“Were we getting new students?” I ask. But before I even have time to consider my own question, I know who she is. The girl from the newspaper. My cousin. Juliet.
“What are you doing?” Olivia spits, but she follows me over to the car where Juliet is busying herself with unloading books.
“Hey.” I’m not usually the welcoming committee—usually that’s Charlie’s role. Well, maybe more like making new people feel afraid—Charlie isn’t exactly the “come join our circle” kind of girl. But Julietismy cousin. Just because we haven’t beenfriends in a decade doesn’t mean we couldn’t start now. She’s the only family I have, besides my parents.
“Hey,” she says back. Even with her sunglasses on I can tell she’s looking me up and down. It’s slow, too, like she’s not trying to hide it.
I go ahead and blurt it out: “Do you know who I am?” I shake my head. “I just mean, we’re cousins? Rosaline Caplet?” I tap myself on the chest like I have a name tag.
She flips her hair off her shoulders. “Yeah, I know.”
I’m relieved, until I realize she’s not following that up with anything. “This is Olivia,” I say, to say something.
“Hey,” Olivia says. She has one eye on me and the other on Juliet. I try to see what she sees. Juliet’s pretty. Not Charlie-gorgeous but definitely attractive. She always was.
“I don’t think I’ve seen you since we were, like, seven.” I run my foot back and forth across the pavement. I suddenly don’t want to look at her. I wonder if she remembers the doll incident.
“Does Rob still live here?”
“What?” Olivia answers for me.
Juliet looks at me. “Rob Monteg? I’m sure you remember. You guys were best friends.”
“Right, yeah. He still lives here.” I can feel Olivia’s eyes on me, but I don’t offer anything more. I’m not sure what to say, anyway. That Rob’s my boyfriend now? Is that even true?
“It’s been a long time,” she says, but it’s unclear whether she’s talking to me or remembering to herself.
“So you guys just moved?” I ask, steering the conversation away from Rob.
She nods. “Your parents tell you?”
I shake my head. “Actually, no. I saw it in the paper.”
She smiles slightly and clicks the lock on her car. “Makes sense.”
“This is kind of weird,” I say. “It’s been forever.”
“Yeah,” she says, but again, that’s all.
When I was little, I used to think about this moment over and over. If she ever came back, if I ever got to see her again, what I would say. How I would forgive her or apologize or throw my arms around her neck and beg her to play dolls with me. But we’re seventeen now, not seven, and I’m not sure how to act. Rob’s better at this. He can talk to anyone, about anything. One time we went to Colonial Williamsburg on a trip with our parents, and he talked to the shoemaker for an hour about their mutual love of the Lakers. I didn’t even know colonial people watched television, but Rob got it out of him. His smile just kind of melts people. They end up spilling.
“So where are you guys living?” Olivia asks.
“Some house by the beach,” she says. “It’s fine.”
“Cool.” Olivia looks at me like,Good luck with that, andturns to go back over toward Ben. “Nice to meet you!” she calls over her shoulder.
Juliet smiles, but it’s stiff. And she doesn’t wave. It’s a smile far better suited to the girl who beheaded my favorite Barbie than the one who was my best friend in kindergarten.
“Do you need help finding classes or anything? Thursdays we don’t have assembly, so we just go straight to first period.”
“I need to find…” She rummages in her gigantic bag and extracts a piece of paper. “Mr. Johnson,” she says.
“He’s probably in his office at Cooper House,” I say. “Come on. I’ll show you.”
We start walking. Rob, Ben, and Olivia are descending toward Cooper House below us, but I decide not to call down to them.
“So how come you’re starting today?”
