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earlier would come true after all. Funny how that happens.
    Sadie’s hand hovered over the door handle, and it looked as if Lauren would have no choice but to enter the refectory with her old friend. But after a few moments, Sadie shrugged. “Sure. Gino’s it is.”

7
IT’S HER PARTY AND SHE’LL FREAK IF SHE WANTS TO
    IT WAS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND school was over, thank goodness, for the day. Ashley Spencer wandered into the sunroom of her family’s palatial home, gazing idly out at San Francisco Bay and wondering if it was still warm enough for a spot of sailing. She hadn’t taken her cute little Sunfish out for ages. There was just way too much to think about right now.
    Princess Dahlia von Fluffsterhaus, the Spencers’ labradoodle puppy, scampered into the room, and Ashley scooped her up, stroking the puppy’s silky curls. In the week since their visit to Mona Mazur’s mint-colored house, Ashley and her mother had made a little progress planning her Super-Sweet Thirteen on December ninth.Mona had come over on Saturday to show sketches and discuss menu ideas, plus go over dull things like budgets. As if how much anything cost mattered!
    Mona had sat right there, on the cream-colored sofa in the sunroom, sketches and plans and photographs spread all over the slab-granite coffee table, and talked about the circus theme.
    Ashley lapped up every word of it. All her worries that the circus theme was going to be too babyish and immature were dispelled once Mona started describing her vision. The house was going to be turned into a giant big top, with red and white canvas draping the ceiling. Fire-eaters on stilts would line the front path as guests arrived. A master of ceremonies wearing a black tailcoat and brandishing a whip would welcome everyone at the door. A swing would dangle from the mezzanine floor, so acrobats from Cirque du Soleil could fly through the air above everyone’s heads.
    In the main living room, inside a huge vintage lion’s cage, the burlesque rockabilly band the StripHall Queens would perform, while the food would be served by gymnasts in glittery leotards riding unicycles. And her grand entrance would be on a Vespa painted with tiger stripes. She’d be dressed in a shiny, skintight acrobat’s outfit, shedecided—at least for that portion of the evening, anyway. Ashley knew she’d have to change at least five times throughout the party. Hello! She couldn’t just wear one color all night. It was her party, after all.
    Ashley flopped onto the sofa and closed her eyes, Dahlia von Fluffsterhaus curled up in the crook of her arm. She could see it all now—the swooping spotlights, the glamorous acrobats, the speechless guests. The invitations to this party were going to be the hottest tickets in town. It was going to be the best day of her life. Until her birthday party next year, of course.
    All the girls at Miss Gamble’s would be clawing their eyes out to get invited. Too bad—not everybody could come! Especially not that little dork Sadie Graham, who had recently returned from the East Coast. Ashley had harbored a grudge against that girl ever since fourth grade, when Sadie had spread the rumor that Ashley was born a boy. For a harrowing few days, everyone called her “Ash- he ” and snickered behind her back.
    The rumor was sort of based on reality—Sadie’s dad was Ashley’s mom’s doctor, and when Ashley was born, he’d mistakenly checked the wrong box for gender. All her old hospital pictures had her wearing blue caps and blue onesies on the first day. Ashley had wrought herrevenge by telling everyone she’d seen Sadie picking her nose and eating its contents. So maybe “Boogers” as a nickname wasn’t too creative, but it did the trick.
    Now that she was thinking about it, Ashley vaguely remembered that Lauren had once been Sadie’s partner in crime. Had it actually been