When they see me, they both wave, and some of the despair huddled in my chest disappears when I see the hopeful smiles they give me. I haven’t talked to either of them since yesterday morning, when Tessa could barely say two words to me. I came to school today assuming I didn’t have friends anymore and had planned to be that sad girl who has to eat lunch by herself in her car. I hug my books tighter against me and push through the crowd. I’m almost to them when the first taunting of the day happens.“Hey, Bonnie™!” says this little twerp I’ve never seen.“Fuck off,” say Tessa and Mer at the same time.The three of us look at one another, the kid forgotten, and burst out laughing. Tessa throws her arms around me, and Mer hugs both of us, and we become this blob of blubbery forgiveness in the middle of the packed hallway. I want to cry or laugh or maybe do both at the same time, but instead I just breathe them in, the men’s cologne that Tessa wears and Mer’s watermelon-scented lip gloss.“I’m sorry for being such a bitch,”
