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all. “He asked me out — well, first he asked me out for coffee, and then Saturday we went to a movie over at the U. It was sort of cool. Not the movie. But the scene — kind of an older crowd.”
    “What was the movie?” Britt asked.
    “
The Candidate.
A really old Robert Redford movie.”
    Jess said, “He used to be hot.”
    “My grandma thinks he’s
still
hot,” said Britt.
    “He wants to be president,” June said.
    “Robert Redford?”
    “No. Jerry. He wants to be class president, and then president of the country.” June waited to see what they would say. It was one of those defining moments.
    “Oh, well. Van is going out with Kelly Freeman,” Phoebe said. Jess and Britt immediately took her remark as permission to accept Jerry Preuss, conditionally.
    “Jerry’s sort of cute,” Jess said. “Except you’ve got to get him to buy some different glasses.”
    “Does he have a car?” Britt asked.
    “I don’t think so,” June said. “We took his mom’s minivan.”
    Phoebe said, “Josh and I are going to the outlet mall Saturday.”
    “I thought he was mad at you,” Britt said.
    “We made up. I just had to promise not to yell his name at any track meets.”
    “I bet that’s not all you had to promise,” Britt said.
    “Up yours, bee-yatch,” Phoebe said, arching her eyebrows.
    “Bitch.”
    “Bitch.”
    “Bitch.”
    They all started laughing. Except for June, at first. But then she started laughing too, even though she didn’t exactly get it.
    Later, Britt gave June a ride home from school and explained that she, Jess, and Phoebe used to call themselves the Three Bitches. “ ‘One for all and all for one.’ Phoebe came up with that back in ninth grade.”
    “Isn’t that from
The Three Musketeers
?” June said.
    “You mean the candy bar? What’s that got to do with it?”
    “Never mind.”
    “So, Jerry
Preuss,
huh?” Britt said, probing for details.
    “He’s just a nice guy,” June said.
    It was true, for once. June’s date with Jerry had been right out of
The Concerned Parent’s Guide to Correct Teenage Behavior.
Jerry had shown up on time, wearing clean clothes, driving a minivan. He had introduced himself to her parents, told them he was running for class president, that they were going to see
The Candidate
and then for ice cream, and promised to have their daughter home by ten. He had even opened the car door for her.
    When June thought back over the evening, she was astounded that she had actually gone through with it.
Minivan?
Movie from the nineteen
seventies?
Ice cream? Home by
ten?
It had promised to be the date from hell, but it wasn’t at all. Jerry was dorky, sure, but he knew who he was, and he didn’t care what people thought — as long as they would still vote for him for class president. And he was so excited about
that
stupid idea that June had actually gotten into it, brainstorming campaign strategies over mocha malts and talking as if getting Jerry elected was the most important thing inthe universe. By the time he kissed her good night at ten minutes before ten — it wasn’t the
worst
kiss she’d ever had — she had to admit to herself that it had been a fun night.
    “You going to go out with him again?” Britt asked.
    “I don’t know.” She really didn’t. If he asked her, she would probably say yes. If he didn’t ask her, that would be okay too. “He wants me to be chief strategist for his election campaign.”
    “Omigod, I saw those flyers or whatever he was handing out. Like, does anybody actually care?”
    “Jerry does.”
    Britt gave her a sideways look. June knew what she was thinking. She was wondering if it was safe to remain friends with somebody who was dating a guy like Jerry Preuss.
    Britt pulled up to the curb. For a second, June thought she was going to order her out of the car, but then she realized they had arrived at her house. Funny thing — she’d been living there six weeks and still had to check the house number to