa thought as a tiny pang of worry about everything she had to do stirred inside her. When Alyssa wasn’t worrying about making enough scarves for the deadline, she was actually enjoying the time spent knitting. Sometimes when she really got into a groove, her mind would wander while she worked. She’d given some thought to her holiday-wish essay, but most of the time her mind wandered to another topic: what she could do to fix things between Elle, Rachel, and Becca. She was sure that Ryder was right—if they just spent some time together, they’d realize that they could still be friends. Her plan had been to start small and see if they could all eat lunch together. Alyssa had eaten lunch with Elle and Rachel every day this week, but so far, she hadn’t had the opportunity to ask Becca to join them again, since she was always sitting at the soccer table.

It might be time for plan B, Alyssa thought as she gathered the red ombré scarf from the basket on her dresser. She spread the scarf out on her bed and studied her work, looking for any loose stitches or mistakes. The scarf was coming along beautifully. She’d made more progress last night than she realized.

In fact, Alyssa had made a lot of progress on the scarf and with the calico cat the night before. After dinner, she’d gone outside with her knitting and sat on a lawn chair near the driveway, which seemed to be the cat’s favorite spot. Alyssa had spotted her there the day after Becca’s visit, and Cody had reported seeing her there one evening after soccer practice. She had taken to leaving a bowl of cat food out near the driveway every morning and was pleased to see that the bowl was always empty after school.

After about twenty minutes, Dasher, as Alyssa had begun calling the cat, had emerged out of the wooded area across the street and ambled over to Alyssa’s driveway. She ate a few bites from the food bowl that Alyssa had just refilled and then lay down a few feet away from where Alyssa was seated and began to lazily clean herself. Alyssa grinned now as she remembered explaining to the cat why she was calling her Dasher—partly because it was the name of one of Santa’s reindeer and partly because the cat seemed to like to dash away whenever she felt like it. It seemed to Alyssa that Dasher understood and even liked her name. She blinked her big yellow eyes at Alyssa and continued to contentedly groom herself. Before going inside, Alyssa got up from her chair very slowly and crouched down right next to the cat. She extended her hand and Dasher actually sniffed it! Alyssa held her breath and gave the cat a gentle scratch under her chin. Dasher stiffened up a little at first but didn’t dash away. Deciding not to push her luck, Alyssa said good night and headed inside.

My mind is wandering again, and I haven’t even started knitting yet, Alyssa thought. I need to stop daydreaming and start knitting! She gathered up the scarf and put it back in her knitting basket and decided to head downstairs to work in the living room. She padded down the stairs silently and set the basket on the coffee table. Then she plugged in the lights on the tree so she could enjoy their twinkling while she worked.

Alyssa quickly fell into a groove with her knitting. She was almost to the halfway point on the scarf and was determined to knit twelve rows of the raspberry color she was currently working with. This section of the scarf was where the reds would transition to pinks, and Alyssa thought the raspberry color was the perfect choice. She hoped Becca’s aunt would agree! The next forty-five minutes flew by, and Alyssa almost couldn’t believe it when she heard her mom’s alarm go off. It was time to put the knitting away and get ready for school already!

“That’s the second time you’ve yawned so far,” Elle told Alyssa at lunch later that day. “Was math class really that boring?”

“Sorry, I’m just tired,” Alyssa replied. She put down her tuna sandwich. “I’ve been waking up early to work on my knitting, and I think the lost sleep is just catching up with me. And if I’m being honest… math was pretty boring!”

“I knew it!” Elle laughed.

Just then, Rachel sat down, dropping her bagged lunch onto the table with a dramatic sigh.

“Everything okay?” Elle asked.

Rachel shrugged. Alyssa thought this might be the first time she’d ever seen Rachel without a big grin on her face.

“I got a seventy-eight on my Earth science test after studying for about a million hours. I was asking Mr. Jackson if there’s some extra credit I can do.” She opened her lunch bag and pulled out her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “But he doesn’t offer extra credit. He said I should just focus on doing better on the next test, but I don’t know how I could study any harder than I already did!”

Alyssa nodded sympathetically. “I hate when that happens. Maybe you need a study buddy or a tutor? At my old school, they had this peer-tutoring thing and their motto was Study smarter, not harder! My friend Lauren tutored kids in almost every subject because she was crazy smart.” Alyssa took a sip of her cranberry juice. “I wish I could help you, but science isn’t exactly my strongest class, either.”

