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definitely
hadn’t—
or at least wanted Gaia to
think
she hadn’t.
    No matter. Gaia found that the sarcasm was imminently preferable to being ignored. “Ugh, I wasn’t sure, but really, it was all that I had. I don’t get dressed up too often. It was kind of expensive, you know? Too bad that I won’t have much chance to wear it again.” She heard the anxiety in her voice, the please-like-me tone, but she couldn’t have stopped it if she wanted to. On some base level she
needed
these girls to accept her.
    Like buzzards homing in on prey, Megan and Tammie’s interest was instantly recaptured. “Why not? What about prom?” Megan wanted to know. She fluttered her eyelashes at Gaia, and for the second time that afternoon Gaia found herself fleetingly wondering about the miracles of the eyelash curler.
    Gaia flushed. “Yeah, totally. Prom, that would be a good place to wear it.” She noticed that she was twiddling her fingers nervously and slid them under her legs to keep the external spaz-out down to a minimum. No need to go all Rain Man on these girls.
    â€œHas Jake not asked you yet?” Tammie asked, eyeswide with shock “I mean, come on.
Obviously
you guys are going to prom.”
    â€œYeah, no, I mean… he hasn’t asked me yet.”
    Gaia debated how to play this. She
could
pretend it was totally normal that her boyfriend hadn’t yet mentioned the biggest social event of the year or that the prom wasn’t important to her. But ultimately, she determined that she was played out for the afternoon. She had no idea whether or not it was normal—though she basically suspected that it was not—but either way, maneuvering these social situations was really sucking the life out of her.
Just another example of the many ways in which I am not qualified to be a normal girl
, she thought glumly.
    â€œWhaaat?” Tammie screeched as loud as she could without diverting Reingold’s attention, which was actually pretty loud, considering. Pink Whisper stretched soft and expansive over acres of straight, white teeth. “You’re
kidding.”
    Megan grabbed Gaia’s hand consolingly, her French-manicured fingers light against Gaia’s arm, her face the very picture of sincerity. She opened her eyes wide, resembling a cartoon kitten. “I’m
sure
he’s going to ask you. Come
on
. He’s just being a moron—like a typical guy.”
    Gaia smiled. It was comforting—more comforting than she would have thought—to be bitching abouther boyfriend to her girlfriends in math class.
This
was what she’d been missing, and once she had named Jake’s transgression aloud and laughed with these girls about it, she could see it for what it was—a simple oversight that would soon be corrected. And more specifically, something that every girl went through with her boyfriend at one point or another. If dealing with boyfriend-girlfriend weirdness with her friends in class was the average teen experience, then Gaia had arrived.
    Was this what relief felt like, then?
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Re: Operation Revenge
    Forget about getting back at Gaia. This thing with Jake is going to fall apart all on its own. Poor thing.
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected]
    Re: Re: Operation Revenge
    I know. And you know what? I actually feel a little bit sorry for her.

Wannabe Backup Dancers
    LIZ RODKE WALKED DOWN THE HALL, relieved to have heard the final bell of the day. English class was her favorite, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to go home. There was only so much Samuel Beckett a girl could take in one afternoon. Life itself was plenty absurd on its own.
    She was looking for Gaia. She hadn’t had much chance to talk to Gaia after the party on Wednesday night, and Gaia had been acting very, well… witchy. She’d been freakishly insecure