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don’t you make it yourself, Rachael Ray? Then you can put in whatever you want.”
    â€œBecause it’s inefficient,” said Chloe. She took the spoon from Angela and removed all but the last few pieces of onion. “Everybody has a job to do, and if everybody would do it right , then we wouldn’t be running latelike we are right now.”
    I looked around and, sure enough, Chloe had taken a bunch of our friends and put them to work. We’d already dragged the flat screen up to my room, plus the Wii. Now we were making refreshments. Jenna Rogers and Kiersten Coons were in charge of cutting up veggies while Madison Verbeck spooned cookie dough onto baking sheets. Violet Alexander was mixing up guacamole, and…
    â€œWhere’s Dina?” I asked just as Bill and Brice banged into the kitchen. College hadn’t started for them yet, so they’d stayed in Lake Champion an extra week to party. Their arms were loaded with bags from the liquor store that never checks IDs.
    As soon as they saw the twins, everybody dropped what they were doing and tried to look cool.
    â€œSo, Bill!” chirped Chloe. “Are you two going to be around tonight? We could totally use your input on the new girls.”
    â€œThat’s a negative.” Bill leaned over and snagged a celery stick. “We’re headed to The Rocks.”
    â€œBut we didn’t forget you,” added Brice. He set one of his bags down on the table. “There’s beer, Boone’s, and peach schnapps in there. Should be enough to at least get you started.”
    Everybody totally forgot their cool as they swarmedaround the table. If it’s possible to fit fourteen arms into one paper bag, we managed to do it. I opened a bottle of beer and took a long drink.
    â€œHey, Brooke.” Brice stopped on his way out the door. “How’s your ass?”
    â€œYeah!” chimed in Bill before they both disappeared down the hall. “Watch your butt tonight, okay, Baby B?”
    Everybody cracked up. I poured the rest of my beer down the sink. At the end-of-summer party, I’d thought it was hilarious to let Dan Hummel chase me around and try to whip my bare ass with some old Mardi Gras beads we’d found in my kitchen junk drawer. The next morning, though, when my butt cheeks were covered in welts and people were posting photos on Facebook, it didn’t seem funny at all. Plus, I had a hazy memory of running into the street and almost getting hit by a car. All because I was sloppy, stupid drunk.
    I tossed my bottle into the recycle bin, but if anybody noticed me wasting perfectly good beer they didn’t say anything. That’s because Dina had just walked into the room.
    â€œDina!” shouted Chloe. “Where are the DVDs? Didn’t you get them?”
    â€œNo.” Dina’s voice was small and sad. She slumped into a kitchen chair.
    â€œHey!” I went over and knelt down next to her. “What happened?”
    â€œI went to Videoworld.”
    â€œAnd?” Videoworld was a dump, but not bad enough for a visit there to make someone look borderline suicidal. Dina glanced around to see if the others were listening. They totally were, even though they pretended to be busy with their snack making.
    â€œ He works at Videoworld,” she half-whispered to me. “I didn’t know he worked there.”
    â€œWhat? Oh no!” Chloe flew across the kitchen and flung her arms around Dina’s neck. “Are you saying you saw Noah?”
    Dina deflated even more. Her nose went red.
    â€œI didn’t know he worked there, either!” Chloe said. “If I’d known I would have told you to go to Blockbuster instead. It’s just that Videoworld has such a better selection….”
    I shot Chloe a look. Noah Brink was a senior. Dina’d practically gone all the way with him over the summer and he’d not only dumped her the next week, but he’d