Elle drummed her fingers on the table, deep in thought. “Alyssa might be onto something here, Rachel. Maybe you can study with someone in your class who’s doing really well? Studying smarter makes a lot of sense. Who’s the top student in the class?”

Rachel picked up her sandwich and put it back down. Then she slowly peeled the lid off her yogurt before looking up again. “It’s actually Becca,” she said finally.

“Oh,” Elle said quietly.

“That’s perfect!” Alyssa said excitedly. She looked back and forth between her friends. “Ask Becca to study with you. I’m sure she would.”

Elle and Rachel exchanged a look. “Yeah, maybe,” Rachel said. But Alyssa had a feeling she didn’t mean it. Before she could press her, Rachel changed the subject to ask Alyssa how things were going with Dasher.

“Have you lured her inside yet?” Rachel asked.

Alyssa wanted to talk more about Becca possibly tutoring Rachel but she sensed she shouldn’t push it, so she explained that she hadn’t lured Dasher inside yet but that she had managed to pet her a little bit.

“You need to get Elle over to your house ASAP,” Rachel said as she swirled a spoon around in her yogurt. “Cats love her—I bet she could get Dasher inside.”

“That’s right! Becca told me how you’re the cat whisperer!” Alyssa said. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could pull them back in. Is it okay I said that? I don’t mean to keep bringing Becca up, but it’s kind of hard not to.…

But Elle just grinned, seemingly happy to be reminded of her nickname, and Rachel laughed. “She’s totally the cat whisperer!” Rachel cheered. “I say we get together at your house and see if Elle can help you get Dasher to come inside.”

“I think we should make it a sleepover!” Elle added.

At that, Alyssa was beyond excited. Last week, she was sure she wouldn’t make any friends in Florida, but now she was being asked to her second sleepover of the week! But her excitement crashed quickly. What about all the knitting she needed to do? And her wish essay?

“Earth to Alyssa,” Elle said, waving her hand in front of Alyssa’s face. “You still with us? We were talking about a sleepover? Maybe this Saturday night?”

“I’m so sorry. I totally zoned out! Yes, let’s do it!” Alyssa exclaimed. “I need to double-check with my mom to make sure it’s okay, but I’m sure it will be. She used to let me have sleepovers all the time back home.”

“Awesome,” Elle and Rachel said in unison.

As the girls finished their lunches, Alyssa spotted Becca across the cafeteria at the soccer table. The kids were all goofing off, but Becca seemed to be in her own little world.

That’s because she belongs over here with us, Alyssa thought.

And then she had a fantastic idea. She was going to invite Becca to her sleepover on Saturday night.

Becca was waiting by Alyssa’s locker after seventh period.

“Hey, are you coming over to knit?” Alyssa asked.

“No, I have soccer practice after school again, but I wanted to see if you wanted to have a sleepover on Saturday night? I checked with my parents, and it’s fine with them. We can do it at my place or yours.”

“Funny you should say that,” Alyssa replied. She felt her heart beating excitedly in her chest. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to sleep over on Saturday night!”

“Great minds think alike!”

“Yes, they do!” Alyssa took a deep breath and chose her next words very carefully. “I hope you don’t mind, but I also invited Elle and Rachel, so it would be the four of us.” Alyssa watched in horror as Becca’s face fell. “I know you guys aren’t close anymore, but you’re all my friends and I just think we’d have a lot of fun together!” Alyssa spoke so quickly that her words ran together.

“Do they know you’re inviting me?” Becca asked.

“Well, no, not yet, but I’m sure they won’t mind,” Alyssa said quickly.

At least I hope they won’t mind.

Becca looked at the ground for a long time. “You know what? I just remembered that I think I told Renee I would hang out with her on Saturday night to help plan some soccer stuff, so let’s just do our sleepover another time,” Becca said finally.

“But what about our knitting?” Alyssa said desperately. “We need to work on our scarves, remember?”

“Oh, I’ve finished four already.” Becca waved her hand.

“Wait, what?” Alyssa forgot all about the sleepover for a moment. “How is that even possible?” she sputtered.

Becca just laughed. “I told you, I’m a fast learner!”

Alyssa shook her head in bewilderment. “I’ve been waking up early every day to knit and I’ve made half of one scarf. Do you not sleep?”

Becca laughed again. “I guess we work at different paces, but it’s no big thing! I have to go to practice,” she added. “But thanks again for the invite for Saturday. I’m sorry I can’t make it.”

As Becca jogged down the hallway, Alyssa wasn’t sure what she was more confused about: whether Becca really had plans on Saturday night, or how Becca had finished four scarves already!