Chapter 1
TEN YEARS AGO
“You can’t sit with us.”
I peer down at my pink corduroy dress and wonder what I did wrong.
I overheard Robin mention that they wear pink on Fridays, so I dressed in the prettiest pink dress I own. I even threaded sparkly pink laces through my sneakers.
But as Robin, Rachel, and Rebecca look at me like a piece of bubble gum on the bottom of their shoes, I realize that no matter how much pink I wear, I’ll never be one of them.
They’re known as the triple thReats. The most popular girls at school whose names all start with the letter “R.”
Everyone wants to be their friend.
Everyone wants to be them.
Robin, Rachel, and Rebecca are the untouchables—we can only look, not touch. But I thought that maybe if I followed their rule, then I could at least sit with them at lunch.
I was wrong.
Robin simply stares at me like I’m stupid, drumming her fingers along her folded arms.
“I—”
Rachel intervenes. “I don’t care. It’s embarrassing you’d think we would want to be your friend.”
The girls giggle cruelly.
“But I wore pink!” I say, in case they’ve missed it.
Robin turns up her lip in disgust. “You’re pathetic and a stalker. Get up before I tell Principal Lombardi you’re stalking us.”
“But I’m not!” I stand abruptly, begging they give me another chance. “Did I do something wrong? I can change.”
This time, Rebecca is the one to step forward.
“What’s your name?” she softly asks.
I feel honored she’d even address me.
“I’m—” I clear my throat as it’s hoarse. “I’m Hallie.” When she looks at me blankly, I add, “Hallie Holiday.”
She blinks once, making it clear she has no idea who I am.
But I don’t let that dishearten me because Rebecca Bloom is the most popular girl in school, and I can’t expect her to remember everyone. It must be hard trying to keep up.
“My aunt and I found your dog, Hercules, down by the river. We brought him back to your house, and your mom made us her famous peach iced tea,” I say because there’s no way she’d forget that.
But as she continues staring at me, it seems that she can and that she has.
Our peers gather around us, curious about what’s going on.
“How embarrassing,” someone whispers.
“What a loser,” says another.
Tears begin to gather, but I bite down on my tongue to stop them from falling. The last time I cried, something very bad happened, and I haven’t shed a tear since. I’m certain my tears are the reason I moved to this small town, Hollow Banks, in Texas and have been miserable ever since.
So I refuse to cry ever again.
I grab my lunch box and turn to leave, but abruptly stop. Perhaps my luck is changing after all.
“Oh, golly, I’m so silly. I do know you,” Rebecca sweetly says.
Happiness swells in my belly because I knew she hadn’t forgotten me. We had upside-down cake with Mrs. Bloom’s peach iced tea and spoke about how hot that summer was. We spent over an hour together. There’s no way someone could forget that.
I turn around and smile, relieved.
But that soon turns to dread when Rebecca’s mouth twists into a cruel pout. “You’re the girl I caught in my room going through my underwear drawer.”
My mouth gapes open because that’s not true. “I was not! Your mom told me to pick a dress for the upcoming trivia night the parish was hosting to raise money for the local animal shelter. She said you’d outgrown a lot of them, and what you didn’t want, she was going to donate to charity.”
Rebecca’s blue eyes grow cold. “Last I checked, my dresses weren’t in my underwear drawer. Did you try on my bras too?”
“Did you sniff her panties?” Rachel goads while I turn a beet red.
Rebecca steps forward while I immediately take one back. I dig my fingernails into my palms, the pain calming me somewhat. It’s a habit that confirms I am different from my peers. I was stupid to think I could be anything like them.
“I doubt anything of mine would fit a flat-chested bitch like you.”
Before I have a chance to defend myself, Rebecca pours her carton of milk over my head. It soaks my hair and trickles down my face. My dress is forever sullied. I decide then and there that I hate pink.
Pupils burst into hysterical laughter, pointing their fingers at me. “LOSER! LOSER! LOSER!” they all chant.
Robin rips open her milk carton, spilling it on the floor. Before I can react, Rebecca pulls my hair and forces me down. She then rubs my face into the puddle of milk. “Lick it up like the good little dog that you are.”
I feel those familiar tears burn in my eyes.
I struggle, but Rebecca isn’t satisfied until I do as she orders. I shakily lap at the milk puddle, and only then does she let me go.
I need to leave, and I need to leave now.
I jump up too fast, lose my balance, and slip, falling onto my ass.
This simply has the school bursting into even louder laughter.
Peering up from under my brown bangs, all I see are monsters.
“She killed her mom and dad,” Rachel says, pointing her finger at me.
