The next week, Lux still felt antsy after seeing Simone’s video, but when Noelle said hi to her first thing Monday morning, some small part of her relaxed. She’d been eating lunch with the girls every day now, and she almost felt like she could be her real, complete self around them. She tried to focus on how well things were going instead of her one constant worry: that they’d find her out.
“So I think,” Noelle said, walking with Lux down the long main hall of the school, “you could use some noodles.”
Lux frowned at her. “Noodles?” she asked.
“Noodles,” Noelle said. “And also maybe some dumplings. Perhaps an egg roll to round it out, and an egg tart for dessert?”
“What are you talking about, Noelle?”
Noelle stopped her from walking. “I know you always go to the library after school.”
“Oh yeah. My dad’s wife just had a new baby and she cries a lot. Libraries are quiet.”
“Right, but libraries don’t have delicious Chinese food. My grandparents’ restaurant, on the other hand . . .”
“You’re inviting me to your grandparents’ restaurant?” Lux asked. Noelle nodded. “Why?”
“Oh my God, do you think I’m going to murder you or something? Are you going to come or not? Tobyn and Micah will be there, too, but I’m not going to beg.”
Lux squinted at Noelle like she could see through to her motives if she looked at her hard enough. Maybe she did just want to hang out. Lux wasn’t sure how she should feel, but she reminded herself that she wanted this.
“Okay,” Lux said.
“Cool.” Noelle smiled. “The girls will be happy you’re coming.”
Noelle’s grandparents’ restaurant was squeezed between two apartment buildings. So many signs and menus covered the glass door so that you couldn’t see inside.
Noelle had asked Lux to come by but hadn’t said why, and as the day went on, Lux began to worry it might be about the newspaper—that she’d found out Lux wanted to become a member of the staff and planned to confront her about trying to take her position.
Lux slipped inside and sat at a table near the front windows. She didn’t see Micah or Tobyn anywhere, but she had gotten there early. Before she’d even taken her backpack all the way off, Noelle appeared wearing a green T-shirt that said LEE’S DUMPLINGS. Lux looked around the restaurant and saw a few young white couples eating and a half dozen older Chinese customers, too. They were the only black girls, and Lux felt completely out of place. She wondered if Noelle ever felt that way, even though she was half Chinese.
Lux said, “Hey,” but Noelle didn’t.
“So, I’ll be honest with you. Micah and Tobyn aren’t coming.”
“Okay . . .” Lux squirmed in her seat and glanced around the half-empty restaurant again. “So why am I here?”
“My friends like you,” Noelle said. “And before we tell you about the next prank we’re planning, I need to know we can trust you.”
So this was gonna be about the paper, then. “Look, Noelle,” Lux started to say, “I wanted to tell you—” But Noelle pulled out her phone and cut Lux off.
“Is this you?” she asked. She held out her phone, and on the screen, Lux saw a video of her fighting Simone. It showed a different angle from the one she’d untagged last month. Her twists swung from side to side, but even from this angle, her face thankfully remained hidden. She frowned.
“I’m sorry, what?” Lux said. “You think I’d risk messing up my hair, or more importantly, my nails, fighting?” She must have pulled off looking completely confused, because Noelle laughed.
“I had a feeling it wasn’t you.” Noelle pocketed her phone, looking relieved. “It’s just that I saw it a while ago, and the girl who posted it goes to your old school in Brooklyn. The hair looks exactly like yours and you’d just shown up out of nowhere. I don’t know. I had to ask because we can’t risk this kind of sloppiness with the stuff we do. A video that got posted? Can’t happen. My parents would kill me if they ever found out about the stunts we pull.”
Lux smiled uncomfortably. “I get it,” she said. “My dad would flip, too.”
“So we cool?” Noelle asked. “Yeah,” Lux said. “We’re good.”
Noelle left the table and came back with a dozen dumplings, a heaping plate of noodles, and that egg tart she mentioned, but Lux didn’t have an appetite at all. She choked a bit of it down, then begged for a take-out box.
“My dad loves Chinese food,” she said.
Noelle grinned. “I mean, who doesn’t?”
But as Lux said goodbye and headed home, her mind wouldn’t stop spinning. If Noelle had seen that video, Lux worried it would only be a matter of time before she found the other ones.