“That would be awesome. I’m Mia, by the way.”
“Lexi. So what’s the book about?”
Mia began talking slowly, stumbling over her words, but when she started talking about Heathcliff, she kind of took flight. The next thing Lexi knew, they were laughing as if they’d been friends for years. When the bell rang, they got up and walked toward their lockers together, still talking the whole way across campus. Lexi didn’t keep her head down anymore, didn’t clamp her books to her chest or purposely not make eye contact with anyone. Instead, she laughed.
Outside the door to her Spanish class, Mia stopped and said in a rush: “You could come to my house after school today. If you wanted to, I mean.” She looked nervous as she asked it. “I know you probably won’t. No worries.”
Lexi felt like smiling; only nervousness over her teeth kept her in check. “I would totally like that.”
“Meet me at the flagpole by the admin building, okay?”
Lexi went into her classroom and took a seat at the back. She eyed the clock for the rest of the day, willing time to speed up until finally at 2:50, she was at the flagpole, waiting. Kids swarmed around her, jostling one another as they made their way onto the buses lined up outside.
Maybe Mia wouldn’t show. Probably she wouldn’t.
Lexi was about to give up the whole thing when Mia came up beside her. “You waited,” she said, sounding as relieved as Lexi felt. “Come on.”
Mia led the way through the hive of students, toward a shiny black Escalade parked out on the main road. She opened the passenger door and climbed in.
Lexi followed her new friend into the leather-scented beige seat.
“Hola, Madre,” Mia said. “This is Lexi. I invited her home with me. Is that okay?”
The woman in the driver’s seat turned around, and Lexi was stunned by her beauty. Mia’s mom looked like Michelle Pfeiffer with her perfect, pale face and sleek blond hair. In an obviously expensive salmon-colored sweater, she looked like she belonged on the Nordstrom catalog cover. “Hello, Lexi. I’m Jude. It’s nice to meet you. And how is it that I don’t know you?”
“I just moved here.”
“Ah. That explains it. Where did you move here from?”
“California.”
“I won’t hold that against you,” Jude said with a bright smile. “Will your mother mind if you’re not home right away?”
“No,” Lexi said, tensing for the inevitable next question.
“I could call her if you’d like, introdu—”
“Mo-om,” Mia said, “you’re doing that thing again.”
Jude flashed Lexi a smile. “I’m embarrassing my daughter. Something I am sadly wont to do these days, just by breathing. But I can hardly stop being a mother, can I? I’m sure your mom is just as embarrassing, right, Lexi?”
Lexi had no idea what to say to that, but it didn’t matter. Jude laughed and went on as if she hadn’t asked a thing. “I’m supposed to be seen and not heard. Fine. Buckle up, girls.”
She started up the car, and Mia immediately started talking about a book she’d heard about.
They drove away from the school and onto a pretty little main street. The traffic was stop-and-go all the way through town, but once they made it onto the highway, the road was clear. They followed one curvy, tree-lined, two-lane road after another until Jude said, “Home sweet home,” and turned onto a gravel driveway.
At first there was nothing but trees on either side of them, trees so tall and thick they blocked out the sun, but then the road curved again and they were in a clearing full of sunlight.
The house was like something out of a novel. It sat proudly amid its landscaping, a soaring structure made of wood and stone, with windows everywhere. Low stone walls delineated magnificent gardens. Behind it all was the blue Sound. Even from here, Lexi could hear waves hitting the shore.
“Wow,” Lexi said, getting out of the car. She had never been in a house like this before. How should she act? What should she say? She would do the wrong thing for sure and Mia would laugh at her.
Jude slipped an arm around her daughter and they walked ahead. “I bet you girls are hungry. Why don’t I make you some quesadillas? You can tell me about the first day of high school.”
Lexi hung back instinctively.
At the front door, Mia looked back. “Lexi? You don’t want to come in, do you? You’ve changed your mind.”
Lexi felt her insecurity dissolve, or perhaps more accurately, it joined with Mia’s and morphed into something else. They were alike; impossibly, the girl who had nothing was like this girl who had everything. “No way,” Lexi said, laughing as she hurried toward the door.