*   *   *

Rennie got it into her head that we should have a welcome home party for the boys. She decided that the theme would be “Under the Sea,” and she would be a mermaid. The other senior girls were allowed to wear bikinis and grass skirts and leis. The juniors and sophomores were sexy fishermen. We let Nadia invite three of her freshman friends, but they had to dress as minnows, and they had to wear flippers on their feet the whole time or else they’d have to leave.

There was one more condition—I told Nadia she wasn’t allowed to drink. She agreed right away. When she showed up with her friends, all dressed in green tanks and green shorts, and waddling in their flipper feet, I gave her a virgin piña colada. I had one too, even though Rennie kept trying to top mine off with one of the bottles of rum she had hidden around the backyard.

The party was a hit. Music was blasting out of the speakers, we had tiki torches lit over the lawn, people were dancing, and swimming in the pool. Even the guys got into the spirit of things. Reeve took a sheet off Alex’s bed and made himself a toga and called himself Poseidon. He was walking around with a rake, calling it his trident. I was pretty sure he just wanted an excuse to take his shirt off. Alex was wearing his fishing hat, and the other guys at least had on swimming trunks and zinc oxide.

Rennie was wearing a tight blue skirt, a shell bikini top, and fishnet stockings. She spent a week’s worth of her hostessing money on the wig and the rhinestone starfish barrette she found online. I was a Baywatch lifeguard in my red one-piece bathing suit, short white shorts, and flip-flops. I had a whistle around my neck and a lifeguard float strapped to my back. Ashlin was a jellyfish. She had on a sheer white beach cover-up over her white bikini, and she braided long strips of white crepe paper into her blond hair.

Rennie and I were by the grill sipping our drinks and surveying the scene when Mrs. Lind came up to me and gave me a big hug.

“Lillia, this was such a good idea,” she said, kissing me on the cheek. She was wearing a Hawaiian muumuu, and she had a flower in her hair. “Alex was so surprised!”

She went off to bring out more seafood kebobs, and Rennie elbowed me. “See? I told you it would be fine. What were you so worried about?”

“I wasn’t worried,” I said, adjusting my lifeguard float. “I just think it’s a little weird to ask someone’s mom if you can have a party at their house.”

“Lil,” she said airily, “Alex’s mom loves you. You’re the daughter she never had. She gave you that pink Dior wristlet for your birthday! I looked it up on the website, and I’m telling you, it did not come cheap. It was, like, six hundred dollars!”

Rennie borrowed that wristlet months ago and hasn’t given it back. It’s more her style than mine anyway.

She was already bored of the conversation, so she was scanning the yard, running her hand through her long blond wig. “What the eff is Teresa Cruz doing here? I distinctly remember not inviting her. Look at her. She’s wearing a lei and a grass skirt. This isn’t a luau,” she fumed. “She’s so remedial. And I don’t know what’s up Reeve’s butt. He barely said hi to us, and hello, this party is for him.”

I was looking for Teresa in her dumb getup when Alex caught my eye and waved at me. He was standing around with Reeve and Derek and his uncle. They were all smoking cigars except Alex. I started to head over to them, when Rennie grabbed my arm. “Ohmygod,” she said. She had her phone in her hand, and she waved it at me, her eyes bright. “He texted me.”

“Who? Reeve?”

“Ian!” Ian was one of the UMass guys we met at the beach. He and Rennie had hung out earlier in the week. He’d taken her out to dinner, but then she hadn’t heard from him again. “They’re having a party! It’s the last night of their rental. We have to go.”

“Right now?”

“Yes!”

Laughing, I said, “Ren, we can’t leave. This is our party, remember? We have to bring out the cupcakes and fireworks and stuff.” Nadia and I spent the afternoon decorating those cupcakes. We put blue food coloring in the frosting and crushed up graham crackers to look like sand.

Rennie pouted at me, pushing her lower lip out. “Please, Lil! He’s really cool. He’s premed! And I told you how his friend Mike kept asking about you. Can’t we just go and hang out for a little bit? We can come right back. No one will even notice we’re gone!”

I looked around the yard. Ashlin was over by the pool house, playing poker with some of the guys. Derek was trying to peek at her cards, and she kept laughing and pushing him away. She definitely wouldn’t have noticed if we left, not with the attention Derek was giving her.

I asked, “What about Nadia?”

“She’s fine! Look, she’s having fun.”

I spotted Nadia, sitting by the pool with her friends, her legs in the water, kicking with her flippers. They were giggling and splashing. Rennie pulled on my arm and swung it from side to side. Pleadingly she said, “Puh-leaaase, Lil. This is my last chance to see him. They’re leaving tomorrow. It’s now or never!”

I sighed. “An hour, and then we come right back. Promise?”

Rennie squealed and hugged me. “Yay!” Then she looked down at her mermaid costume and frowned. “We can’t show up like this. We’re going to look so high school.”

“We can change in the car,” I said quickly. If we went to Rennie’s house to get ready, it would take forever. I just wanted to go and come back so people could hurry up and enjoy our cupcakes, even if they were a box mix. I didn’t set them out with the other food because I wanted to pass them around special.

Rennie shrugged. “Okay, then. I’m gonna go check my makeup. I’ll meet you at the car in two secs.”

She ran toward the house, and I headed for her Jeep. I was rummaging in my overnight bag for the tank top I’d been wearing earlier, when I felt someone tug on my hair. I whirled around.

Reeve.

He reached over my shoulder and pushed his arm against the door, closing it. “Where are you sneaking off to?” he demanded, leaning in close.

“None of your business.”

“Come on. Tell me.”

I tried to push him away from the Jeep, but he wouldn’t budge. “Reeve, move!”

“So you throw the kid a welcome home party and then bail on it?” Reeve wagged his finger at me. “You’re not a nice girl, Cho.” Then he strutted off.