Poppy came along to deliver the magazines she promised. Unfortunately, Rachel wasn't doing any better. Poppy and I left the hospital saddened by her dire state.Things seemed pretty grim between Ryan and me, too. We had planned to hang out that night, but for some reason he had never called."I need a pick-me-up," I said. "Want to go to Slim's?""Sounds good," said Poppy. "Why don't you call Rose and see if she wants to come along."Rose was just getting out of her last class of the week when I reached her on her cell phone. She said she'd meet us at the diner.Hanging with my sisters at the diner was way better than sitting home on a Friday night. A lot of Nightshade kids drove to Santa Cruz and hung out at the pier on the weekends, which meant Main Street was usually dead on Friday night. Tonight was no exception.At Slim's, Flo sat at the counter, thumbing through a magazine. When we entered, the bell over the door jangled. I assumed its purpose was to alert Flo to the presence of customers, but it certainly didn't interrupt her reading.Rose was already waiting for Poppy and me in our favorite booth, the one at the end by the big bay window.Flo eventually meandered over to take our order.