Rebecca snickers. Her final blow. “They probably killed themselves, embarrassed to be her mom and dad. Look at her and her hand-me-down clothes. You’re white trash. You don’t belong here. You never will.”
On hands and knees, I scamper away, slipping and sliding in the spilled milk until I finally find my feet and run from the cafeteria, leaving behind the cruel amusement of the students.
I don’t stop.
I keep running until I burst through the bathroom doors, seeking refuge in one of the stalls.
I slam the door shut and lock it, resting my back against it and catching my breath. I bang my fist against the door, over and over, my heart beating wildly in my chest.
“Stupid,” I berate myself, angry that I thought I was good enough to sit with the popular girls.
This is my fault.
I brought this upon myself.
If only I had listened to my aunt Justina and hadn’t drawn any attention to myself, none of this would have happened.
If only I had listened, my parents would be…
A knock on the door interrupts my thoughts. “Are you okay?” asks a voice I don’t recognize.
I don’t say a word because the voice belongs to a boy. Why is there a boy in the girls’ bathroom?
“I know you’re in there. I can hear you breathing,” he says. “So come out. I promise, I won’t make fun of you.”
Curiosity gets the better of me, and eventually, I unlock the door.
When I open it, I see a boy standing before it, holding a spare change of clothes. I soon recognize him as Dandy Rivers. We’re in the same science class. He keeps to himself, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t subjected to ridicule because he’s different.
He’s forever in T-shirts featuring something related to space or astronomy, and with his thick glasses, he’s been open to ridicule as the class “nerd.”
But Dandy doesn’t seem to care.
When kids call him a freak or a nerd, he simply holds his head high and pretends they’re not there.
I wish I had his confidence.
He doesn’t care what anyone thinks of him.
He doesn’t care if he sits with the popular kids or not. And that takes guts.
He juts the clothes out, reminding me that I’m staring at him like I’ve forgotten how to speak. I see there is a pair of bright orange gym shorts and a multicolored T-shirt with a unicorn eating a cupcake.
Without choice, I accept the clothes and reenter the stall, locking the door behind me. I remove my soiled dress and wipe myself down with toilet paper. Once I dry myself as best I can, I step into the clothes.
Peering down at myself, I chuckle because I resemble a rainbow.
I can hear Dandy running the taps, so I know he’s waiting for me.
With a deep breath, I open the door, and when Dandy turns over his shoulder to look at me, we both burst into laughter. That soon turns to uncontrollable fits of hysteria. We’re gasping for air, unable to talk. Words aren’t necessary because at this moment, laughter is all that we need.
Dandy holds the sink to stop himself from falling, tears streaming down his cheeks. I lean against the wall, attempting to measure my breath, but each time we look at one another, more laughter ensues.
This goes on for minutes.
I’ve never laughed this much before.
Dandy grips the sink with both hands and bends low, inhaling deeply. “Holy moly,” he says between breaths. “Lost and found clearly belonged to a clown.”
His comment starts us off again.
I don’t know how long we laugh for, but by the end of it, I barely remember why I’m wearing these hideous clothes. It suddenly doesn’t matter.
“I’m Dandy Rivers,” he says, offering me his hand.
I shake it. “I’m Hallie Holiday. We’ve got science class together, but we’ve never spoken. Sorry about that.”
Dandy shakes his head. “Don’t be. If we had, we would have never experienced this.” He uses his finger to gesture back and forth between us, and I instantly know what he means.
This is a memory we’ll never forget.
“I think we’ve just become best friends.”
His words touch me in ways he can never imagine because I’ve never had one of those.
“Oh, Hallie Holiday, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.” He links his arm through mine, and we walk out of the bathroom together.
I have a feeling I’ll never be alone again.
We’re sitting in Dandy’s tree house, drinking tea from his mother’s best china.
“This is pronounced oolong,” he explains, bringing the porcelain cup to his lips with his pinky extended. “Sip it. It’s the best way to enjoy it.”
Dandy doesn’t speak like a ten-year-old. He’s so smart. But not in an obnoxious way. He’s book smart, judging by the mounds of books in the tree house. He has pictures of the galaxy taped to the walls.
I mimic him with my pinky extended as we sip our oolong together.
I am having so much fun. I enjoy being in Dandy’s company. I don’t feel judged, and I can be myself, something I haven’t been since moving here a year ago.
“So, Hallie Holiday, tell me everything.”
I swallow down my tea, suddenly nervous.
I gently place down Dandy’s mother’s cup, not wanting to break it. He notices my nerves and kindly places his hand over mine.
“No judgment here. You’re safe.”
I believe him.